发信人: QuantCareer (QuantCareer), 信区: Quant
标 题: Re: a good book
发信站: BBS 未名空间站 (Thu Apr 24 10:28:27 2008)

You raised a very good question.

But, first of all, I do not think it's wise to refuse to answer technical
questions at an interview. I mean, if a person intrudes on your privacy and
asks you, for example, "how many girlfriends have you had?" I think you
have every right to refuse to answer that -- and you should tell the manager
, the headhunter, and HR about such ridiculous questions.

But if it's a technical question, no matter how "stupid" you think it is,
you must try to answer it, if you want the job. Even if you don't want the
job, I do not recommend you "burning the bridges" and leaving a bad
reputation. On Wall Street, bad reputation travels fast. If you're really
smart and already successful, then people can forgive you. But for most of
us -- yours truly included -- we do not enjoy such a luxury, so it's better
to play by the rules.

Do these questions test your ability? This is the same as asking "Does SAT/
GRE/TOEFL/GMAT test a student's knowledge and aptitude?" I don't think
there's an easy answer. All of us have standardized tests to thank for
being where we are today -- so why do you want to challenge an interviewer's
technical question, no matter how far-fetched you think it is to the job at
hand?

All interviewers know how difficult it is to find a suitable candidate, or to judge a candidate's competency. Everybody's resume is more or less the same -- esp. among fresh graduates. You just need some way to differentiate among the candidates.

Finally, as I mention in my book, interviewers often use tough questions to
gauge how a candidate acts under duress. For this reason alone, even if you
can't answer a question, you should put up a positive attitude. Someday,
when you're successful enough to snub others, you can then tell an
interviewer who gives you a hard time to "up yours" -- but before then, act
normal and act well.

Good luck!
-brett




【 在 pipinu (pipinu) 的大作中提到: 】
: I once refused to answer this kind of question in the interview. They
asked
: me some C++ questions, and then asked me probability questions. Then I got
: upsetted and refused to answer. Is it normal for companies to ask so many
: detail questions? I never met this situation in the interview before, and
I don't think these questions can show anything on the ability of the
applicants.




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※ 修改:·QuantCareer 於 Apr 24 10:30:53 2008 修改本文·[FROM: 209.49.]