Another guy I interviewed, seemingly he was right out of college. He did not answer a single technical question I asked him. At the end of the interview he said "I am going on vacation. If I don't respond right away to a job offer don't think that I am not interested."

Close
I = V/R

psyche, you got it.

My father actually said some new EE grads would not know it at the job interview. This was around late 80’s. I graduated EE in 93 and could not imagine one of my fellow grads not knowing it. It is like the main building block of electrical.

The EIR, for more, PIE. A EE might not ever work at such lower level. I don't care for the virtual interview where you can't see the interviewer to get feedback. In the middle 70's I was trying to determine what major to take in technical college.

I talked to the program chairman of coin op and vending (which included pinball and video games) and he said I was not a good candidate for it. I said OK and took Electronic Technology instead.

30 years later I started collecting pins. I guess I made the right choice.

Sure, but if the eagle sped up more than about 3 mph above that, no. Successful speeds range from 48.001 mph to 58.125 mph.

And conductive heat transfer to an ME, they are sisters formulas, V=IR and q = kA(deltaT).

You are hired. Successful speed range would be 45 on the low end though...

As a old hippy from the 60s,they used to ask us what our hobbies where, and what we liked to do with our spare time! Wow how time has changed peoples minds!!

In my father’s group they were interviewing people for high voltage power transmission at a major power company. Basic electrical concepts are used all the time in power. My father also would tell me about how in the 80’s they had become more selective in hiring because of Human Resources mandates and were forced to interview from only the highest gpa graduates. The problem with that is they would end up with book smart engineers that lacked common sense and the ability to factor in real world issues such as equipment cost vs. benefit and future load demand vs power generation/supply capabilities, etc.

Before the mid to late 1980s, newly graduating electrical engineers could typically be very selective in their job search but it became much harder to find jobs after the late 80’s economic changes.

Unfortunately most interviewers are looking for reasons to NOT hire people.

This question is good to determine humility, also known as "self-awareness." Not being able to admit mistakes means that you're afraid to admit mistakes, and when things go wrong, you'll keep quiet, making matters worse. A former Manager a few levels above me made a serious mistake that would cost our company a lot of sales, and damage our relationship with key customers. He lied about it for three weeks before coming clean about his mistake to his boss. If he had come clean we could have avoided some of the damage. It cost him and his boss their jobs.

One is for someone who sucks at hitting. The other is for someone who sucks at pitching.

I met with our Director of Engineering the first week of my first job, and I’ll never forget what he said. “If you need help, ask for help. You won’t be punished for mistakes. But if you try to bury your mistakes and don’t ask for help, you might get fired.”

My brain dump from my years as an ME: P=IV. Rotating drive shaft couplings have steel keys for interlocking the driving shaft to the driven shaft and the shaft coupler has left hand threads.

Working as an Engineer is the opposite of sales or politics. When someone asks you a question and you don't know the answer, it is much better that say "I don't know" and get the answer later than to give a bullshit answer.

I explain this concept to people I am interviewing and then tell them that I am going to ask them in rapid-fire five extremely difficult questions that they most likely don't know the answer to. I tell them there is nothing wrong with not knowing any of the answers and that I want them to only answer if they know the answer for certain, otherwise it is much better to simply say "I don't know". Then I repeat myself and ask if they understand the "game". They always say yes, but as soon as I start firing the questions they just can't help trying to bluff, stall and bullshit on at least two or three of them. I've only had about 25% of the people I've done this with calmly say I don't know to all five questions. Sometimes someone knows the answer to one of the questions and that is a good sign too. Point is its a simple game that shows personality traits and integrity rather than pure book smarts and the people who get it right are generally people who I recommend hiring.

Has anyone walked out of an interview because you were asked stupid questions?
I have, twice at a company I worked at for decades.

One guy was infamous for asking tough technical questions (engineering) but
when answered correctly he'd say you were wrong. He was trying to find out if
you'd contradict him. He didn't want people like that in his group!

One of the dumb questions was "how many barbers are in the USA". Sure, I get
it that they are trying to see how you rationalize things but inappropriate
in a technical interview.

I've interviewed quite a few engineers over the years, including PhD types.
The one question I always asked is 'what did you design and *build*
not only at work but on your own?' And describe the circuit and layout.
That stumped many. Reject!
Steve

No. I always assume there is a reason (even if it is a ludicrous one, like personal insecurity, etc) for what on the surface seems like a stupid question. Also, I would hate to miss out on a job that could be good because one of the interviewers had a bad showing themselves.

I have walked away from an job interview afterwards though when I got the sense from the interviewer that it would not be a good place to work. That can be sketchy too though, because you have to gauge whether it is just due to their circumstances or if it is the same for everyone.

The only item you can figure out is that the trains are closing the gap at a rate of 94 miles per hour.

Guy owned a safe moving company.

First applicant sits down, guy points at a 400lb safe and says, "Move that safe over to the other wall". 15min later, guy is covered in sweat, says "Done!" Guy says, " Thanks, we'll be in touch. "

Next guy comes in, same thing. 20 min later, "Ok, there you go!" " Thanks, we'll let you know. "

3rd guy sits down.
"Move that safe over to the other wall".
" I can't moved that by myself. "
"You're hired".

I always liked tests that subtracted points for wrong answers. I have taken the SAT, EIT and GMAT, if I remember right the SAT and EIT did that subtracted points for wrong answers.

I have never walked out for a stupid question but I have walked out for excessive questioning. If they just keep asking question after question trying to trip you up or prove themselves I’ll peace out. There is a limit on how much time and effort I will put in for free. I don’t do homework, that is a non starter. I’ll do a questionnaire but I will not build anything or present anything to be graded or tested.

The barber question is just an easier version of the street light question. They are just trying to see how you break things down. There is no right or wrong answer, just trying to see how you come up with an estimate.

To me it's always been as important in engineering to give proper credit to who you got your answer or direction from and not to be a just a conduit of information by taking credit for someone else's ideas. And expect the same from others when it's your idea. Hence the no politic rule you mention, those people that don't get it get weeded out quickly in the right environment.

A a tip if you need to go on an interview (particularly to the younger guys)...

I cant tell you the number of kids I had a bad first impression of because they say um and like and all that shit 100 times per hour, which makes you sound like an idiot even if you you aren't.

I had one kid that was really smart, great education etc but started every sentence like his IQ was 50.

So um, like, um, then answer..... like the brain needs a minute to process.

Just shut up until you think of something to say.

Interviews are worthless, unless the candidate is an absolute disaster and can easily be rejected.

I need to see someone on the job for 90 days. If they fail to impress or at least perform adequately during that period, we fire them.

Another piece of advice I'd give my younger self and some of the people I've interviewed: Separate the enthusiasm of the recruiter or HR as an indicator of whether you will get the job, from the experience of the hiring manager/possible co-worker interviews. Their goals regarding you are not the same.

This would be such a massive waste of money and resources, you have a serious HR problem and that is where people need to be fired.

It's a good policy. If the process works well, meaning quality candidates get hired, no one gets fired. It is a nice out for a company in extenuating circumstances. If a job requires hit-the-ground-running, meaning low learning curve, types of talent, it's a good policy.

He just said his process is worthless and only absolute disasters are being weeded out through interview. That would mean a lot of poor candidates are getting hired, trained and 90 days wasted on them. How could that process possibly work well? Sure it works great so long as you batting a thousand, except you swinging with your eyes closed.

"Where would you like to be in 5 years?"

"Retired and living in a beach house in Maui, but that depends... what's the most anybody's embezzled from this place and gotten away with it?"

Where I work you get one-year probationary. They can let you go for any reason during that time. Behind the scenes there's a lot of paperwork with HR to accomplish that but still you have a year to prove yourself. Also a lot of jobs are what's called term. You get hired for a term of three to six years at which time you are either let go or you apply to get hired in another term.

I am not against probationary periods, they are great but they are a last line of defense. If HR is doing their job only people they expect to be hired should even get an interview. If I interview someone that doesn't fit we immediately debrief with the recruiter and HR. Explain why they didn't fit so they understand why certain experience doesn't apply, or point out how the candidate beat the system. Also it's not uncommon for recruiters to go for the whole strength in numbers and only think about the commission. Obviously size and scope of the outfit is a factor but you have to at least have someone taking that first cut. Interviews are super valuable they should not be blown off as a waste of time and just fire the people that don't work out.

My wife was a flight attendant back in the day, those stories are so bitter sweet. Pilots tell crazy stores that are super fun to hear but then your like I'm not sure I actually wanted to know this stuff.

It's the guys that started in the bush, my wife was on Canadian then Regional so the guys on the smaller planes, the way those guys tell stories the bush was the wild west.

I once thought I had found the perfect candidate for a management position. He answered every question comfortably, confident, and relevant to the questions. I hired him. I found out later he had Asberger’s Syndrome. In his case, he couldn’t interpret or show emotion.

He failed and was terminated. He left detailed information about his job and other jobs he had held in long, letters to himself on his work computer. I took that information and contacted a couple of his previous employers.

He had mastered the interview process. Since they are usually serious and straightforward, they fit his strength. Once variable and emotion were added he failed.

Ever since, I always include a nonsense question to the process in his honor.