| >2. Converse not interview This is good advice but it applies to both sides. The best way to learn about a person's technical background is to start from a common base and go over their experience. I like to start talking backwards from their resume, and say "OK, Job A. What were you focused on there? Your description mentions technologies B,C,D. How did you apply them?" You then just take it from there, pick up on the things they discuss to get into the technicalities. Ask them hypotheticals. Ask them how that technology could apply to a different problem set. Ask them about things that annoyed you specifically about those technologies in the past and how they addressed/resolved them. etc. This is the best way to interview in my experience. It keeps the pressure low, it doesn't waste time on rehearsed answers, it doesn't waste time on whiteboarding unless it comes up (a very basic takehome project (30 minutes) should be given pre-interview), it lets the person discuss their experience and provide real feedback about the things they've learned. It gives them the opportunity to discuss their technical habits, values, and interests. It reveals the most about the candidate in the minimal amount of time. So many of my colleagues would lock up when they'd go in to interview people and not know what to do. They'd sit there and just expect the candidate to know what they wanted to see and carry the whole thing. They'd print off a list of questions that they found from a site about how to interview people, or they'd give them a code trivia quiz that is a massive waste of time for everyone. All of that is very silly and misses the point. Everyone just needs to relax and hold an unscripted technical discussion. You can go in with an outline to make sure you hit the topics intended in the course of the discussion, but shouldn't need more than that. |