A Tale of Two Interviews

 

It was the best of interviews, it was the worst of interviews. It was a measure of wisdom, it was a measure of foolishness.

20 years ago I was on the hunt for my next role as a Software Engineer. I was interviewing at two places: a small exciting start up of 10 people, and a large corporation you've mostly definitely have heard of.

It was the final round of interviews for both roles.

The start up hit me with a riddle: How do you retrieve a package on an island that's too small to build a runway?

I thought out loud, I asked elaborating questions, I shared my assumptions.

Can I inquire how the package wound up on the island if it's so hard to reach? Irrelevant.

Is money a constraint? No.

Can I use a boat? No, the island is surrounded by rocks.

Can I use a helicopter? No, winds are unsafe for helicopters.

Are planes are not an option then, given the problem mentioned a runway? No, planes are fine.

We went back and forth like this for some time, until I felt I had a solution.

"Given money is immaterial, dig into the island in a cone shape thereby increasing the runway length, allowing a plane to land/take off."

"WRONG."

Wrong? I was stumped. It had taken 20 minutes thus far, and I had no more lines of questioning. Disappointed, I asked for the solution.

"Dig into the island at an angle, from one end of the island to another, thereby increasing the runway length."

I was confused. Hadn't I suggested the same thing? As I tried to gently push back, the interviewer moved on. I didn't get the offer.

At least I had the final round with the massive corporation you most definitely have heard of. I was asked to solve a coding problem on a whiteboard in a language I partially knew.

"I'm forgetting the exact order of the parameters for this function..."
"That's fine, you could always look it up in real life. For now just use it how you think it would work..."

Then, with a language I knew really well:

"I'd also use this property to avoid an extra loop..."
"That property doesn't exist."

"Oh, sure. I'll pretend it doesn't exist, and write out the loop..."
"No, that property actually doesn't exist..."

"In our interview, or in reality? I use this property all the time..."
[Looking it up...] "Oh. I didn't know that existed. Ok, keep going."

The offer came that evening. But the learning has stayed with me throughout my career. 

Some people will mistake terms, keywords, and jargon as evidence of skill. They don't want you to produce a working solution, they want the solution they know.

Good interviewers don't see themselves as an authority of "the right answer." They are flexible, collaborative, open to learning. They are pragmatic and empathetic when asking you to demonstrate a skill set without all your normal tools.

And, most importantly: good interviewers are a good reflection of the culture of the org.

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