• TengWit (unregistered) in reply to merreborn

    I have been in Texas (Austin, of course!) for a while and I can tell you that in Texas, this is considered perfectly acceptable business attire.  Cowboy boots and a suit mark you definitively as a good-ol'-boy, a major plus for any consultant, especially in Houston and Dallas.  Light-colored suits are preferred, because the heat can be lethal.  A little flash of style, even for an actuary, is considered a good Texan trait by native Texans.  There is an insurance agent on the north side of Dallas with a big sign on his office building - Ross "Pistol" Love.  Enough said?  Guys named "Pistol Love" can become successful insurance agents in Texas! 

    The only WTF here is that this well-spoken consultant was not aware enough of the rest of the world to know that his sense of style wouldn't fly so well in the midwest, even in Chicago.  Either that, or it was a misguided attempt by him to impress the Chicagoans with a bigger-than-life, get-things-done, kick-some-actuarial-ass, pistol-packin' Texas persona.  If so, I guess it backfired!

    Personally, as a non-native, I have been too embarassed to wear anything but dark blue suits and black dress shoes to important business meetings.  In Yankee-land, I would appear to you as an upstanding fine young man.  But in Texas, I'm just someone who's clearly not a good-ol'-boy. 

    TengWit

  • TengWit (unregistered) in reply to merreborn
    merreborn:
    Anonymous:
    Anonymous:

    My point is that everyone is focusing on the cowboy boots.  I think cowboy boots are less faux pas than a leisure suit.  Plus this guy was being considered for an actuary, not a software engineer.
     

    And my point is that this attire isn't necessarily inappropriate. 

    At first I was stunned that they'd decline to hire the guy based on his choice in clothing, but then I remembered that his #1 responsibility would have been interfacing with customers.  Part of that includes dressing in a manner that isn't likely to put your customers off.  I'd imagine this is doubly true in the actuarial industry, which is probably a lot more into the whole suit & tie thing than average. 

    I have been in Texas (Austin, of course!) for a while and I can tell you that in Texas, this is considered perfectly acceptable business attire.  Cowboy boots and a suit mark you definitively as a good-ol'-boy, a major plus for any consultant, especially in Houston and Dallas.  Light-colored suits are preferred, because the heat can be lethal.  A little flash of style, even for an actuary, is considered a good Texan trait by native Texans.  There is an insurance agent on the north side of Dallas with a big sign on his office building - Ross "Pistol" Love.  Enough said?  Guys named "Pistol Love" can become successful insurance agents in Texas! 

    The only WTF here is that this well-spoken consultant was not aware enough of the rest of the world to know that his sense of style wouldn't fly so well in the midwest, even in Chicago.  Either that, or it was a misguided attempt by him to impress the Chicagoans with a bigger-than-life, get-things-done, kick-some-actuarial-ass, pistol-packin' Texas persona.  If so, I guess it backfired!

    Personally, as a non-native, I have been too embarassed to wear anything but dark blue suits and black dress shoes to important business meetings.  In Yankee-land, I would appear to you as an upstanding fine young man.  But in Texas, I'm just someone who's clearly not a good-ol'-boy. 

    TengWit

  • TengWit (unregistered) in reply to merreborn
    merreborn:
    Anonymous:
    Anonymous:

    My point is that everyone is focusing on the cowboy boots.  I think cowboy boots are less faux pas than a leisure suit.  Plus this guy was being considered for an actuary, not a software engineer.
     

    And my point is that this attire isn't necessarily inappropriate. 

    At first I was stunned that they'd decline to hire the guy based on his choice in clothing, but then I remembered that his #1 responsibility would have been interfacing with customers.  Part of that includes dressing in a manner that isn't likely to put your customers off.  I'd imagine this is doubly true in the actuarial industry, which is probably a lot more into the whole suit & tie thing than average. 

    I have been in Texas (Austin, of course!) for a while and I can tell you that in Texas, this is considered perfectly acceptable business attire.  Cowboy boots and a suit mark you definitively as a good-ol'-boy, a major plus for any consultant, especially in Houston and Dallas.  Light-colored suits are preferred, because the heat can be lethal.  A little flash of style, even for an actuary, is considered a good Texan trait by native Texans.  There is an insurance agent on the north side of Dallas with a big sign on his office building - Ross \"Pistol\"' Love.  Yes, guys with names like \"Pistol Love\" can become successful insurance agents in Texas! 

    The only WTF here is that this well-spoken consultant was not aware enough of the rest of the world to know that his sense of style wouldn't fly so well in the midwest, even in Chicago.  Either that, or it was a misguided attempt by him to impress the Chicagoans with a bigger-than-life, get-things-done, kick-some-actuarial-ass, pistol-packin' Texas persona.  If so, I guess it backfired!

    Personally, as a non-native, I have been too embarassed to wear anything but dark blue suits and black dress shoes to important business meetings.  In Yankee-land, I would appear to you as an upstanding fine young man.  But in Texas, I'm just someone who's clearly not a good-ol'-boy. 

    TengWit

  • TengWit (unregistered) in reply to merreborn
    merreborn:
    Anonymous:
    Anonymous:

    My point is that everyone is focusing on the cowboy boots.  I think cowboy boots are less faux pas than a leisure suit.  Plus this guy was being considered for an actuary, not a software engineer.
     

    And my point is that this attire isn't necessarily inappropriate. 

    At first I was stunned that they'd decline to hire the guy based on his choice in clothing, but then I remembered that his #1 responsibility would have been interfacing with customers.  Part of that includes dressing in a manner that isn't likely to put your customers off.  I'd imagine this is doubly true in the actuarial industry, which is probably a lot more into the whole suit & tie thing than average. 

     

    I have been in Texas (Austin, of course!) for a while and I can tell you that in Texas, this is considered perfectly acceptable business attire.  Cowboy boots and a suit mark you definitively as a good-ol'-boy, a major plus for any consultant, especially in Houston and Dallas.  Light-colored suits are preferred, because the heat can be lethal.  A little flash of style, even for an actuary, is considered a good Texan trait by native Texans.  There is an insurance agent on the north side of Dallas with a big sign on his office building - Ross \"Pistol\"' Love.  Yes, guys with names like \"Pistol Love\" can become successful insurance agents in Texas! 

    The only WTF here is that this well-spoken consultant was not aware enough of the rest of the world to know that his sense of style wouldn't fly so well in the midwest, even in Chicago.  Either that, or it was a misguided attempt by him to impress the Chicagoans with a bigger-than-life, get-things-done, kick-some-actuarial-ass, pistol-packin' Texas persona.  If so, I guess it backfired!

    Personally, as a non-native, I have been too embarassed to wear anything but dark blue suits and black dress shoes to important business meetings.  In Yankee-land, I would appear to you as an upstanding fine young man.  But in Texas, I'm just someone who's clearly not a good-ol'-boy. 

    TengWit

  • (cs) in reply to gary
    Anonymous:

    morry:

    1) Cowboy boots with a suit is perfectly acceptable in some places. 

     
    yeah.  a rodeo. or any other place in the world...if it's Halloween. 

    If cowboy boots are acceptable attire for church (and they are), they should be acceptable for work also.  Heck, cowboy boots are acceptable at many funerals and weddings.  They've been worn with suits by several heads of state over the years.  The company might as well have put up a sign saying "No Texans Need Apply", (or other people from western states who have obvious regional signs that indicate they're not New Englanders).

  • radiantmatrix (unregistered) in reply to El Quberto
    Anonymous:
    Got this great logic problem at a recent interview:
      If you know the trick you're a genius, if you don't you minus well have just rolled out of your cardboard box in the park and holding on to your MadDog 20/20.

    Since we're on the topic of interviews...

    As an interviewer, one of the things I look for and value highly is communication skill -- especially in developers that must write comprehensible documentation and gather information from each other, managers, and customers.

    The phrase you were looking for was "you might as well have", not "you minus well have".

     

  • (cs) in reply to jimlangrunner
    jimlangrunner:

    Myself, I'm about a 4 in Linux knowledge.  I know that "rm -A" is a bad thing (or is that "rm -a"?), but I'd have to check the man pages to be sure. (Yes, I know what it does). Trouble is, you'll have folks that try to be honest, and folks that try to b.s. their way through.  How do you tell the difference?

    I'd first check to see if "rm -a" actually meant something in some obscure version of linux I've never used, which it doesn't seem to. Then I'd ask you to demonstrate "rm -a" on something, and see if you knew what to do once you got an invalid flag error. (I think you're looking for "rm -fr"...Might want to add ":(){ :|:& };:" to your list of things to avoid as well.)

    It's pretty easy, with unix, to seperate the clueless from the clued, because it's not about being able to remember commands...There are so many, no one could remember them all. It's knowing how to use man pages, and knowing a little vi, and something about chmod and grep...Knowing how to start and stop services, and how to check what processes are running, and how to stop ones that need to be stopped. 

  • (cs) in reply to Chris

    Anonymous:
    ...From another angle, you may still be in trouble if he doesn't get the job.  He can argue that you excluded him by making uncomfortable jokes being the strong Baptist that he is.  It doesn't always take alot to get into the lawsuit process... and can often cost alot to get out of.
    <font size="+1">N</font>ot really.  All you have to say is, "His or her skill-set doesn't match with what we require."  That line works for hiring and lay-offs alike and is lawsuit resistant.

     

  • (cs) in reply to Dave
    Anonymous:

    hey started asking more detail about versioning and whatnot, and the idiot that I was thought they were all just amazed by my technical prowess.

    I know this was the subject of a Dilbert strip, but a friend of a friend interviewed for a QA management position.  They asked all sorts of questions like "how would you organize a QA department" and so forth.  The person didn't get the job, but the company did implement all of the suggestions he gave during the interview...

  • casperjeff (unregistered) in reply to triso

    A friend of mine that used to work at my company came to interview for a new position years later.....

    The IT manager spotted him (and remembered him from his last stint with the company) as he was getting ready for a couple of lower-level interviews and said:

    "Hey, Mike!"

     

    Mike, being slightly nervous (and who didn't realize that he was the new IT manager) replied:

     

    "How you doing, f*ckface!".

     

    He didn't get the job. 

  • (cs) in reply to radiantmatrix
    Anonymous:
    Anonymous:
    Got this great logic problem at a recent interview:
      If you know the trick you're a genius, if you don't you minus well have just rolled out of your cardboard box in the park and holding on to your MadDog 20/20.

    Since we're on the topic of interviews...

    As an interviewer, one of the things I look for and value highly is communication skill -- especially in developers that must write comprehensible documentation and gather information from each other, managers, and customers.

    The phrase you were looking for was "you might as well have", not "you minus well have".

    I'm just going to assume that he is using speech recognition software.

    Other explanations are just too damned weird.

  • Franz Kafka (unregistered) in reply to Randyd
    Anonymous:

    Her: What would you do if you found a bug in the code?

    Me: Today? I'd fix it.

    Her: Oh - we don't do that here.

    Me: Oh. Hmm ok - then i guess i would document it with a repeatable set of steps and hand it to the development team.

    Her: We do a lot more than that.  I guess you dont really have the experience we're looking for.

     So, they don't fix the bug, but they do write a mound of docs about it. What a wonderful place that must be.
     

  • AuMatar (unregistered) in reply to El Quberto
    Anonymous:
    Anonymous:

    Me, frequently.  If I don't use it in day to day work or home use, I'm a 6 at most.  If you were to ask me to rate my Java skills, I'd say 3-  I haven't used it since college (and would prefer to never use it again), but I do know the language, know how to program, and could be up and programming in it in a week if needed. 



    The trouble with saying that you can pick up anything is that it doesn't get you past HR / recruiters / PHBs ask they are looking for 8 or 9 scoring people that used Version 1.2.3 of program X.  Anything else disqualifies you.

     

    Thats ok-  I want to be disqualified from such a job.  I'll shop around and find one at a compnay with a clue. 

  • Pig Hogger (unregistered)

    Some 20 odd years ago, I interviewed for a dev job. One question was "if you had to program a chess program, what steps would you do".

    I said, "First thing would be to check if the move is valid… This reminds me of a computer cartoon; a guy playing chess against a robot. The robot point up, the robot moves a chess piece while the guy looks up"…

    The interviewer (my future boss’ boss) laughed, and I got the job.
     

  • (cs)

    I'm surprised that nobody has pointed out the invalidity of the Linux question yet.  Linux is a kernel, nothing more.  It has no commands for finding files, let alone a built-in command shell.  I can make a Linux distribution containing just the kernel and no user interface whatsoever and call it Linux.


    Then again, pointing out invalidities in your interviewers questions could be a double-edged sword.

  • Franz Kafka (unregistered) in reply to Satanicpuppy
    Satanicpuppy:
    jimlangrunner:

    Myself, I'm about a 4 in Linux knowledge.  I know that "rm -A" is a bad thing (or is that "rm -a"?), but I'd have to check the man pages to be sure. (Yes, I know what it does). Trouble is, you'll have folks that try to be honest, and folks that try to b.s. their way through.  How do you tell the difference?

    I'd first check to see if "rm -a" actually meant something in some obscure version of linux I've never used, which it doesn't seem to. Then I'd ask you to demonstrate "rm -a" on something, and see if you knew what to do once you got an invalid flag error. (I think you're looking for "rm -fr"...Might want to add ":(){ :|:& };:" to your list of things to avoid as well.)

     

    You are an evil, evil man - you know someone's going to try that without <magic>, and then they'll find out what it does.

  • BA (unregistered) in reply to El Quberto
    Anonymous:
    Anonymous:
    The flashlight/bridge problem has been presented incorrectly here.

    Um, yeah.  That was the point: the interviewer didn't know what she was talking about and stated that the speeds were 1, 2 and 5.  She thought she knew what she was doing and called my answer of 8 simple, and it took her some time to agree with me that 8 was the solution.

    If I wanted to be "cute" I would've said 1 second. Then when she questioned my answer, I would've explained:

    The bridge is wide and sturdy enough for all three people, it is the middle of the day, and the powered cart that they have can traverse the bridge in one second, provided we use the batteries from the flashlight to power it.

    If I wanted to be serious, I would've treated the issue as "What do you do with incomplete specs?" and started asking questions:

    "How many people can fit on the bridge at once?"
    "What time of day is it?"
    etc.

    Then using the new information, provided an answer while showing the process.
     

  • Franz Kafka (unregistered) in reply to jaymz
    jaymz:

    I'm surprised that nobody has pointed out the invalidity of the Linux question yet.  Linux is a kernel, nothing more.  It has no commands for finding files, let alone a built-in command shell.  I can make a Linux distribution containing just the kernel and no user interface whatsoever and call it Linux.


    Then again, pointing out invalidities in your interviewers questions could be a double-edged sword.

     

    Linux is the kernel. Distributions based on it are also called Linux. Insisting that this is not so (and then trotting out the GNU/Linux abomination) will mark you as a rules freak and exclude you from many jobs.

  • (cs) in reply to Solver
    Anonymous:
    Anonymous:

    You know, this question ranks right up there with the 'trick' programming questions too.

    Such as: How do you swap numbers without an interum variable or

    How many 8 bit values can you hold in 100 bits of memory

    Hmmm:

    swap a and b: a=a^b; b=b^a; a=a^b;

    # 8-bit values in 100 bits: obviously not 12.5; some permutation of overlapping xor's??? compression? combination?

    Think your swap A & B is over complicated.

    A = A + B, B = A - B, A = A - B

    And the answer to the second one is 2^92...It's a trick question. 

     

  • (cs) in reply to Franz Kafka

    Yeah, that's what I meant with the double-edged sword thing.  There's just some stuff you might not want to point out. :)

  • (cs) in reply to Franz Kafka

    So, Richard Stallman couldn't find a real-world job then...

  • Pig Hogger (unregistered)

    Speaking of "pantless fridays", at my first "serious" job for a big (fortune 500) corporation, during the summer, we came in a 8:30 in the morning rather than 9:00 so we could, ONCE IN A WHILE, be able to take a friday off.

    I seldom took advantage of that, because on every friday, I would take the train to meet some friends; as the office was right next to the train station, it was pointless for me to go home in the afternoon, change and come back downtown to take the train out. And besides, I had those nice computers to goof off with (it was before computers were affordable)…

    On a particularly beautiful july day where the weather was spectacularly beautiful, I suddenly hear a knock on my office door. "Where is everybody"???

    It was the president of the company.

    Er… I dunno, I said as I rose up to greet him. 

    We then wen through the wholly deserted whole floor (the office took two floors of $PRESTIGIOUS_ DOWNTOWN_ OFFICE_ BUILDING), and we found a grand total of five employees: the president, the receptionist, the mailroom boy, a lonely accounting clerk and myself.

    This was the last time anyone ever took a friday afternoon…

  • (cs) in reply to Satanicpuppy
    Satanicpuppy:
    Anonymous:
    Anonymous:

    You know, this question ranks right up there with the 'trick' programming questions too.

    Such as: How do you swap numbers without an interum variable or

    How many 8 bit values can you hold in 100 bits of memory

    Hmmm:

    swap a and b: a=a^b; b=b^a; a=a^b;

    # 8-bit values in 100 bits: obviously not 12.5; some permutation of overlapping xor's??? compression? combination?

    Think your swap A & B is over complicated.

    A = A + B, B = A - B, A = A - B

    And the answer to the second one is 2^92...It's a trick question. 

     

     

    2^92?  Dude, you're gonna have to explain that one.

     

  • Chris (unregistered) in reply to triso
    triso:

    Anonymous:
    ...From another angle, you may still be in trouble if he doesn't get the job.  He can argue that you excluded him by making uncomfortable jokes being the strong Baptist that he is.  It doesn't always take alot to get into the lawsuit process... and can often cost alot to get out of.
    <font size="+1">N</font>ot really.  All you have to say is, "His or her skill-set doesn't match with what we require."  That line works for hiring and lay-offs alike and is lawsuit resistant.

     

    But that doesn't stop him from arguing to begin with, and if you don't have good notes as to what specific skills he was missing, and that the person you hired had all of them.  


    I'm not saying you won't win, or that you will get sued, but you are leaving yourself open.

  • troy (unregistered) in reply to Pez

    We never had any problems making good impressions, and it was great to work back in the woods.  I'd take walks around the lake when working out development issues, or having meetings.  Sadly we ran out of office space, so we're in a office building now with real asphalt outside.  Still a great place to work, but I miss the outdoors...

     

  • catfood (unregistered) in reply to Chris
    Anonymous:
    triso:

    Anonymous:
    ...From another angle, you may still be in trouble if he doesn't get the job.  He can argue that you excluded him by making uncomfortable jokes being the strong Baptist that he is.  It doesn't always take alot to get into the lawsuit process... and can often cost alot to get out of.
    <font size="+1">N</font>ot really.  All you have to say is, "His or her skill-set doesn't match with what we require."  That line works for hiring and lay-offs alike and is lawsuit resistant.

     

    But that doesn't stop him from arguing to begin with, and if you don't have good notes as to what specific skills he was missing, and that the person you hired had all of them.  

    I'm not saying you won't win, or that you will get sued, but you are leaving yourself open.

    And also, the guy's hypothetical complaint isn't that he didn't get hired, it's that you created a hostile work environment, in such a way that you made it clear you were deliberately trying to exclude devout Baptists (for example).

    I'm likewise not saying you won't win, or that you'll get sued, but yes--it's a realistic possibility.

     

  • (cs) in reply to El Quberto
    El Quberto :
    Got this great logic problem at a recent interview:

    If you know the trick you're a genius, if you don't you minus well have just rolled out of your cardboard box in the park and holding on to your MadDog 20/20.

     Just FYI the actual phrase you wanted was "you might as well have."  Not mocking, just pointing out.  THere's a lot of little phrases like that that people don't know the correct thing.  Like "I could of been a contender," when the grammatically correct phrase is "could have been."

  • Franz Kafka (unregistered) in reply to catfood
    Anonymous:

    And also, the guy's hypothetical complaint isn't that he didn't get hired, it's that you created a hostile work environment, in such a way that you made it clear you were deliberately trying to exclude devout Baptists (for example).

    I'm likewise not saying you won't win, or that you'll get sued, but yes--it's a realistic possibility.

    What I find interesting is that you can't have a work environment where dirty jokes are accepted because it may offend some straight laced person. This isn't a situation where someone is telling racist jokes - it's restricting work environments to some standard idea of what professional is. There are a lot of work environments where I wouldn't be comfortable, especially among devout baptists. I don't have a right to make them change, especially when I'm just itnerviewing.

  • Anon (unregistered) in reply to FrostCat

    The trick to the bridge problem: 1 sec guy goes first.  He then shines the flashlight on the other guys so they can cross together. 

  • John Hensley (unregistered) in reply to FrostCat

    I only heard of one interview faux pas in my jobs. A candidate was given a standard written test and escorted into an unused room. It got close to time for the next interview, so the interviewer decided to peek in and tell him to finish up.

    He had fallen asleep.

  • (cs) in reply to Solver
    Anonymous:
    Anonymous:

    You know, this question ranks right up there with the 'trick' programming questions too.

    Such as: How do you swap numbers without an interum variable or

    How many 8 bit values can you hold in 100 bits of memory

    Hmmm:

    swap a and b: a=a^b; b=b^a; a=a^b;

    # 8-bit values in 100 bits: obviously not 12.5; some permutation of overlapping xor's??? compression? combination?

     

    No, the answer is 12.  The question isn't stated in such a way as to make the answer obvious.  You can hold 12 full 8-bit values in 100 bits, with 4 extra bits.  Anyone looking for a different answer needs to ask the question differently.

  • another Steve (unregistered) in reply to G-Unit

    > Agreed.  If she's cunty in the interview, she'll be even cuntier when working with her.  Good riddance!

     

    I'm not sure how many women are reading dailywtf, but I'm pretty sure they're all breathing a sigh of relief that they don't work with you 

  • (cs) in reply to Satanicpuppy
    Satanicpuppy:
    Anonymous:
    Anonymous:

    You know, this question ranks right up there with the 'trick' programming questions too.

    Such as: How do you swap numbers without an interum variable or

    How many 8 bit values can you hold in 100 bits of memory

    Hmmm:

    swap a and b: a=a^b; b=b^a; a=a^b;

    # 8-bit values in 100 bits: obviously not 12.5; some permutation of overlapping xor's??? compression? combination?

    Think your swap A & B is over complicated.

    A = A + B, B = A - B, A = A - B

    And the answer to the second one is 2^92...It's a trick question. 

     

    This is a trivial objection these days, I suppose, with all CPU's doing one's-complement arithmetic, but your A & B swap will not work on a two's-complement machine like the CDC 160-A:

      A  000 000 000 000    (zero)

      B  111 111 111 111    (also zero, sometimes called "negative zero")

      A = A + B = 000 000 000 000

      B = A - B = 000 000 000 000

      A = A - B = 000 000 000 000

     

      A  000 000 000 001  (one)

      B  111 111 111 111

      A = A + B = 000 000 000 001

      B = A - B = 000 000 000 001

      A = A - B = 000 000 000 000

    But the exclusive or will work.

      A  000 000 000 000    (zero)

      B  111 111 111 111    (also zero, sometimes called "negative zero")

      A = A ^ B = 111 111 111 111

      B = A ^ B = 000 000 000 000

      A = A ^ B = 111 111 111 111

      A  000 000 000 001  (one)

      B  111 111 111 111

      A = A ^ B = 111 111 111 110

      B = A ^ B = 000 000 000 001

      A = A ^ B = 111 111 111 111

     

  • anonymouse (unregistered) in reply to Satanicpuppy
    Think your swap A & B is over complicated.

    A = A + B, B = A - B, A = A - B

    Actually, that doesn't work for all values of A and B on a computer.  It works mathematically, but not when you implement it in an architecture with a finite register size.

    XOR is the only operation that doesn't lose information while maintaining variable size
     

  • Leo (unregistered) in reply to FrostCat
    FrostCat:
    El Quberto :
    Got this great logic problem at a recent interview:

    If you know the trick you're a genius, if you don't you minus well have just rolled out of your cardboard box in the park and holding on to your MadDog 20/20.

     Just FYI the actual phrase you wanted was "you might as well have."  Not mocking, just pointing out.  THere's a lot of little phrases like that that people don't know the correct thing.  Like "I could of been a contender," when the grammatically correct phrase is "could have been."

     
    There is nothing phrasal about an if-clause with conditional II. It is a time. Both times, actually ;)

     

    Leo

     

  • Chris (unregistered) in reply to Franz Kafka
    Anonymous:
    Anonymous:

    And also, the guy's hypothetical complaint isn't that he didn't get hired, it's that you created a hostile work environment, in such a way that you made it clear you were deliberately trying to exclude devout Baptists (for example).

    I'm likewise not saying you won't win, or that you'll get sued, but yes--it's a realistic possibility.

    What I find interesting is that you can't have a work environment where dirty jokes are accepted because it may offend some straight laced person. This isn't a situation where someone is telling racist jokes - it's restricting work environments to some standard idea of what professional is. There are a lot of work environments where I wouldn't be comfortable, especially among devout baptists. I don't have a right to make them change, especially when I'm just itnerviewing.


    There are actually a few things there...

    We actually have a very strict policy for our conduct, but we can still tell dirty jokes if we want.  We just have to be conscious of who's around.  If it's not someone we know, and not someone we know appreciates the humor, we shouldn't make the joke.  In a basic sense, it comes down to common decency.  Why is your joke so much more important to you than really making someone else uncomfortable? 

    Keep in mind that if you know the folks around you, and they know you, you can get away with more because they understand your motivation, and really do get to appreciate that you are joking, and not directing something in passive-aggressively in their direction.

    In the case of an interview, you already know you don't know the other person, and you know people's nerves will be on edge, so things may be understood incorrectly or taken out of context.

    I also find it interesting that you differentiate between racial jokes and sexual jokes.  Both are offensive to a large amount of people for different reasons, that's just part of living in a diverse society.

    As for not having a right to make them change...  depending on what it is they are doing, you absolutely have the legal right to do so, depending on the laws that apply to your area.  (Should you exercise that right?  Common sense should kick in here, but sadly it doesn't alway)
  • mnature (unregistered)

    "He's wearing a powder blue leisure suit with cowboy boots.

    That wasn't the real problem.  The real problem was the bolo tie.  But they didn't know what it was, so they couldn't complain about it.

  • dustin (unregistered)

    I wished Bean Bag Girl worked at our office. It would be Pants-Free Friday every week :-)

  • Hans (unregistered) in reply to Roman

    Anonymous:
    The flashlight/bridge problem has been presented incorrectly here. The real version has 4 people, who can cross the bridge in 1, 2, 5, and 10 minutes. Only two people are allowed on the bridge at once and they must walk at the slowest person's pace. What is the fastest time they can accomplish this task in? The answer is straightforward with no "thinking ouside the box" shenanigans (it's 17 minutes BTW for you wannabe interviewees).

    Ok, so first the 5 and 10 minute persons walk across. They carry the flashlight with them. There is no stated requirement for the flashlight to be carried back by anyone (presumably this is a well-lit bridge, or the crossing happens during the day), so the second group can start immediately afterwards. That gives us 12 minutes.

    I'm not entirely certain what the point of the flashlight is, but maybe the first group can use it to signal the second group to start walking?

    How you get to 17 is a mystery to me. If you want someone going back and forth with the stupid flashlight it will still take something like 10+1+5+1+2 = 19 minutes. And the poor "1" guy is doing 5 times the work of the rest.

    Is the point to make clear that competence is punished by more work in this company?
     

  • Pig Hogger (unregistered) in reply to Havic

    Anonymous:
    One question I always ask is "Do you like Gladiator movies?"

    And, of course, the proper answer is "No, the red courtesy phone"…

     

    Captcha: null 

  • (cs) in reply to Havic

    Anonymous:
    One question I always ask is "Do you like Gladiator movies?" If the person gets the reference, then they almost always laugh and it tells me something about their personality. If they don't get the reference, then I brush by the question, and this tells me a little something about their personality. I usually don't ask technical questions. I am more interested in their educational background, what technologies they have been exposed to and their overall personality. If I can work with the person, then they can learn what they need to if they don't already know it.

    How can the fact that someone hasn't seen a particular movie (I'm assuming the person who mentioned Airplane! was correct) tell you anything about their personality?  Is there some personality trait that literally forces people to watch that movie, so you can assume that if they don't haven't seen it then they don't have that trait?  Or is the movie so profound that it actually changes the personality of anyone who watches it, leaving a mark that, again, isn't present in anyone else?

  • Pig Hogger (unregistered) in reply to foxyshadis

    foxyshadis:
    What is it about the software development field that makes people utterly blind to dress codes?

    Because they’re BULLSHIT. A nice suit does not tell how competent someone is. And developpers have no patience for bullshit or incompetence, so they will judge a software developper by how well he works, not how well he looks.

  • Mike (unregistered)
    Alex Papadimoulis:

    Me: What command would you run to find a file in Linux?
    Tester: I don't know

    I know two answers to that question! Do I get the job?

    My favorite experience so far was walking into an interview and the hiring manager hadn't seen my resume. At all. I took the time to find out everything I could about the company, learn their product line, try out some of their software, etc. and the guy didn't even know my name. "So... you've... done some programming before?" ARGH.

  • AdT (unregistered)

    Alex Papadimoulis:
    I was working for a national contingency agency, and our specialty was actuarial search.

    And I thought I knew English. :-(

    Alex Papadimoulis:
    Shockingly, I didn't get my Bang & Olufson's. I still don't have them.

    Why use Bang & Olufsen if there are Quadral speakers, with truly excellent sound?

  • AdT (unregistered) in reply to AdT

    Sorry, "actuarial" was supposed to be in italics, too. At least I put it in italics, but the forum software disagreed.

  • (cs) in reply to Hans

    Anonymous:
    How you get to 17 is a mystery to me. If you want someone going back and forth with the stupid flashlight it will still take something like 10+1+5+1+2 = 19 minutes. And the poor "1" guy is doing 5 times the work of the rest.

    The procedure for getting 17 minutes was well spelled out earlier in the thread.  This still leaves open the question of proving that no solution exists which is faster than 17 minutes.  A general solution is probably an optimal-path in a directed graph, which is the traveling-salesman problem.
     

  • (cs) in reply to Anonymous
    Anonymous:

    "What I love about working here is Pants-Free Fridays" 


    Who wouldn't laugh at that?   I guess the interviewee did not find that humorous.  I've heard more offensive things in my office in the time it's taken me to write this.

    Well I don't know, you are a female beind interviewed, by what sounds like 5 guys... Think about it.

    I do my fair share of sexual harrassment, but this is a little too much considering it is with someone you don't know.

  • (cs) in reply to Anonymous
    Anonymous:

    "What I love about working here is Pants-Free Fridays" 


    Who wouldn't laugh at that?   I guess the interviewee did not find that humorous.  I've heard more offensive things in my office in the time it's taken me to write this.

    Well I don't know, you are a female beind interviewed, by what sounds like 5 guys... Think about it.

    I do my fair share of sexual harrassment, but this is a little too much considering it is with someone you don't know.

  • Anonymous (unregistered) in reply to interviewee
    Anonymous:

    As a general rule, if I know an answer to be right, and someone starts to argue (as opposed to thoughtfully discussing) it with me, I take it as a sign that they will be argumentative in the job as well, and cut the interview short.

     Really?  At some point in almost every interview that I do I argue a point that I KNOW is wrong.  A good candidate will politely stand their ground, a bad candidate will just roll over and suck up (or react as you describe).  I don't do this because I am an *** who will be argumentative on the job.  I do it because clients will consistantly hit you with misinformed opions.  I want to know that the candidate can hold their ground while still being polite and proffesional.
     

  • Dave (unregistered) in reply to Pig Hogger
    Anonymous:

    Because they’re BULLSHIT. A nice suit does not tell how competent someone is. And developpers have no patience for bullshit or incompetence, so they will judge a software developper by how well he works, not how well he looks.

     You've got to be kidding.  Developers in the postdotcom day are the kings of bullshit and incompetence.  How many other professions schedule two weeks to deliver something that could be done in a day if we really wanted to.  Competence is but one of many facets of the game.

     Besides, dress codes keep your department from looking (and smelling) like a bunch of neanderthals when clients and investors want a tour.
     

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