I’m a software engineer who sometimes interviews other software engineers. I’m not given a script to go off of, I get to ask them whatever I want. Usually we just talk about technology and coding from a high level. I’m not a big fan of whiteboard tests.

I’ve noticed, however, that a lot of people applying to software engineering jobs feel very alien to me. I started coding when I was 12 and spent most of my teenage years on technology forums. A lot of people applying to these positions are very much ladder-climbing type people who got into the career for the money. Working with these people is an absolute drag.

We also interview for “culture fit”. I would like to add in a single question to my interviews to assess that: what is your favorite science fiction book. You don’t even have to have read it recently, you just have to have read one and formed an opinion on it. My thoughts

Pros:

  • Weeds out a lot of people since half of Americans don’t read books at all.
  • Theoretically filters out people who love this kind of tech subculture from people who are just in it for the money

Cons:

  • It’s unfair to people who enjoy fantasy novels, or any other form of fiction
  • Being motivated by money probably shouldn’t be a disqualifying factor (I certainly wouldn’t do this job for free), I’m just tired of working with yuppies and lashing out at poor unsuspecting Jr Devs

I’m half-hearted on this. I see why it could be considered unfair but I’m really tired of the kinds of people I work with.

  • @KammicReliefEnglish
    4•21 hours ago

    I’m often very much in the same boat as you. I’m the one in the team interview who afterwards is like “pleeease let’s go with person B, because person A just, y’know, … bad gut feeling?” And I wish I could ask more personal questions in the interview itself. However, I’ve been lightly warned (and subsequent web searches confirm this) that it’s a legal grey area to ask about personal stuff in interviews. If they bring it up, or maybe you drop an obscure ST:TNG reference and they pick up on it, by all means, they’re “one of us” so go for it. But on the flip side, you might hear something that, say if you don’t end up hiring them, could be grounds for a discrimination lawsuit.