The Sad State Of Programmers Part 3: General Tips

Denis Gobo : The Sad State Of Programmers Part 2 : The In Person Interview

Denis Gobo : The Sad State Of Programmers Part 2 : The In Person Interview — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 17:32:03 GMT

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Denis Gobo : The Sad State Of Programmers Part 1 : The Phone Interview

Denis Gobo : The Sad State Of Programmers Part 1 : The Phone Interview — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 17:32:37 GMT

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re: The Sad State Of Programmers Part 3: General Tips

David Markle — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 02:32:50 GMT

Amen!

An excerpt from one of my --favorite-- interviews ever:

Me: "I see here [from your resume] that you've done some .NET Remoting work. What sort of problem were you trying to solve? Why did you choose Remoting over Web Services?"

Candidate: "I have never used .NET Remoting."

Me: "That's OK. Do you have any questions for me before we wrap up...?"*

Notice that I didn't call the candidate out on this one. I felt so angry and disrespected at such a blatant lie on his resume, that I really didn't figure that he deserved me giving him a helpful hint on what not to do when interviewing for a job.

But Denis, you missed one big point here, often overlooked, in my experience as an interviewer:

Interviewees:

TURN OFF YOUR CELL PHONE WHEN INTERVIEWING FOR A JOB !

-Dave

re: The Sad State Of Programmers Part 3: General Tips

Adam Machanic — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 12:51:08 GMT

Wait -- you actually had someone take a call in the middle of an interview? I presume, for a non-emergency situation (i.e., not something like, "This might be my wife, who is supposed to give birth to our child tomorrow")??

re: The Sad State Of Programmers Part 3: General Tips

Alexander Kuznetsov — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 20:31:07 GMT

Hi Denis,

I completely agree with you on certification - currently I kind of disregard it.

I cannot agree with you on your business attire recommendation. IMO if the goal of your interview is to get hired ASAP, then yes, I agree that the suit is the way to go. If, however, you also are interviewing the company and figuring out if the company is a good fit for you, if you are looking for a good fit for you, then it's up to you. If the company rejected a perfect candidate based on the color of his shirt, then it might not be the right company for the candidate. You know, good professionals may very choosy too. From this perspective it is better to get rejected than to get hired and become disappointed in the company soon.

Anyway, here in Midwest it is kind of relaxed - one can land a great job at a great company with top notch compensation without even having a suit at all.

re: The Sad State Of Programmers Part 3: General Tips

andyleonard — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 23:19:11 GMT

Excellent series Denis!

:{> Andy

re: The Sad State Of Programmers Part 3: General Tips

Denis Gobo — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 00:22:17 GMT

Alex,

The reason I said to wear a suit is that it is a safe bet, when I interviewed at a company in Silicon Alley they did ask me if I have jeans since nobody wears suits at the company. At my current job we have a relaxed dress code (sneakers, jeans, tshirts). By looking around during the interview you should be able to get a good sense what the dress code is (unless you interview on a Friday)

re: The Sad State Of Programmers Part 3: General Tips

Adam Machanic — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 16:43:37 GMT

I always wear suits on interviews, even today when I don't interview for fulltime jobs (as a consultant I get the luxury of referring to interviews as "sales calls" <g>). In a suit, you look nicer. And when you look nicer, people think you're more trustworthy. And if they think you're trustworthy, they're more likely to hire you. In the end, you really have nothing to lose by putting on a suit, except the hassle of putting on a suit. And you have everything to gain. It's always better to be overdressed than underdressed in any situation -- if you find yourself truly overdressed and it's awkward, simply take off the tie, hang up the jacket, and you're good to go.

re: The Sad State Of Programmers Part 3: General Tips

David Markle — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 20:20:14 GMT

Adam & Denis:

I completely agree. You can't go wrong with a suit, though many places are far more casual and wouldn't bat an eye. But why take the chance of showing up to a place woefully underdressed? What if the Big Man wants to give you the "final interview" after a technical interview? A suit's the only way to go, unless you absolutely KNOW that everyone there from the lowest tech to the CxO is casual...

And Adam:

Yes, I had someone take a call during an interview. The funny (very very upsetting actually) thing about it was that I'd been told that the interviewee had been told that he would only need to interview with us for "an hour", and that his company expected him back. So he took this call in front of me and I admonished him that it was extremely bad form to do so (I liked him, actually). He passed all of the technical questions, and I figured that my admonition had stuck. So he goes in to interview with the CIO to get a final vetting. AND HE TOOK A CALL WHEN HE WAS IN WITH THE CIO! Never have I felt so disrespected and embarrassed by an interviewee. He was asked to leave, and I had some serious egg on my face that day.

But even without such an extreme example, I do get people from time to time whose cell phones go off and they have to apologize and turn it off. Better to check that your phone is fully off when you go to interview than have to apologize...

-D

re: The Sad State Of Programmers Part 3: General Tips

Alex Kuznetsov — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 00:43:31 GMT

Denis,

Of course I agree that a suit is a safe bet if you don't have enough information. However, I guess there might be some differences between regions and industries - in my experience it can be perfectly acceptable to ask what is the perfect dress code for an interview. The last three times I went to interviews, I asked that question, came in business casual, and got nice offers two times out of three. Of course, these are just a few cases, not enough for any conclusions, not enough for statistics. But I know other people with similar stories. Many candidates I am interviewing myself come in business casual and that's OK.

re: The Sad State Of Programmers Part 3: General Tips

Regan — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 21:17:02 GMT

Just a comment on the suit topic. I agree to wearing suit, and did so at my previous company. Walking into the building, and fairly quickly realized I was over-dressed. I went into interview with the technical architect, the IT director, the production SQL-DBA and a senior project manager. The IT director, when meeting me, looked at the suit and said - "Do people still wear those?"

Still, after removing the tie and jacket, we sat down and after a fairly hair-raising interview, and a few more (included aptitude courses etc.), I was hired.

Also, that experience once-again proved the value of honesty - if you get asked a question you don't now the answer to, or having only read about, then say that... otherwise you are likely to get caught out at guessing (which imho is a interview-killer).