I'll share the general sentiment that writing some code or debugging a live program is important. http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2007/02/why-cant-programmers-program.html for why. I think it's fair to have access to google while doing this, but reasonable people can disagree on that.
I don't think there are any magical interview questions that will weed out the recalcitrant. It comes down to 1) *can* they do the job, and 2) *will* they do the job? A fizzbuzz test and some technical questions may answer #1, but there's really no predicting #2. In my old job I managed several teams of about 50 people total, and eventually gave up on interviews as a talent sieve and started doing contract-to-hire for 1-3 months. Actual performance is a much better predictor of future performance than interview performance. This dramatically changes the type of people you end up hiring, but for me it was worth the trade-off. My best hire ever was a mumbling, inarticulate, 20-year old drop out from Boulder. Later provided living proof that 100x programmers exist. He's a senior dev at Evite now ;-) -----Original Message----- From: u2-users-boun...@listserver.u2ug.org [mailto:u2-users-boun...@listserver.u2ug.org] On Behalf Of Kevin King Sent: Monday, October 07, 2013 7:36 PM To: U2 Users List Subject: [U2] [OT] Interview Questions This is not specifically a job posting, but I do have ads up on Monster and LinkedIn looking for talent. At the risk of confessing too much, I have historically been far too easy in the interview process. As a result, I have had some less-than-excellent hires and spent far too much time and money trying to rescue underperforming and/or recalcitrant staff. Therefore, I'm planning to be much more discriminating this time around, and am building a series of technical questions to help quickly identify those that have the right skills, abilities, and attitude for our team compared to those who may not. That being said, I have a question for the group: Technical questions aside, what are the best interview questions you've asked, been asked, or otherwise heard about that help differentiate between the candidates worthy of additional consideration vs. those that are not? Each company is different of course, but that aside I'm hoping to get some ideas to cut to the heart of the matter as quickly and efficiently as possible, both for the sake of the interviewer and the interviewee. (My technical interview is bordering on 200 questions and growing at an alarming pace.) If there were a half dozen questions to open with that could help set the stage for what may be to come, that could be very beneficial for everyone in this mix. Also, in an effort to keep the OT to a minimum, please don't ask me questions about the positions here. If you have questions, email me directly or through LinkedIn. I'd prefer to keep this topic on point of your recommended interview questions. _______________________________________________ U2-Users mailing list U2-Users@listserver.u2ug.org http://listserver.u2ug.org/mailman/listinfo/u2-users ----------------------------------------- IMPORTANT NOTICE: This message is intended only for the addressee and may contain confidential, privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, you may not use, copy or disclose any information contained in the message. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender by reply e-mail and delete the message. _______________________________________________ U2-Users mailing list U2-Users@listserver.u2ug.org http://listserver.u2ug.org/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
