First Inteview

Neither I am talking about my first ever interview here nor I am planning to change my job. Stop running your wild imaginations. I am going to talk here about my first experience of being on other side of table. Yes, my first job interview as interviewer rather than seeker.

We had open house for USC and I had to interview 5 candidates on-site on a single day. We (our team) had to plan about this well in advance as it is not easy to judge some one within 45 minutes of meeting and it is even more difficult when you have to interview 5 candidates on single day. We planned, all in advance on Who is going to grill on which topics, so that we make sure we do not repeat the questions. I was given responsibilities of chalking out the questions for technical quiz, which I happily accepted. In addition I had to be ready with "good" questions for my share of on-site interviews, I was supposed to test candidates on my favorite topic i.e. Algorithms and Data Structure. Data Structure and C..are you kidding?? I was sure, I was going to have heck of a day!

Well, to say truth I was very disappointed with the quality of students. Oh boy..can you imagine Master's students who are not able to contemplate the idea of Stack and Strings in C. I was shocked to see candidates scrambling when told to write a simple C program to reverse a C string after being told C is their favorite language.

Here are some of the excerpts from my first interview -

Me: Tell me about yourself?
Candidate: Started with usual stuff...and ended with "I have an OCP (Oracle Certified Professional)

Me: Shouldn't you be looking for job as DBA?
Candidate: In short..I am interested in working as Software Engineer.

I followed with some technical question starting from Data Structures, C to OS and XML. None of the answers were acceptable. And then he says "Sir, I would prefer if you don't ask me questions on Algorithms and Data Structures"

Wow..I could not believe myself hearing this and that too from student pursuing his Master's degree in Computer Science on on-site interview!

I thought may be he is more of DB guy as he had Oracle's Certification. So I start asking him DB related question. And then he says something that was incomprehensible

"Sir, actually I would have preferred you not asking me question on Programming and DB. I think there is some kind of confusion. I am not interested in job as software engineer. I would rather like to interview for QA position."

Are you kidding? Do you think we are stupid to allow you to waste valuable time of our colleague? I wanted to say him that rather we would make sure that you do not get chance to waste a second of ours for your lifetime. And all I could do was pity for that guy's father for wasting fat bucks on his fees at USC.

To add it more, I gave thumbs down for each one of candidates I interviewed. Nor was I tough nor did I do that as an aftermath of first interview. It is just that I did not see anyone fit for the job position. And yes, none of them were hired..and I know most of you would agree with me on the outcome ;)


Current Mood: Satisfied
Current Song: Purani Jeans by Ali Haider

The three things

Gossh..it's more than 4 months since my last post, not sure if anyone visits here anymore. I have been too lazy and was trying to avoid Phone Calls, IMs and Orkuting as much possible. Just wanted to have some time for myself, gather my thoughts and contemplate over the aftermath of *too* many changes at my end.

If still don't know, I had to make a urgent trip back home for 3 weeks. But it also means that my name should be at the top of your call list. This trip was so much different as compared to my past trips. My lovely li'l sis is married now and I am still finding it incredibly hard to conceive that. Okay..I should stop this or I would keep on rambling on this.

So I wanted to tell you about the three things I enjoy most while back home in India -
1. Food: Of course this would be the top most item for almost all desi's. And why should it not be? How can anyone get away with those chats, paani-puri, paneer tikkas and what not?
2. Pressure: Believe me after eating all those chatpati cuisines, the pleasure of ultimate pressure at the start of the day is worth everything. I really miss this every morning ;)
3. Freedom: Getting everything at your disposal, be it food or anything else. No pain of doing laundry, cleaning utensils and all...

Mood: Drooling
Music: None