A Little Interviewing Advice
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I know there was a great uproar over the interview piece at the beginning of this week and I received lots of opinions on various parts of the article, good and bad to go over. But one comment came yesterday that was very interesting to me. Paraphrasing because I cannot seem to find the email in the deluge that is my desktop, it was questions the line "And you want them to think you're one of them"
I read that a few times before I received the comment, not thinking much of it. After all, when you are interviewing, you want to get along with people and have them like you and hopefully hire you. When I got this comment, however, it struck me what the advice was and what I read were two different things.
You see I think teamwork is very important, much more important than the technical skills. Not that skills aren't important, they're just behind you fitting into a team environment. So where's the problem with that line? You see it?
"think"
When I interview you, or when I interview a company, I am searching and trying to find out if I AM one of them. I want to fit in, but it has to be something that happens naturally. I try to present an honest face and I try to relax candidates to get an honest sense of how they really are. I want to know if they really fit in, or if I do. Not if I can act the part and fool someone into thinking that I'm some other candidate.
I know it's hard. You apply for a job, maybe need one, and you want desperately to get hired. And you want to make the impression needed to get hired. And if you are really desperate, then perhaps there's some justification. But most of the time that's not the case. I see many DBAs and developers wanting a new job, more money, etc. and they are interviewing while they already have a job somewhere else. There's nothing wrong with that, but if you are looking to move, do it the right way.
Be honest and give an honest impression of yourself. And at the same time interview the company and try to ensure they are giving you an honest impression of what it will be like working there.
After all, companies lie in interviews almost as much as candidates.
Steve Jones
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Yes, this is missing big time from all the advice I've seen posted, but let me say it differently (or more explicitly):
Approach the interview as if you are interviewing the interviewer for the position of your new employer.
I've had many interviews wherein the tone shifted entirely as I asked them questions about the work they were doing. A few well placed questions on development approach or technical issues can make them toss their script out the window and immediately realize you really know what the hell you're talking about.
Also, a recent true story:
Talking with a couple of associates, one stops to ask me, "So, you're sitting in an interview and they ask you, 'What's more important, commenting code or testing?'. How do you answer?"
After replying, "I never beat my wife," I gave him my honest answer: "That depends."
So my friend replies, "And the interviewer says, 'Thank you for your time, we'll let you know.' What do you do then?"
I replied, "I say 'Whew! Dodged a bullet.'" While pantomiming wiping sweat from my brow.
So he turns to my other friend and says, "See?!" in vindication.
It seems this third friend actually had that question in an interview and agonized later over the outcome. She'd answered "Testing" and gotten the "thank you for your time" reply. (Not even a "why would you say, 'testing'?" follow up question. My friend had told her that if that interviewer is too stupid to know that it depends and then too stupid to ask you why you would answer whichever way, then she was better off not working for the bozo.
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