Subject: Strange Interviewing question 
Distribution: world
Organization: Job hunters use Parachute
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1992 18:13:50 +0000


In article <Bw0z9J.2BE@apollo.hp.com> goykhman_a@apollo.hp.com writes:

> 
> In article <718662216snx@apusapus.demon.co.uk> tfj@apusapus.demon.co.uk
> (Trevor Jenkins) writes:

> >manager during interviews she hates it when I ask the candidate "How do YOU
> >debug a program?" As my boss cannot program she thinks that there is a

> >What I have found odd is that in the five or six years that I've been
> >involved in interviews and the 100s of interviews that I've given I've
> >never gotten a student with a computer science or computing degree to give
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> >me a sensible answer; the only person who did give me a good answer was a 
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> >physicist and she got the job.
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>     I think the rationale behind your question is quite simple: you have 
>     difficulty producing a clean piece of design/code, hence you tend to 
>     over-emphasize the importance of one's debugging skills.

I dont have any tools to analyse any code that I produce so canot quanitify
the quality of my code. However I STRIVE to write code that is: readable,
well-structured, correctly commented and properly documented. Even on my
own (personal) projects I design on paper first rather than at the
keyboard. [The tools simply do not exist because I cannot convinve my boss
to even investigate improving the software process in our office; in fact
one of my colleagues is leaving because of the lack of improvement. :-(
(This person is one of two people that I did NOT interview but I know I
would have recommended had I asked him the infamous question.)]

I deliberately omitted saying that ALL these interviews where for positions
in our support division. Much of their effort goes into answering customer
queries over the phone. Therefore the ability to debug is crucial; or you
could read it as "diagnose the cause of the problem". 

The over-emphasise is based upon my experience as a program advisor in an
educational establishment. Comp Sci major (even in their final year) had no
profeciency in debugging or testing. I would say that this is NOT the
university that awarded me my degree. I worked for this college for six
years and a similar institution for three years before that.

>  Also, you
>     seem to be pre-disposed against applicants with C.S. degrees (do you
>     have one yourself?), as well as those with "first class honours"
>     (feeling insecure?).

I DO have a CS degree. Actually I am considered to have TWO. My first is a
professional qualification from the Bristish Computer Society (a Charted
Engineering body) which confers honours degree status upon its holders.
[The usual acknowledgement is that it is equivalent of a "GOOD" degree.] My
second is a Masters, the University that awarded it to me does not have any
rating scheme---it's either pass or fail.

As for the second I dont feel insecure about my position because to
paraphase James Dodson "I'm do not define my personality in terms of my
job".

> >My rationale for asking the question is wide spread. It checks out the
> >applicatants ability to figure out what the real question is; for me to
> >appraise how they react when asked odd questions; I'd also like to know HOW
> >they work; I'm also fishing for how good their practical skills are (or is
> >the first class honours degree merely a reflection upon the quality of
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> >their teachers) and lastly it gives me a chance to wind-up my boss. :-)
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> 
>     You are lucky that your boss does not understand what kind of people
>     you recommend to hire.

She knows exactly what kind of people I recommend as somewhere in this
thread I comment that the woman who is now my boss is somebody that I
interviewed and asked this question of. (She was not however the physist I
keep mentioning.) We acquited herself quite well in the interview. Why is
she now my boss? Simply that I turned the position down when it was offered
to me; at the time I had no interest in management but wish to exercise my
programming skills. (As an aside "Why is it that once somebody becomes good
at their technical job it is assumed that they want to move into
management?")

>...you'd be interviewing for a job (for) yourself.

Who's to say that I'm not looking? But the decision to start that process
is (or will be) mine not her's. :-)

-------------------------------------------------------------
Trevor Jenkins                                   Radio: G6AJG
134 Frankland Rd, Croxley Green, Rickmansworth, WD3 3AU
email: tfj@apusapus.demon.co.uk
phone: +44 (0)923 776436
Newsgroups: misc.jobs.misc