Matt Parker said:
If you're worried about what questions might be asked, you have to ask
yourself whether you're suitable for the job...
Not at all - if he is simply trying to figure out the general class of
questions asked of people seeking intern jobs, more power to him.
Similarly, if he is asking us whether we give "mensa word problem"
questions, then, again, more power to him.
People ask all sorts of tangentially related stuff at interviews, and if
you have not had one for a while, or if you are a student going for an
internship, then you might not have any idea what to expect. Just
knowing whether memorizing Sun white papers is worth doing might help.
In my time I've had interviews where the questions covered an overview of
the subject, all the way to Gestapo style interview techniques ;-) If you
know the subject you wont have any problems - I've never yet failed a
technical interview, but then I've never applied for anything I wasn't
confident about my experience in.
Agreed - I, too, have seen interview questions go all over the map.
I can tell you what I would ask in an interview:
1. At least one question about the most important technology to the
project listed on your resume. For example, if someone is coming in for
a J2EE position, and they claim to know it, I would ask "you have five
minutes to explain the difference between CMP and BMP, and where you
would use each. Be terse, but state a clear position." That will
almost always give me a good idea about whether they know it.
2. At least one question on a past project listed there, perhaps
something like "I note that you wrote a programming language. Could you
take five minutes to describe the key features of the language, why you
wrote it, and how the project went?"
3. An ups-and-downs question, like "what were the best and worst parts
of the project you just described".
4. "What are you reading these days? Was it worth the read? Who would
you reccomend it for?" I am after technical books - it really does not
matter much _which_ books/magazines/articles they are reading, as long
as there are some and they seem to be getting information out of them.
From this, I get a pretty fair idea of where the person's skill set is
at. I also get a good idea of how introspective they are.
This usually blows 20-30 minutes. I then take the next half hour to
talk about the project, the role I envison for them, and to try to probe
how well they fit that. They win if they keep me talking for the next
half hour on things I would want an intern to know.
I agree with Matt - if you know your stuff, then you should do well.
Remember that the interviewer wants to know how well you can do the job
and how well you fit in, and you want him or her to remember you. Thus,
say definitive things, and try not to come across as a nebish or weasel.
Scott
Java, Cocoa, WebObjects, and Database consulting
