I've done my share of hiring in the last couple of years, allow me to opine on this post.
"Tell me about yourself." Common question, usually my first question with candidates just to let them talk a bit about themselves and let them tell me what they feel is important. It also just breaks the ice even with a (hopefully) easy question. It doesn't mean you're not getting hired.
"What are your biggest flaws?" - I don't use this, its a bullshit question and I don't know anyone who does. No one in their right mind is going to tell you the truth. "What are you strengths" is however a decent question, like "tell me about yourself" it allows the interviewee to tell you something about themselves that you may have missed.
"Where do you see yourself in 5 years?" - Not actually a dumb question, most people don't use it correctly. The answer to this question can be useful from a "goodness of fit" perspective. Do their goals align with how your organization works? This isn't a make or break question but it can get interesting answers.
"Tell me about a time when you..." - Sorry this is the main type of question you should b e asking. This is the opportunity to ask the question "how are you going to solve the problems that we're going to give you?"
"How many gas stations are in the United States?" - Ya crap question, but some engineering managers like them.
> "Tell me about a time when you..." - Sorry this is the main type of question you should b e asking. This is the opportunity to ask the question "how are you going to solve the problems that we're going to give you?"
Probably what you really want is someone who solves problems not someone who can eloquently describe problems and their solutions, under pressure, in a few minutes or less.
That question is a classic example of testing the wrong thing.
It's better for you to describe an actual problem and have them solve it or discuss how they would go out solving. Which btw is typically a needed skill (being able to reason out and weigh solutions with a team)
Maybe I misunderstood? I'm not assuming that this question is open ended, but that at the end of this statement is some sort of situation that needs to be resolved.
An example that I've used before, "What would you do if you're convinced a more senior developer is choosing the wrong solution? (usually I'll present something obviously inferior to another choice, point isn't technical but how someone would try to resolve a conflict)"
Yeah, a lot of this stuff seems sort of obvious, but if it's so obvious that these questions are bullshit, why do interviewers keep asking them?
Thankfully, any smart interviewer already knows this. Being asked these questions is a sign you might not want to work for these people because they are not very smart and/or don't think about the things that they say.
To be honest, in the interviews where I thought "wow, these people know what they're doing", they did not ask these questions.
Quite often, the most random and insight-free blog posts containing no substance or logical deduction are upvoted because of a strong title. For some reason, some readers try to pull out whatever tiny bit of insight that the article might contain, to make up the for the time lost reading it. I say, write it off as a loss and move on. There are no logical deductions to see in the article.
What does it matter if a certain question shows up in an interview? Why try to analyze every word? In the end, you either did well, or you didn't, and they either did well, or made a bad impression on you. Just answer the question and remain friendly whether you still think you're interested in them or not--not all questions are going to be highly technical. At the end of the day, it's just another person sitting across the table.
While I agreed with the article that most of the questions are pointless or at the very least suboptimal, I disagree that they imply that you're not getting hired. I think I've gotten some variant of "what are your weak points" in every interview I've been on (and I've been hired on several occasions. ;)). And I've sometimes asked the "I see you worked at company X doing Y... tell me about that" type of question as a sort of warmup before asking more technical questions.
Finally, I don't think the "how many gas stations are there" type of questions are totally pointless (though I don't generally ask them.) They reveal something about how a candidate attempts to solve problems, and the one thing you don't want to see is the candidate simply say "I have no idea..." without at least trying. I think there is a danger if a company over relies on such questions, however.
When I interview people I have a form from HR I need to fill in and some of those are on it as mandatory questions. I tick the box and move on quickly.
