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Comment by renlo | Hacker News Reader

Who ever answers these questions truthfully though? It seems that this just tests for the ability to spin yarn at the interviewer.

I was recently asked this question, and while I've had some disagreements with coworkers over minor things, I've never had a major disagreement that was noteworthy, so I (to my inevitable detriment) said: "Nothing really comes to mind at the moment but if something like that were to happen, I'd do X, Y, and Z". Given the reaction from the interviewer I doubt I passed. I still have 2 more interviews with this company.

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Preparing for such behavioral questions is part of the standard interview prep process. It's always been part of the interview game and it's really not that hard to come up with something you disagreed with someone on, negotiated with, and resolved.

If you don't disagree with your coworkers on some part their technical decisions on a regular basis, then you probably don't review their code

> some disagreements with coworkers over minor things

Handling minor everyday disagreements gracefully is a valuable soft skill

> interview game

Yes, mediocre people like to select the same.

> Handling minor everyday disagreements

is a skill that does not need to be "prepared for" in an interview. And naturally the mediocrities that think asking the standard question and getting the standard answer back are also in for a surprise.

> Preparing for such behavioral questions is part of the standard interview prep process

Ah the classic "it's not wrong if everyone's doing it" argument. But to me the op wasn't complaining about the content of the question, just the banality of answering it over and over.

> Who ever answers these questions truthfully though?

It's surprising how many candidates will say batshit crazy things not realizing they're bat shit crazy.

It's like fizzbuzz at this point, just cuts out a surprisingly large chunk of the cruft out.

I answer these types of questions as truthfully as possible. To my knowledge, it's never been these answers that hurt me in an interview. But, of course, there's never any real feedback in the hiring process, so it's borderline impossible to improve one's performance in that area.

When it comes to disagreements not being noteworthy, it could also be that you've internalized "disagree and commit." That's not a failing; that's just moving the fuck on and not dwelling on past decisions, unless they actually bear revisiting.

I literally had a guy who was giving off really hostile vibes in the interview talk about shouting at someone when he didn't agree on the solution. Given this was a workplace where people argued a technical approach with cussing and yelling I didn't need more of that.

I agree you'd think this is the dumbest question, and most people will make up something minor, but it does weed people out.

A lot of those are really a test of how well you can bullshit your way through. They probably have a fill-in-the-blanks form ready to complete with your answers, with some scoring derived from it, and your answer didn't fit in the form, so they'll pass until they find someone who can make up a good story on that particular topic.

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