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Ask HN: What do you wish interviewers had asked you?

2 points by mannyv ↗ HN
Everyone's had really dumb/bad interview questions hurled at them, and a common theme seems to be "why are they asking these dumb questions instead of the ones that matter?"

So - what questions do you want interviewers to ask? And where should the conversation go?

I'll start - when a backend/infrastructure person, they should ask me "What information do you need to design a backend for X/Y/Z? What technologies do you lean towards, and what tools/budget/personnel do you need?"

This should evolve (some would say devolve) into a discussion about budget, scalability, devops, tooling, skillsets, users, requirements, documentation, etc.

How about for your skillset/area?

7 comments

[ 2.5 ms ] story [ 38.8 ms ] thread
kstenerud
"Here's a sketch overview of our current architecture. Here are our rough numbers, and where we expect our business growth to be. What would you say is the biggest pitfall or challenge we're likely to face, and how would you mitigate it?"
throwaway211
"Is there anything you'd like to mention that you've not had a chance to do so so far?"

Don't say it like a police interrogation. Do make it clear there's plenty of time should a candidate need it.

On time, never signal there's a fixed cutoff time until interview over. For the right candidate there shouldn't be. As a manager it's your job to be able to make time.

basementcat
"Making time" doesn’t work if you have another interview scheduled right after this one. Even if it is the last interview of the day, the candidate may have a plane to catch and/or traffic to beat.
throwaway211
That's when you use skills of management and what you're being paid for.

Not packing stuff back to back without important but non time critical padding's not always an option.

Solutions will depend on your context. I agree pushing back time isn't a valid option, it's not a work culture I believe in.

How about: Using post interview time that should be saved for reflection after the interview §. Trust a colleague to do it or at least start. Make time before you need time by managing it throughout the process.

Or many more options depending on context. Perhaps you're both on flights leaving from the same airport?

§ 'Reflection time' being so important but so often missed. Planning stuff without reflection time is to leadership what assuming the critical path will always be achieved is to project management. Both destined to achieve failure.

basementcat
Sounds like your organization does interviews in a very different way than organizations I’ve been a part of. Usually I’m assigned a 30-40 min block with a candidate after which I have to deliver them to the next interviewer (or release to HR). If I take 5 mins longer with a candidate then I’ve just robbed 5 mins from their next interview (hope they can complete their leetcode puzzles 5 mins faster) and I have 5 mins less to evaluate the next candidate. I try to let everyone have the best opportunity to show what they’ve got (I let them do the interview outside if the weather is nice, try to tailor questions to their resume, etc)
JohnFen
That sounds horrific. My sympathies. Not every place is like that.
ggm
"Putting to one side your absolutely atrocious interview code outcome which we put down to asinine youth and stupidity, if we decided to employ you, is there the remotest chance we wouldn't be making a mistake, noting that the code was .. really shit"

I remain unsure how I'd answer. The truthful one is "yes I am educable but no I cannot promise this kind of stupidity won't happen again"