| « Insert Comma? | Need Have Have » |
I Guess So (by Stuart Whelan)
The company I worked for was hiring a C++ developer, and I was assigned the job of hiring the candidates. When the scheduled start time of 1:30PM came and went, I went to the lobby to see if there was a scheduling mix up. At around 1:50, while I was chatting with the receptionist, a disheveled fellow walked in the door. "Is this Omni-tech?" he asked.
Subtly looking at the giant wall relief with our logo, I assured him it was. "You must be Gary," I asked.
He nodded, and then walked right back outside. The receptionist and I stared at each other in disbelief and watched him walk to the parking lot and get into a car. He sat there talking with the passenger for a few minutes and then rushed back through our door.
"Okay then," he said, exasperated, "I'm reporting for my interview!"
"Your one-thirty interview," I asked.
He nodded, "I am a bit late."
Though I had pretty much made up my mind about this candidate, I figured the least I could do is give him an interview. So we walked to the conference room and got started.
I generally start with the "generic" question and then move on to the technical ones, so I started off with "so Gary, would you describe yourself as a motivated person?"
"Um... " he thought about it for several seconds, while staring up at the ceiling, "yeah, I guess so."
The interview pretty much went downhill from there, though his last answer was just as memorable as his first. I asked him what attracted him to the position.
"I really like the idea of C++, because of its reusable objects." he said, "I am really into the environment at the moment, and C++ appeals to me because you can recycle other peoples code. It is much more environmentally friendly."
I sat for a moment waiting for the punchline, but it never came.
Computer Skills (from Caleb)
At my company, we send out a simple programming questionnaire to filter out candidates that we don't want to interview for a standard .NET / ASP.NET position. Some of the questions require code, and some of the other questions are simple essay questions.
One question we like to ask is "if you were going to create a new social networking site, what technologies would you use and why?".
The question is meant to see if they just respond back with an answer like "ASP.NET, SQL Server and Ajax" or if they go into more depth and discuss that you might consider an open source stack if you need to scale to millions of users. Either answer is fine at this stage, but the answer tells us a bit about how the candidate thinks.
One particular candidate answered the question as follows
Planning to open a social networking site. Firstly,lookout for people with computer skills to help us. As you may know a domain name is just a name, not a real website. If you are going to create your website: 1- Buy a domain name. To get a domain name, you have to pay an annual fee to a registrar for the right to use that name. 2- Buy a web hosting service to provide your online space and enable you to get your website online at your purchased domain name. If you want to start your website I recommend purchase your domain and hosting together. In this way it is possible to get your domain for free. Some hosting services offer this gift today. They also offer "Free Site Builder" that helps you build your web pages without difficulty if you are not skilled in using any website creating program. (WYSIWYG: What You See Is What You Get)
Strangely enough, his other answers were fairly well-written and easy to understand. A quick google, however, search found that he copy-and-pasted answers from other web sites for 95% of the other questions. He even left behind links from the pages he copied from in the word doc. Needless to say, we didn't call him in for an interview.
The Temporary Offices (by Maxim)
I had left plenty of time to make the interview, and I was happy about that. The company's offices were on a side street in a run-down former-industrial park. Eventually, I found the unmarked door and buzzed my way in. After climbing some metal stairs I met the receptionist who asked me to take a seat. Turning around, the seat turned out to be a busted sofa with a grubby paint-spotted dust sheet over it, which I tried to interpret as a homely small-company thing.
As I sat there I surveyed piles of binders on top of cardboard document boxes on top of filing cabinets, acting as a wall to delineate the reception area. Soon enough I was brought to the meeting room, which allowed me to survey trailing chained multi-way AC outlets across the bare concrete floor and network cables dangling from the exposed AC ducts, the unfinished brick walls and yet more piles of documents acting as walls.
The interview went mostly okay and I aced the programming test. But then, near the usual "any questions" question, things took a turn for the worst.
"So, I can see these offices are temporary," I asked, "when are you expecting to move?"
He gave a confused look. "What do you mean, "temporary?"
"Well, with the trailing wires and piles of binders—"
"We've been here two years," he interrupted, "we designed the decor this way especially and I think it's quite stylish."
Somehow the interview wrapped up very quickly and I never heard back.
Re: I Guess So, Computer Skills, and The Temporary Offices
2010-01-07 09:49
•
by
Buddy
(unregistered)
|
|
Office environment is important.
I was at a place once where there was a significant correlation between hierarchy position and cubical size - major cubical envy. I remember one guy at the bottom of the rung, when he was positioned at his desk, he could lean back slightly and touch his head on the wall. Rented space with a serious lack of good furniture and as a result the ergonomics were awful. People with migraines from bending their heads in funny positions, or back and circulation problems from sitting in bad chairs. A few people (yours truly included) took it upon themselves to fix the ergonomics. The same guy with the pint-sized cubicle, we helped his migraines by stacking a bunch of documents so that his monitor was at eye level. This was a time when large monitors were really heavy beasts, so to have it perched on top like that was probably really dangerous. He said it made a world of difference, no more headaches. Others saw his tower and soon developed tower wars, with tower envy. One guy made a tower of documents away from his the desk, from the floor up, to support his monitor. He was a tall guy so his tower was the highest. While I was there, there were no reports of falling towers, although I would have liked to see one of those big-ass monitors crashing to the floor. I shared a cubicle with my supervisor. She had a really shitty chair with no back support such that she was supporting herself by using her legs on the chair seat. As a result she was developing varicose veins due to lack of circulation. We helped her by using a low flat box as a foot rest to raise her legs and a cushion for back support. She said it helped and her legs didn't hurt any more. Others saw the box and cushion, and so began box and cushion wars with people searching abandoned rooms for loose cushions and whatever. That was a less interesting contest. Unless you're just leaving school and/or are broke, it's a good idea to skip any place that doesn't have proper office furniture. |
Re: I Guess So, Computer Skills, and The Temporary Offices
2010-01-07 10:12
•
by
Mike
(unregistered)
|
|
One of my first interviews out of college was at a programming company started by a member of my roommate's fraternity who had graduated 2 years before us. Should that have been a warning sign? Yes. I could say I was mostly going for interview experience, but I was young and desperate for work, so the honest answer is that I was hopeful and naive. My roommate and I were both being interviewed that day, so we drove over together.
We got to this rented out room in an office complex, and the place was a total dump. I remember that there were a couple desks when we first walked in, and a coffee pot sitting on the floor (not on a small table or anything, I guess that was asking too much?). I didn't like the look of the place from the moment I walked in. So the 'owner' of the company who was the recently graduated Frat guy greeted us both. Expecting some kind of normal interview, I asked which of us he'd like to see first, and was told, "Why don't you both come in?". We were brought into a conference room of sorts, and by conference room I mean a big dumpy looking Table with about 8 chairs around it. The guy starts asking random questions. I'm the type that likes to think about the question for a moment, while my roommate is more an impulsive answerer. The basic format of the interview would be that 'Frat Guy owner' asks question to us both, and my roommate would answer right away. Not wanting to be rude and cut him off, I let him finish, but then Frat Guy owner moves onto the next question, without giving me a chance to answer. I got a few words in, but the obvious 'victor' of the interview was my roommate. I honestly made up my mind after walking in the door. The next day, my roommate tells me that they made him an offer and that he took it. I admitted that I had a bad feeling about the place. After a bit of time there, he realized that this was an example of being able to judge a book from its cover. Aside from crappy development environments and not really ever producing anything, his first pay check was late getting to him, and the paycheck issues didn't end there. Things went a bit down hill, and he kept having problems getting paid the right amount and on time. He quit the place within about 6 months. |
Re: I Guess So, Computer Skills, and The Temporary Offices
2010-01-07 10:20
•
by
Andy
(unregistered)
|
|
I copy-pasted my answers to your stupid test when I found out you had copy-pasted the test. If you can't be bothered, why should I?
|
Re: I Guess So, Computer Skills, and The Temporary Offices
2010-01-07 10:55
•
by
dkf
|
|
I can believe the Computer Skills one. I've had a student try the same on me with his assignment. The bits that were good were pasted from websites (including my own!) and the bits that weren't, well, they would have been suitable for here but I don't believe in posting student code.
He failed, and I took pleasure in failing him. |
| « Insert Comma? | Need Have Have » |
