Love 'Em Or Hate 'Em

Techies are divided about two categories of interview questions: brain teasers and The Five Year Question.

Some, for example, hate any sort of brain teaser: the sort of questions that Microsoft made popular, such as "Why are manhole covers round? or "How would you test this pencil? Joe, a testing manager in Massachussets, says he does his best to answer truthfully and without sarcasm. And, while he may not always enjoy them, he says, he thinks he's reasonably good at the brain teasers.

But, says Joe, "I usually follow up with a question of my own: 'Have you found that people who are good at answering these brain teasers actually turn out to be better employees than those who aren't good at it?' I have yet to find a potential employer who could honestly answer 'Yes' to that question. Usually, they just mumble something about 'We just wanted to get a sense of your thought process' and move on."

Mark is another who dislikes, "Why are manhole covers round?" and "If you're in a row boat on a lake with a bowling ball, and drop the ball into the lake, how much higher does the boat rise?" As Mark explains, "With the latter problem, you can try approaches such as measuring volumes, weight, and applying formulas. You may be right, you may be wrong, but you can try one or more approaches and models. Brain teasers are about how do you try to solve a problem, not whether you solve it. For the manhole question, you either get it or you don't. It's hard to model and get partial credit the way you can with the lake problem. Similar bad brain teasers include the three lightbulbs in a room with two switches, and the two candles that burn at a variable speed." Mark does use these, but carefully: "I typically ask mathematical brain teasers that people often try to solve in one of three or four ways. Only one in ten people get the right answer, but I've often hired people who don't when it's clear they know how to think analytically."

But R. Carls, a .NET software consultant, loved being asked a question about a railroad track circumventing Mars. "I felt that it gave the interviewer some insight into how I thought, and went about coming up with a solution to a problem." The question was phrased in such a way that almost no information was given, just "Two robots parachute on a railroad track circumventing Mars. Write a program to make them meet." Says Carls, "The rest was received from the interviewer by asking questions, such as, 'Do I know what direction they are facing? What language do I write it in? What does READ do? etc.' which I can see would really allow him to see how I think."

Those who include puzzle questions in interviews say it's to see how a candidate deal with challenges. Although most people don't like doing puzzles, says Ofer, "If the candidate tries, battles, and enjoys the challenge (not the puzzle), it shows a spirit that we are looking for. During our work we face many challenges, and we want someone that will not give up easily — a person [who] will try different directions to solve an issue, will investigate and will enjoy the challenge of finding a solution to a hard issue.

In Five Years, I'll Know The Right Answer

The other love-it-or-leave-it question is, "Where do you see yourself in two years, five years, ten years?" Said one techie, "I hate this question because it really does not tell the interviewer anything, especially in our field. My standard response to this question is, 'If you are looking for a specific job title, I cannot give you that, since none of us know what is going to happen in our industry from one year to the next. All I know is that I will doing something in the computer industry.'"

Yet, Jeremy likes to ask the five-year question because, "I usually want the candidates that are forward thinking that can describe an abstract idea. And also I want to avoid poeple who really have no idea what they need to do in one year or five years." Adds Jason, a Java programmer, "Someone who can answer the question, 'Where do you see yourself in 5 years' has at least thought beyond their next paycheck at the very least."

Mark asks the five-year question, too. Like others, he wants to know if the candidate has given thought to her career. But he also sees it as part of his managerial responsibility. "There is an important role 90%+ managers abdicate: managing your employee's career! I ask because I need to know how to progress their career. This, of course, is not my only query on the subject, but it's helpful to understand how they will evolve with the team."

The Candidate's Turn

I haven't gone into much detail about the questions that the job candidate should or shouldn't ask — this article is long enough, already — but I do want to insert a reminder that, if you get the job, you'll be investing your life in these people and in this company. You should ask the best questions (and avoid the bad ones) when you interrogate the interviewer.

For instance, Virginia, a web developer in California had two last questions before the interview ended: what are the two worst things about this job, and the two best things about this job. Nobody of the six people in the room (excluding me) could admit to any best things about the job. I didn't go to work there."

Discuss this article in the DevSource forum.

Discuss The Best and Worst Tech Interview Questions   I just had one of the worst interview experiences of my career, at Adobe no less!... Very true, and this is well suited for any developer. Circumventing?? How do you circumvent a planet?? Do you mean... >>> Post your comment now!

>>> More ASP and .Net Coding Techniques Articles          >>> More By Esther Schindler