[Closed] Interview Questions - Please suggest some

"What are you wearing?"

Can you remember the following list:

Black, no sugar.
2 teas, one with sugar
3 white coffeers, two with sugar.

Or the one i always hate "tell me the best thing about you and your biggest fault" so you have to scramble to try and turn the negaive to a positive.

My two favourite slightly odd questions:

What makes you want to jump out of bed in the morning?
What keeps you awake at night?

And obviously: are you any good with broken ankles?

Technical or general interest questions?

* What differences are there between Oracle and MS databases? (Or whatever DB the candidate's mentioned on his cv). Which do you prefer?
* Define "big data".
* How does data architecture change with scale?
* Tell me about the biggest misuse or misinterpretation of data that you've seen recently in the press.

More:
* Do you think that NoSQL is being over-hyped at the moment? Or the interest justified?
* When would you chose NoSQL over a relational database?

* Tell me about the last time you had to make a significant change to a production database.

And obviously: are you any good with broken ankles?

* Tell me about ladders, and the secure use thereof.

So, you've got to design a database system for all the NHS's data and the system architect has suggested 64 bit Excel as the framework. Talk me through the next steps......

wow - I wasn't expecting useful answers. Thanks Molgrim I will be using some of those

If you're a techie in their area, come armed with some of the challenges you faced last week! I interview software engineers and that approach can work really well.

If you're not techie in the DB domain, mogrim's questions are good ones, but make sure the interviewee understands he has to explain his answer in terms you can understand.

What would you do with a unicorn?

If you're not techie in the DB domain, mogrim's questions are good ones, but make sure the interviewee understands he has to explain his answer in terms you can understand.

Good point, be wary of asking for technical differences between Oracle and SQL Server if you don't know what a tablespace is, for example... Although a fairly senior role like an architect should be able to explain this in terms that a pointy-haired manager can understand, of course.

Personally when interviewing I like nice, open questions - it gives the candidate a bit of space to show his or her knowledge, you can then ask for more details on particular areas of interest.

Ask the candidate to nominate which members of the they would Shag, Marry or Kill. They will have 30 seconds to make their nominations and if offered the post they'll form the basis of a binding contract.

What do you most fear about this job?

What do you think I am thinking about you after your last answer?

What's the best thing you have learnt about yourself in the last year?

And a sweeper for the end....What's the one question you wished I'd asked you today, and why do you wish I'd asked it?

What would you do with a unicorn?

A tough question to answer, a horny problem indeed.

[i]Personally when interviewing I like nice, open questions - it gives the candidate a bit of space to show his or her knowledge, you can then ask for more details on particular areas of interest[/i]

Me too.

I am reasonably techie so can ask questions and understand the answers. Just looking for something different to my standard ones.

I normally ask a techie question to get the techie answer and then ask them to answer it again as if I was a non-tech customer just to see if he can switch between vocabularies.

What filesystem would you use for storing large amounts of publicly available pornography and why?

I don't think that there's a right answer, but it should be fun hearing the thought processes.

Or the one i always hate "tell me the best thing about you and your biggest fault" so you have to scramble to try and turn the negaive to a positive.

Or, go prepared into an interview. The only reason you'd have to 'scramble' for an answer to this question is if you'd never had an interview before and didn't have an Internet connection.

1.Have you got a sister?
2.Is she fit?

How many chickens are alive at any one time in India?

(It's a through-process logic question - they talk you through their method of arriving at a proximate number)

Candidate A ) Er... quite a few I guess, maybe a few million?

Candidate B ) Chicken is a popular source of meat in developing countries; the population of India is X; average family size of 5; etc etc.

Now which candidate would you be interested in?

A friend was recently asked at a job (lecturer) what book he'd recommend every undergraduate read.

mogrim - Member

* What differences are there between Oracle and MS databases? (Or whatever DB the candidate's mentioned on his cv). Which do you prefer?
* Define "big data".
* How does data architecture change with scale?
* Tell me about the biggest misuse or misinterpretation of data that you've seen recently in the press.

I'd answer the last question with reference to people's obsession with trying to define big data™

How many chickens are alive at any one time in India?

I once had 30 minutes to establish whether it was better to run or walk cattle through a meat processing plant.

Solved it in just under 20 mins. Would have been quicker, but us lawyers aren't known for our mental arithmetic.

How many chickens are alive at any one time in India?

How many footballs can you fit in a London taxi?

(These are famously the types of questions techy people are asked in interview for jobs at Google.)

[url= http://www.wikihow.com/Spot-a-Pathological-Liar ]How to spot a pathological liar[/url]

I should apply to Google then cos that sort of thing is right up my street!

[i]How many footballs can you fit in a London taxi?

[/i]

"I've no idea, I've never tried. Or did you mean 'what is the maximum number of footballs that could be fitted into a London taxi'?"

if they're after techies, they're after pedants 😉

If a movie was being made of your life and you could
choose the actor/actress to play you, who would you
choose and why?

Ok then, how about: Why are manhole covers round?

I got asked one about telling time with two lengths of rope that burned with different, random burn rates. I didn't get the job and gave up on that one a while ago.

To see if you want him to work with you, you may need to find out his attitude.

Q: "Do you do as you are told?" If yes, why? If no, why?

If s/he answers yes and justifies his/her answer then s/he might not an independent thinker.

If s/he answers no and justifies his/her answer then s/he might be a trouble maker.

(If s/he sticks to your question of yes this or no that but forgot the in-between answer then s/he might not be the person that can search for solution outside of the norm) If s/he gives you the in-between answer then s/he is might be indecisive.

Whatever ways you win. You now have to decide what type of person you want to work alongside you.

🙂

Q: "Do you do as you are told?" If yes, why? If no, why?

I always say yes (when I'm told to do something) and then just do what I feel like regardless.

With all this talk about 'football:taxi ratios', 'manhole cover engineering' and 'rope burn rates', are you not in danger of simply employing someone on the basis that they can talk bollocks in a coherent manner?

employing someone on the basis that they can talk bollocks in a coherent manner

Is he hiring for a role in management consultancy?

How did you feel when you last got moderated, and how did you overcome the feeling of anger and helplessness when you where banned for a period of time.

footflaps - Member

Q: "Do you do as you are told?" If yes, why? If no, why?

I always say yes (when I'm told to do something) and then just do what I feel like regardless.

But then I usually probe further to find out the reason(s) sometimes by being the devil's advocate to see if the person can reveal his true nature. I might even thrown in a few scenarios to see how the person deal with that problems.

You can read the person by simply looking at their facial expression under pressure. I like putting them under pressure.

I presume you will already have a techie in the room to ask those questions...

If so I would be focusing on trying to find out what type of person they are, whether they would work well with you and your existing team, whether they would work well with your stakeholders.

Ask them how they would explain something fairly complex, like big data, to a Developer. Then how would they explain the same term to a Product Manager. How would their approach change, and why?

edit - you said that up there already!

Who would win in a fight, a badger or a baboon? And why?

BillOddie - Member

Who would win in a fight, a badger or a baboon? And why?

It will be a draw. The badger is powerful but dumb whereas the baboon is clever but not as strong.

There my answer.

Well he seems nice enough and admitted when he didn't know something. Didn't mention the Baby Robin even when given the perfect opportunity.

Do we hire him?

NO hire me! I'm nice enough too and will admit I know nothing any time you ask me something I don't know, which might be a lot of the time if it's databasey stuff, but I do know about baby robins and unicorns.

Interesting one of my questions was "Are you a pragmatist or a purist" so you would have been in with a real chance!

😀

Interesting one of my questions was "Are you a pragmatist or a purist"

I think if I were the interviewee I'd have asked you if you'd got that from the Bumper Book of Awkward Interview Questions.

Do you like marmite?

(Obviously they don't get the job if they don't like marmite.)

It will be a draw. The badger is powerful but dumb whereas the baboon is clever but not as strong.

Baboon all day, all night and all next day, no problem.

English common badger or Honey Badger?

Did you not ask the "29er, 650b, or 26"?" question?

How did he answer the Pragmatist question then? I'd have had to think about that as it's not like there is a right answer, is there?

Good point - When I asked him about (database) sizing he never mentioned that 650(M)B brings your data to life.

What would you do with a unicorn?

What wouldn't I do with a unicorn? Filthy buggers.

Best wishes WCA. Hope you're well...

[img] http://www.ethicaljobs.com.au/blog/would-you-rather-fight-a-horse-sized-duck-or-100-duck-sized-horses/image_mini [/img]

[url= http://www.glassdoor.com/blog/25-tough-interview-questions-uk-edition/ ]Would you rather fight a horse-sized duck or 100 duck sized horses?[/url]

[i]How did he answer the Pragmatist question then? I'd have had to think about that as it's not like there is a right answer, is there? [/i]

Not that well, he sort of dithered and then said a bit of both.

In my opinion the correct answer is along the lines of "Which ever approach is the optimum for the given situation as by nature I am a pragmatist"

I once had 30 minutes to establish whether it was better to run or walk cattle through a meat processing plant.

Lawyer you say? - surely the point of the question was to determine how many hours you intended to bill for answering a 30minute question?

adds a few more to the potential interview question list.

You also have to remember that the interview is a 2 way process (well maybe in better times) I'd avoid the questions that make it look like you just googled for stupid interview questions. Fastest way to put people off working there, one guy I worked with did that and circulated his "Awesome" questions for the rest of us to look.

I'd think something from the Expert video that was on here last week on how do you deal with explaining technical information to non technical people who are also customers without offending them or throwing them out of windows.

I'd avoid the questions that make it look like you just googled for stupid interview questions.

"You have 20 minutes to find out whether you want to spend the next several years working with me, you can ask me anything you like and that's the best you could come up with?"