The first hour and forty five minutes was a big personality test meant to test how well I would "fit" in their group. They even asked what kind of team sized I've worked in before (does it really matter?). 2 of the 3 interviewers seemed to have terrible personalities (one was rude and kept interrupting the team lead, the other was very quiet and just stared blankly at me with a bit of a rough look). These two also could not communicate at the grade 10 level (or maybe worse). What gives these people the right to test my personality? Can the best psychologist in the world test my personality properly in such a short time? I was extra kind, made sure I smiled lightly once in a while, and never interrupted any of them.
Near the end I was quickly given a small technical filter:
First, I was asked to swap two integer variables in C without defining a new variable.
Then, I was also asked to explain the 'static' keyword. I started off by using phrases like "linkage," "block scope," "storage duration changes from automatic to static," "defined externally," etc. but quickly rephrased because I realized they didn't get what I was saying (apparently "globally defined" and "defined inside a function" were things they were waiting for me to say).
I had a third question which was basically a very long C expression devoid of any brackets. This tested how well I memorized the C precedence and associativity for all the C operators (I have a feeling that I could fail all 3 of them if I was allowed to make a similar expression for them to do).
These types of interviews give too much power to the hiring manager. He/she is basically given the power to pick someone he/she wants to become friends with. What's with these personal interviews?
BTW, this was not the HR interview. I had that on the phone previous to this one. This was with the hiring manager and two technical team members. Only people who pass this personal interview move onto the
3rd interview, which will have more interviewers from the team.To all you hiring managers out there, please stop taking people who can't communicate at the grade 10 to interviews that are meant to be conversational personality tests. That's not to say they shouldn't be hired, because a lot of these people are really good developers - just keep them out of the interview rooms.