boopsie

I also encourage interviewees to ask the hiring manager, "What are your strengths and weaknesses?"

First, it'll help you find out if the person you'll be working for thinks it's a bullshit question too. Or if she answers honestly. And since you're going to be reporting to her, so doesn't it make sense to know what you're going to be dealing with?

Okay, that's fair.

But does the question really elicit the information you're looking for? CandidateA may know that her JavaScript could be better, but the (real) weakness she may trot out is that she's really nervous as a public speaker. It's not that she is hiding her JavaScript weakness, just that she's bothered less by it. CandidateB tells you that his JavaScript could be better, but he doesn't tell you that he yells at coworkers when they disagree with him. You're not necessarily going to get the info you asked for... for good or ill.

Why not ask, instead, "In which languages do you feel most and least confident? Why do you think that is?" or "We each learn differently: books, classes, hands-on experimentation. How do you go about learning a new language?" In the latter case, for instance, there's no obvious right or wrong answer which the candidate is motivated to "guess"; it's simply a matter of learning how this person operates.

With respect... What sort of answers do you get that encourage you to hire the interviewee? What do you actually learn from the answers?

The reason I've always disliked it is that it's just begging for a silly response. Sure, I have weaknesses; but you are asking someone to brag about the things they do poorly at the same time they want to make the best impression. That does not encourage or reward honestly.

It also feels like a "cheater" question, and makes me feel the way I do when a sports news person asks a team member, "How big is this victory for you?" What the heck does she think he is going to say: "I really don't care that we won"?

It is indeed the lamest question ever.

The funny thing is that if you ask someone (as both interviewer and interviewee), "In 6 months, what will I love about working with you? And what will I hate about working with you?" you will get actually useful responses that approach the honest intent of the question.

(And by the way: My new boss once answered the latter question, "You won't hate anything about working with me!" -- and he turned out to be the biggest asshat ever. It's just one data point, but my conclusion is that anyone who thinks he does nothing annoying is to be avoided.)

I wish it said on the site who the team is. If you're running an editorial site, somewhere it should at least say who the editor in chief is, no? That's part of the site's credibility.

(But overall I do like what they are doing.)