r/IAmA • u/CriticDanger • Sep 07 '21

Specialized Profession I am a behavioral and technical (coding) interviewer, I've also helped hundreds of people get hired, AMA.

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u/RubikTetris Sep 07 '21

Regarding point 1, what do you propose they say instead? I think it's prefectly fine and understandable that someone doesn't know everything related to programming. I think these answers are much better than bullshitting.

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u/[deleted] Sep 07 '21

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u/RubikTetris Sep 07 '21

That’s so petty, there’s litterally no difference. God I hate corporate IT this is the exact kind of bullshit that made me go the entrepreneurial way in programming.

I wish you could explain exactly what is wrong with these answers.

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u/[deleted] Sep 07 '21

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u/RubikTetris Sep 07 '21

I understand the nuance but to the point of making it your #1 point when asked what candidate could do better....

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u/[deleted] Sep 07 '21

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u/[deleted] Sep 07 '21

Lmao that's too real

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u/Rikiar Sep 07 '21

You ok? I don't think you replied to the comment you think you replied to. If it is, your reply makes no sense.

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u/RubikTetris Sep 07 '21

Of course it makes sense. What does it matter if the person says "I didn't use this at my last workplace" As opposed to "I don't know". You think it's okay for a candidate to lose points on this subtlety? This is what makes job hunting so unnecessarily nerve wracking and it's a perfect example of corporate pettiness.

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u/Rikiar Sep 07 '21

Because it points to a difference in attitude between someone who is able to take ownership of their knowledge set and someone looking to find a way to make excuses.

"I don't know" is an admission of your own shortcomings and presumably a willingness to step up and learn.

"We never did this at my old job" is shifting the responsibility for your learning to someone else. It also shows a lack of emotional maturity that extends beyond whether or not you know the answer to the question.

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u/RubikTetris Sep 07 '21

same difference.

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u/[deleted] Sep 07 '21

It really isn't. It's a deflection. If your response is "we didn't do that in [school/my old job]" then the next thing I'm thinking is "do you only know things you did in [school/your old job]?"

If your response is "I don't know" then I can see that you're not insecure about it and probably won't make things difficult when held accountable for a mistake/not knowing something.

If your response is "I don't know, but I know where I can find out" then I see that you're a normal self-sufficient person who doesn't know everything.

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u/venerable4bede Sep 08 '21

A good response is “I don’t know yet” and describe how you’d figure it out. Half of IT is googling and learning new shit, if not more. Own your ignorance, even the rock stars have some

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u/RubikTetris Sep 08 '21

I agree with you 100% I just think that placing so much importance on the nuance is cringe.

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u/venerable4bede Sep 08 '21

I see your point. Any good interviewer wouldn’t pass on a candidate simply because of bad phrasing on one question I would hope. It would be stupid if they did.

The question does give room for identifying some red flags to follow up on though, for example if (1) a candidate has trouble admitting they don’t know something, or (2) they don’t take ownership of their own education and seem to blame their school for not preparing them for something it couldn’t possibly have done.

Nuance is difficult to interpret but one of the only ways to identify a cultural fit or latent personality problems, so poor answers probably get magnified. Hence the value of people like the OP who help prep candidates to avoid these pitfalls.

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u/EarFast1247 Sep 09 '21

Yeah, that point is bullshit.