The Guy Infront of You

This entry is dedicated to my friend – sali Note: This is a rant so if you are not interested in reading you can have a look at other posts 🙂

It is just a rant about how not to conduct an interview and also realize that interviews shouldn’t be taken lightly especially when it comes to interviewing a senior person. Anyways here goes the story…

Once upon a time in there was a Oracle Financials person (yea I would call him person) was given the task to develop a Oracle Financials for a Customer in Java. Without showing any concerns the person went on to find Java resources from the local market. He was referred different people and was so excited about developing the team that he didn’t even reviewed the resumes forwarded to him and just went on calling people for the interview. Again in excitement he didn’t even care to send out official emails for interview schedule and company address etc.

Anyways the process went on and a senior resource was called for the interview. Here comes the interesting part of the story – the actual interview conversation:

Q: So how are you? Did you have any problems finding our office? A: Hi, I am very good. Yes, I did had problems finding the office. There is no board identifying the office. (The only landmark near the office is actually a vegetable shop and a burger shop) Anyways I am here.

Q: So can you tell me about your experience? A: Yea, I am working on JEE for past N years and have worked on these many technologies…

Q: (Interrupting the interviewee) You haven’t worked on Eclipse?!?! A: (Thinking why is he asking for the IDE?!?!) Yes I have worked on Eclipse. It is basically a RCP but the biggest reason for its fame is as the premier Java IDE. But you can use any IDE if you are talking about it as an IDE. Its up to the user/developer what IDE he wants to work on as almost everyone has its own preferences.

Q: So you worked in this company as well? A: Yea, I worked there as a [Job Title] and worked for N years. Major responsibilities were…

Q: (Again Interrupting) Did you know this guy there? He worked as [his Job Title] A: While I was there he wasn’t there. I guess he joined after I left. (Thinking either this guy is totally dumb or hes really smart as this was a good attempt to verify if I actually worked there or not)

Q: So why are you looking to switch from your current employer? A: (Amazed – anyways till this time it was clear that this guy is dumb) I think you guys called me for a discussion. Anyways basic reasons for any switch are: 1) Learning Opportunities. 2) Growth. 3) Monetary benefits.

Q: So how much are you earning? A: My basic salary is this much and I am entitled to these benefits.

Q: Actually we are looking for a Software Engineer… A: (Totally shocked and angry at the same time) Wait. Did you had the time to check my resume? I am not interested in joining as a Software Engineer. I would like to tell you somethings that should have been followed so that the waste of time that is going on here wouldn’t have happened. The standard process is to send an email and tell the person that you are hiring/interviewing for this position so that there isn’t a waste of time. Here the interviewer started to give all sort of reasons of why he wasn’t following the procedure and started to blame different people. Oh – wow so you are blaming your own team that they don’t do what they are supposed to do. Just imagine what he would have been saying after hiring. This is definitely a NO in the interview process – Never do that in front of the resource you are hiring. Tells a lot about your personality.

Q: If you have any questions I am here to answer. A: (Thinking although this was a total waste of time anyways lets ask about the business and his experience – never waste an opportunity) Yea, I have many. Heres the conversation:

Q: Please tell me about the products and business are of the company? A: We are in Investment Banking. We provide support for banks in this area.

Q: Which part of Investment Banking are you guys in and are there any plans to grow/enter in any other areas? A: We are in every part of Investment banking. We are hiring for a project where the customer wants us to develop (the already developed product) in Java. Proudly saying We say Yes to everything the customer says.

Q: So actually customer is deciding what the company does? A: Yea, it is the Customer who takes decision.

Q: How much experience do yo have? Can you please give a brief introduction of yourself. A: I have 12+ years of experience in Oracle Financials. And I worked in this this this countries before coming back here.

Q: How much experience in Java? A: None. I have never worked on Java (feeling very proud about this statement)

Q: So who is the Architect of this Application? A: The Guy in front of you.

Closing remarks by the interviewee – So you are the Architect of an application in a technology that you haven’t worked on. This answered all the questions as to why he was very concerned about using Eclipse. As he himself had no idea of Java so he thought Eclipse was Java.

I guess this was it. This Guy Infront of You answered every question asked and completely silenced that interviewee. Good work on that 🙂