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Comment by rqebmm | Hacker News Reader

There's no bad interview question, but there are certainly bad interview _processes_. We use a whiteboard session as the last step in the technical interview, and we're really not looking for someone to write functioning code, we're looking for the candidate's thought process as they lay out a design for a simple OO program.

For the type of programming I'm involved in hiring (iOS/Android) it's silly to expect someone not to lean on frameworks/IDEs. It's also unrealistic to expect that every single candidate has a laptop fully set up with their preferred environment. That's what take-home questions are for.

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There are a lot of bad interview questions. Like "Why do you want to work here?" ... I dunno, cause I thought you would pay me.

That's a fair question and gives insight into the person's objectives/aspirations.

"I need a paycheck" is a great answer for some positions, but a person in demand would have choices, so it's valid to ask "why us?".

Interesting, so I should pretend to be very in-demand to game your interview process. Good to know.

Why the need to be snarky to someone who was just trying to give insight as to why this question was asked?

Why do you think that was a snarky response devoid of insight? I didn't.

In what way is announcing that he was going to try and game someone else's interview process insightful?

Not only that but it's not even clear the person he/she is responding to actually is part of an interview process as opposed to just explaining the reasoning behind the interview question.

Personally I found it needlessly rude and even rather bitter but if you feel like it provided some value then I'm glad it was useful.

It is insightful because gaming the system is exactly what people do. When someone asks me, "What is your greatest weakness," I typically say something stupid like, "I guess my greatest weakness is that I don't spend enough time with my family because I tend to work all the time," instead of the reality, which is, "I fantasize about having meaningless sex with every woman I meet. Even the homely ones."

When someone asks, "Why do you want to work here?" I might say, "Because I find the way your company puts input fields on a web page to be fascinating, and I want to be a part of it." The reality, however, is I want a damn paycheck and I couldn't care less what the company does.

The point here is that nobody answers these questions honestly. Nobody. So what on Earth is the point of asking them? There isn't one. These questions just fill up space during the allotted hour of interview time, and are used by the interviewer to justify the opinion they formed within the first few seconds of the interview.

Fair enough. I thought it was obvious that people try to game the system, but I can see how if others didn't think the same way it would be insightful.

On the other hand, what's the point of asking anything during an interview if people can lie then? I imagine these questions are still being asked because it's not all that easy to lie and still sound authentic. I also agree with you though. I think this whole idea of trying to find people to work at a company because this is their dream company is just a silly fantasy for 99.9% of companies. Unless you're Google, chances are slim that working is nothing more than a job.

This whole craze over wanting to love your work and being "passionate" and "excited" is getting out of hand. I feel like I see the word "excited" thrown around everywhere now.

I agree. It is getting out of hand.

I try to be more pragmatic in my interview process. I don't expect candidates to be passionate because the company isn't their dream. I expect the owner to be passionate, but the rest of us are just here to pay the bills. Therefore, I don't bother looking for passion. What I do want is somebody who has coding experience and someone I'd enjoy working with. I focus all my questions around those two goals, with a greater emphasis on the second.

I did. In no way did the parent comments indicate that the situation described would be more susceptible than normal to gaming in the way the poster described.

Pretending to be very in-demand seems a common way to game most interview processes. But I would think that presenting yourself as being very in-demand, while not having any particular answer to "why us", could come off as having no particular reason to be loyal and work against you.

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