Reply to: Bad Bad Interview

[threaded]

1st question on a recent telephone interview:

INTERVIEWER: "What is the problem with circular references in Java?"

ME: "Nothing. There's a common myth that they can cause a memory leak, but modern JVM's don't rely on simple reference counting and have no problem coping with circular references."

INTERVIEWER: "...OK, ... next question..."

Things went downhill from here.

llllol

[swamp]

1st question on a recent telephone interview:

INTERVIEWER: "What is the problem with circular references in Java?"

ME: "Nothing. There's a common myth that they can cause a memory leak, but modern JVM's don't rely on simple reference counting and have no problem coping with circular references."

INTERVIEWER: "...OK, ... next question..."

Things went downhill from here.

[BrilloPad]

I had one last year that went duff. He asked stuff that I don't memorise, just check on the fly. Knowing what and how to check is the important bit.

I tried to make that point to him but he maintained that he would expect someone with the knowledge that I claimed, to remember all this stuff.

So we hung up and I returned to doing for my then current client, exactly the kind of work he wanted someone for.

Later the agency called back: he was unhappy about all the other candidates, so he wanted to interview me again......

[cykophysh39]

aah the old Technical Interview bollocks.

I had one of those last week, I had the privelege of driving for an hour to go and sit in this lame duck company reception and write a VB.Net technical technical test. The questions seem to have come straight from the MCSD test guide,and some bulsh!t question about compiler switches for documentation, Some bum fluff questions about design patterns. that probably had no reference to the actual job they were interviewing for.
I decided within 30 seconds of being there that I didn't want the gig anyway, so answered all the questions in C#.

Common experience is that companies that have a Technical Question thing, are normally staffed by those weekend trainspotter types.

After an interview like that I normally call my agent and inform them that I will need to up my rate by £30 a day because of the type of work they are asking me to do.

[Xenophon]

maybe a pen and paper is a bit more subtle than a laptop xen

Harsh, but I'll accept it.

[PAH]

I'd have asked them if they could hold on for a second as there's someone at the door. Then leave them hanging till they gave up. Then have the nerve to call the agent to see how I did.

[Dow Jones]

Don't worry

Once, I had 4 (FOUR) people on a conference call - each one trying to outdo the other in what sounded like qns out of a manual. I gave up after 20 mins - I said I had a meeting and needed to go - so guy on ego trip said 'we won't be taking this any further' and I said 'I wouldn't bother if I were you' and put the phone down. Not worth the hassle as - in your case - rate was Shiite.

[Lucy]

... and I thought my sex life was boring.

maybe a pen and paper is a bit more subtle than a laptop xen

[Bagpuss]

Just been totally mauled on a very technical phone interview.
Its so depressing when this happens.

I do know my stuff but when you get questions that last a couple of minutes its hard to remember what they were asking for.

I wouldn't have minded but the daily rate wasn't anything special.

Ditto, had one just, pulled something up off my CV I had completely forgot about, found myself waffling, if only he'd asked about Homes under the Hammer or Eggheads

[bellymonster]

I wasn't best prepared for it having got the call whilst shopping in town.
There's nothing like 5 minutes notice for an interview.

[PAH]

- get a pen, write stuff down in bullet form as they ask it
- I always have a laptop in front of me, if they ask pointless "lookup knowledge" type q's I explain that you dont memorise that sort of thing, explain what I remember and then offer to find the info for them quickly if they dont mind holding on the phone..

I just have the Ask Beaker thread open, or whoever it is that's taken over from him.

[Xenophon]

I bet he coded with pen and paper in bed.

... and I thought my sex life was boring.

[MrRobin]

I had one last year that went duff. He asked stuff that I don't memorise, just check on the fly. Knowing what and how to check is the important bit.

I had a kinda similar situation once.. was given a print out of some code and was asked to spot the errors... whilst I got some of them, some I just didn't pick up because a) the code degugger would tell you straight away if you made that mistake whilst typing, so you don't have to or b) I've never made such odd mistakes and typos anyway.

"Why are you testing me on something that is done automatically for you by a computer?" I asked. He gave me some nonsense about how you should know it all without the help from the computer... I bet he coded with pen and paper in bed.

[chef]

- get a pen, write stuff down in bullet form as they ask it
- I always have a laptop in front of me, if they ask pointless "lookup knowledge" type q's I explain that you dont memorise that sort of thing, explain what I remember and then offer to find the info for them quickly if they dont mind holding on the phone..

[Xenophon]

The chap interviewing me was doing it in front of the company director and I got the impression he was 'swinging his dick' a bit to show how valuable he was to the company.

That happened to me once. I told him I wasn't that kind of guy.