A Unique Experience

This past Saturday was one of the most eventful Saturdays of my life. On the previous Thursday I was asked to come to the office on a Saturday so that some applicants ( company prospects) could be interviewed and selected. I was under the impression that I will have some person along with me when I conduct the interviews. I still do not get why my PM chose me (there goes one most for the unsolved mystery list). I thought 'what the hell ? I went through my grad without studying crap .. Of course I could do this.' . I did some initial investigation, prepared myself (though not throughly). The topics were RoR, Ajax, Php and other minor stuff. We were looking for people with a growth potential.

Then came the Saturday. I reached the office by 10:15 (15 minutes late) and found that it would take another 30 minutes to get the people in and started. I browsed for a while and then I was called to check the first victim. Details /data is hidden for privacy issues and the fear of me getting killed.

The first guy was kinda scared. He was shivering a little. So was I. It was my first experience handling one interview. I had been the interviewee, but never the interviewer before that.
He was okay with programming I suppose but was kinda fed with information. I had always felt that the primary education in my country is spoon fed. There is no much of practical knowledge. The questioning ability of children/students is not taken into due consideration. Say mathematical Integration- why is there integration? Why do we do it ? Whats its use ? If we do not know that then why the hell do we learn it ? Isn't it kind of useless ? I believe in practical knowledge than theory and have tried all my life to understand rather that gulp it down. I felt for this guy because he had been gulping it down and not trying to identify the taste. He was not able to answer the why question though he knew how. He thought of the problem in a 'C' kind of way and tried to get Ruby syntax for it.

The second guy was okay. He had the general knowledge but was asserting that he could develop. He kept saying that after every answer. Gave me the feeling that he was desperate for this job. I had to suck out the answer from him by giving clues and pointers. I have always thought that to remember stuff it is very important to link them to each other. If there's no link then it becomes a lone node, a 'dangling pointer' which is very difficult to 'garbage collect'. This guy had that kind of a problem. I associate this with experience. When you meet people who are intellectually exceptional, we tend to follow their steps, tend to understand what they do, try to think like they do and sometimes we just get the knack of things. With proper guidance and company this problem of associativity could be alleviated. Reading also helps. Then your motto becomes 'Google is my best friend!'. I gave him the green signal but he did not go far.

The third guy was one of a kind. When I entered the room I see this guy sitting and giving me one of those grins along with a solid handshake. Pride is a good feeling once it is under control and you don't hurt other people. Its one of the seven deadly sins too. After asking this guy some personal things, I came to understand that this one was overcome by vanity. Confidence in abundance can do a lot of harm. He answered my first question with such arrogance that I felt overcome by ego myself. Ego is a wild horse and if not saddled could be very harmful. I made him think a bit with a simple mysql question and he kept on arguing that the answer he gave was right. I had him think and modify the answer twice but still he did not get the answer right. It is not the wrong answer which intimidated me, its his approach that the answer he had written was right and needed no modification. I tried being cool and calm( although people who know me would say I am the opposite). In his CV was written that he knew Java. CV is the only thing the interviewer has when he conducts an interview, and therefore he is entitled to ask any question that is consistent with the CV (As I understand it). I started asking some questions with respect to Java( simple OOPs stuff) and he says that he has not done anything in Java. I ask him that why he had written Java then and he gets pissed off. To tell the least I was also very pissed off. But I tried to keep myself calm. Then I asked him to give the same answer with respect to PHP. He says then that PHP is not an Object Oriented Language. I was quite taken aback by this answer and asked him who told you that PHP was not an Object Oriented Language. He kept on arguing and this time I did not leave it either. Finally he stands up and says 'You do not know anything about PHP and I am done with the interview'. Opens the door and when the HR personnel asks him to wait says ' I am done, I am going !'. I tell my colleague what happens and he pacifies me. If the person who had undergone the interview is reading this, I tell this to you

• Vanity is a killer. Kill it before it kills you.
• An open mind absorbs more than a closed one.
• Listen to the damn question before you attempt to answer it. It is difficult but its something you must have done during those school days.
  
• Read at least some thing about how to attend an interview. You need it more that anyone !
• There are limits to pride, aggression, self confidence and rudeness. If you cross the border line, you will be totally F**KED all your life !
• Please learn more about PHP and Mysql Dude ! There are at least a billion people better in this than you are.

After this episode I was also mentally stirred. I did not expect a candidate to run off. After lunch the HR tells me that there is another candidate waiting for me. I try to concentrate and pray to god not to screw this one too. I enter the room and I see a person who is twice my age. I get instantaneously stunned but I keep my composure. I kept on telling myself to give him adequate respect (at least to his age). I ask him some initial questions on Ruby On Rails and after having an unsuccessful answering session he says he is not prepared to answer any RoR questions. I consolidate him and move over to MySql. I ask him if MySql is an RDBMS. He thinks for a while and then says he is confused. Then he breaks down. He says he has not prepared for any sort of questions and that he wants to go. I become practically stunned again. I think 'Why God ? Why me ?' . I ask him to assert his decision and he sticks with wanting to leave. I find him to be desperate and tell him to wait while I call the HR. The HR calms him down and at last he leaves.

When I tell this to my PM, the first thing he says is 'Why are you scaring them off !?'. Did I scare them off ? Did I ask some thing unnecessary ? Did I be rude ? Did I get aggressive ? Did I try to be commanding ? Its hard to evaluate oneself. Third party is the best to evaluate. I would be keeping all that I have learned in mind when doing this exercise again. I was asked if I wanted to another interview after that but I was full and said that 'not today anyway !'.

I will be flying home and then to a dear friend's wedding. I certainly hope Ill improve during the next set of interviews after I return.