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.
I don’t think you need to do it purely on technical ability, but I think the question seems to align too much with your personal opinion of how the employee should be and that makes it seem like you’re looking for a duplicate of yourself/another employee versus just a good fit. I think “tell me about yourself/what you do outside work” is a question that could get you the same information without it being so pointed. Asking about a specific genre, show, etc. automatically puts anyone with a different genre, hobby, etc. at a disadvantage based off of something that doesn’t appear to corelate to their talent or fit. I think even without knowing it, you could make assumptions if you don’t like the answer, or if they just don’t enjoy reading.
low key in my feelings cause I don’t read Sci fi lolMaybe not scifi, but I don’t think it’s unreasonable to want to hire people who read.
You know what, I can get behind that. Rock on
not that you needed my approval lmao. 👍🏾