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 mostly read manga. But for sci-fi books the freshest one in my memory is Dune.
Would you hold that against me?
This seems terrible.
- Weeds out a lot of people since half of Americans don’t read books at all.
Is that always a good thing? What about people who don’t read much but listen to audiobooks and go to the theatre a lot?
- Theoretically filters out people who love this kind of tech subculture from people who are just in it for the money
One of the best programmers I ever worked with was ‘in it for the money’. He was what Goldman Sachs used to call ‘long term greedy’ though which meant he had an eye on the success of the project above and beyond his own responsibilities and his own code. That’s why he was one of the best programmers.
I interviewed someone today whose hobby was poetry of the African diasporia, for a position relative to logistics.
While I know very little about that specific poetic oeuvre, hearing them talk about their passion gave me an insight into their personality.
Perhaps ask questions about what they’re into rather than if they’re into thing.
Perhaps ask questions about what they’re into rather than if they’re into thing.
This is great advice! Asking about something specific is off-putting and could lose a great candidate.
Asking an open ended question about their hobbies can get the same positive result, and will catch candidates who wouldn’t have anything to say about science fiction.
The fact that you even weighed the pros and cons of your proposal puts you light years ahead of most hiring managers.
I grew up coding but don’t read sci-fi. You need to expand your idea on what a good motived coder looks like. It sounds like you’re in a bubble.
You’re right, it’s exclusive when it shouldn’t be.
I would expand the question. “Sci-fi had always inspired me, what clicks for you and why?”
I think this is too specific, as you mentioned. Why not broaden it to “a piece of literature they were not required to read”? You could talk about anything from wikipedia articles, to current news headlines or sci-fi books this way, and it shows where their curiosity lies.
I like to ask folks what they do for fun, gives me a better general idea of who they are
If you have the authority to try to make a good company culture; hell yes you should. Even if they don’t often read novels, or they read something other than sci-fi, it’ll help you understand their personality and weed out people who suck. If someone says they prefer reading sci-fi manga or playing fantasy ttrpgs or any other possible nerdy thing they are probably leagues better than a ladder climbing type.There are plenty of places for a soulless corpo to go work for, if you can keep them away from you and yours you’ll have a much better and healthier company and (more importantly) life in the long run.
This doesn’t correlate with good developers at all in my experience. If I was to ask one question it would be “tell me about your passion project” or “What’s the last thing you nerded out on?”
It’s not 100% about getting the best developer, it’s about team culture
You’re not interviewing for friends. “Team culture” in this case seems like shorthand for “someone just like me so I don’t get challenged”. I would suggest spending some time thinking about why scifi books in particular and what that says about you.
Look up any personality+leadership theory, DISC is a common one I’ve seen. Teams with a mix of personalities and backgrounds are more optimal than a team of basically the same person. Yes, even “ladder climbers” can be good for a team, provided they have other positive traits that go with it.
Look up any personality+leadership theory, DISC is a common one I’ve seen.
Ew. Personality tests are a terrible way of building a working team, and the idea that every need field needs the same kind of people is just demonstrably stupid
Not that I said “read theory” not “make applicants take personality tests”.
“Needs the same kind of people is demonstrably stupid”… yet OP is headed in that direction and doesn’t appear to be stupid. Just lacking in exposure to other ways of doing things… thus reading about them is a way to close that knowledge gap
Leadership type books aren’t to be followed 100%. They are written for a person to take the 10% that best applies and is helpful to them. It’s why they’re so damn repetitive and obvious the more experience you have.
The takeaway is not “build a team of four people with these four styles”. That’s way too literal. It’s “see the value in a mix of people, and recognize strengths in others that you don’t have”.
Other pros:
- You might filter out people who want to Create The Nexus of Torment from Hit Sci-Fi Novel Don’t Create The Nexus of Torment
Cons
- they’ll get hired by Microsoft instead
