[bostik]

> I think many people assume that interviewers are looking for "thought process" but from my experience as a hiring manager for 6 years, in reality you'll find that most are just looking to "gotch-ya" the candidate. Many interviewers seem to enjoy making a candidate "sweat" as some source of pride.

What you describe is a horrible approach to interviewing, and points towards dysfunction more than anything else.

In my opinion, the second most appealing non-technical character trait for an engineer is empathy. (Curiosity being #1.) If you have an interviewer who goes on a power trip and actively tries to abuse a candidate, what does that tell you about their company?

Everything is PR, and how we interview engineers tells a lot about how we deal with each other. Would you like to work in a place where being nasty is considered normal - or even desirable?

[k2xl]

> Everything is PR, and how we interview engineers tells a lot about how we deal with each other. Would you like to work in a place where being nasty is considered normal - or even desirable?

Couldn't agree more. I tell my employees this religiously.

I would also say that the 'power trip' isn't a boolean characteristic. There are different levels for different employees at companies. I think most of us have probably experienced or known those who tends to be on one side of the scale or the other.