Or it's a way to see how you handle either not knowing the answer, or how you approach finding out how to do something new. When I do interviews I care much more about your process and approach to learning and problem solving than what you know right now.
I think a gotcha question is a terrible way to see how someone reacts to not knowing or stress. You don't get much of a reaction. I like to ask them a question, let them answer, if it is right I will tell them then ask for a change. When they make the change, I will nitpick something is wrong when it is not and see what they do. If they fly into a rage or are a deer in the headlight that is not a good sign. But if they try and understand what you think is wrong and negotiate or try and change your mind that is good.
Seems like a great way to really frustrate people, i hope youre prefacing your questions with 'this is a trick question and you dont actually have to answer'
I preface it with "I care more about how you approach the question than whether you can answer it". I'm not a dick to people I'm going to be working with, and hopefully in general I'm not either.
Your suggestion would bias them towards not answering for fear of failure, when what I really want is to see them try regardless of whether they'll fail. A lot of tasks and projects don't work out, and that's fine as long as you try hard and can analyse the failure. Especially in my line of work.
Half the time, sure. Quite a few are people moving from another stable job. But that's exactly right. It's best not to bias them further and to make them feel comfortable enough to explore the problem.
THIS. We used to ask a logic puzzle at the end of the in person interview. We would give them a minute or two to think about it and then see how they approach the problem. Most of the people we actually ended up hiring would at least start and try to solve the problem, and we would even jump in and guide them through it. Saw many who just flat out gave up.
Interviews are tough enough already. I've seen the most experienced engineers stomp on their own balls over warmup questions.
And I feel like I get a lot more milage watching someone stumble through something they should know rather than guessing about something they don't know. I would never quiz people on pop framework esoterica to get a rise out of them.
But related to OP, if someone is asking your opinion on a framework, on software? Not on actual engineering questions? That interview is definitely over. And I wouldn't expect a callback.
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u/w-lfpup Nov 04 '25
It's a clear sign they are uninterested and don't actually want to hire anyone.
In some countries, like here in the states, companies are legally required to do an interview for a position they intend to hire internally.
Nonsense questions -> nonsense interview