Slashdot Mirror
Ask Slashdot: Re-Learning How To Interview As a Developer?
An anonymous reader writes "Earlier in my career, when I switched jobs every year or so, I was pretty good at interviewing. I got offers about 75% of the time if I got to a in person. But times have changed... my last 2 jobs have been, longer term gigs.. 5 and 3 years respectively, and I am way out of practice. My resume often gets me the phone interview and I am actually really good at the phone screen.. I am 12 for 12 in the last 6 months phone screen to in person interview. It is the in person interview where I am really having issues. I think I come off wrong or something.. I usually get most of the technical questions, but I am not doing something right because I don't come off very likeable or something. It is hard to get very much feedback to know exactly what I am doing wrong. I have always gotten very good performance reviews and I am well liked at work, but if there is one area for improvement on my reviews it has always been communication. So I ask, can anyone give out some advice, I have tried toastmasters a few times, but does anyone have other tips or ideas? Has anyone else had a similar experiences?"
Maybe it's not about you, but that the job market isn't flourishing that much anymore.
don't try for H1B jobs where the person is for show and you have no hope of getting the job.
but it might help to improve your English.
Listen and watch. If you are answering the question you thought they asked, instead of the question they thought they asked, they will probably be somewhat annoyed.
Try to pick up on that, and either figure out what they were asking, or ask for clarification. Let them get in a few words, too.
Sounds more like the proverbial age discrimination that exists in the tech world.
Resume - great; phone interview - great; but then the interviewers get one look at you...
I don't know how friendly and open you are, anonymous person, but I've done pretty well in my last couple of interviews; Accepted immediately, first (face-to-face) interview.
Prior to those last two jobs, I hadn't had an interview for 8 years. It took me 12 interviews before I managed to get a job.
Basically, be more friendly, relaxed and relatable. Complain a bit about previous employers and how this new job will fix those problems (you may have to use your imagination), everyone has problems. A lot of the time, what puts perfect candidate A before candidate B is that "they could have a beer with them". Nobody wants to hire someone they're not gonna enjoy having around the office.
Since drinking heavily, I'm a lot more approachable, and apparently, a lot more employable.
Hope this *hic* helps.
To employers, it's of secondary concern that you're more competent than the other guy.
Primary concern is whether you can be a cog, e.g. will you get along with other team members (which they translate into "enthusiastic, cheerful and forgiving") and will you be able to understand, cooperate with and stay out of the way of your superiors. A big part of this is trying to avoid hiring an employee who also creates problems in addition to doing his/her job.
I suggest thinking vapid and friendly, like a labrador retriever, when you go into a job interview.
Futurist Traditionalism
I typically get job offers from almost all of my in-person interviews. What works for me is being very engaging in the interview. Appear genuinely interested in the company. Don't wait for the "do you have any questions for us" part of the interview before asking questions, ask questions throughout the entire interview. Ask questions about the corporate culture, ask questions about their internal workflow, ask questions about parts of the company other than the one you'll be working in.
Also, come off as very human during the interview, especially when they ask you about yourself. When they ask you about yourself, don't just rehash your resume, they can read that for themselves. Instead, talk about your interests, your hobbies, your life. "Well, I've been a programmer for 13 years, I have a BS in computer science from the U of M, I've been married for 3 years, I play softball and pain miniatures."
The interview is way less about them gauging your technical ability, and way more about showing your interest in the company and how you will fit in with their current team.
Yes, be prepared for the technical questions too, but that's really the minor stuff
I like to ask probing questions to get a feel for what the work environment is like, the stability of the business, and other peripheral topics not directly related to the specific job opening. Take the mindset of being the one evaluating them to see if they will be a suitable employer.
I am becoming gerund, destroyer of verbs.
Dress as a CEO
Cut your hair and shave your beard
empathie with the people in front of you
you are there to make them feel you the right one
Ceci n'est pas une Signature !
What I always do is to ask for feedback after they decided not to hire me, or if I don't hear from them within a week.
What was it that decided against me, what could I have done differently.
Ask kindly and explain to them you want this information so that you can improve your own interview process. This worked very well for me, especially when it wasn't obvious why I didn't get the job. One time I did this I was even offered a job just because they had forgotten about me.
Also. Always look for jobs. It is never illoyal to go on interviews, just don't lie or take a sick day, plan for it. I am always on the watch for the dream job and everybody should too. Going on job interviews has many benefits, particularly you get to find out what you're worth, and if you get a good offer you can use it as leverage next when discussing your current salary :)
You're asking us about your personality, over the internet? Uhm. That doesn't work... My advice? Don't ask us, you'll get generic advice. Go spend a few hundred bucks and see a therapist, just in case. If the concept of therapy bugs you, call it professional outside perspective. Their whole job is reading people and digging at the underlying issues...
It's not you.
I've had some odd interviews over the years. One in which the head of IT was a Luddite - and proud of it. One in which the phone and HR interviews went well, but the interview with the manager left me wondering if she had psychological problems ... later, from my headhunter, I learned her sister was going though a very bad breakup, including stalking, and I was very similar to the ex.
And, of course, sometimes the interview is for show. They've got someone they want, but have to keep HR happy, and demonstrate they considered other candidates.
My best advice is a) research the company/position, b) be honest, and c) try and be positive. Note that 'being honest' doesn't preclude omitting horrendous things. e.g. "I made an internal transfer as soon as I realized my boss was a lying, backstabbing hypocritical s.o.b., and was much happier with my new position." can be reworded as "I made an internal transfer, after achieving some great things in my first position, because the new job offered more opportunities for professional development."
A couple of tips: 1) When you leave an interview, spend some time immediately after and write down the questions they asked and give yourself an honest evaluation of how you answered them. What did you miss? What could you have said better? 2) Before you go to the interview, do a search for "behavioral interview questions" and pick several different topics. Come up with good answers to those questions. Use the "STAR" response (Situation/Task, Actions, Results) and really plan out your answers 3) This sort of goes hand in hand with #2, but think of your top achievements. Make a list of great things that you did as they relate to communication, managing a project, leading a team, etc. etc. You know what kind of job you're applying for, plan for the interview and have your stories ready to go. They're not going to ask those exact questions, but if you have a list of possible answers, you'll at least nail some of the questions.
You shouldn't be asking Slashdot why you're not interviewing well, you should be asking the people who didn't hire you. When you get the phone call saying "no thanks", ask them why you weren't hired. You'll probably get a non-committal answer from most, but there are some will tell you what they think you did wrong.
Good luck.
"Can't you see that everyone is buying station wagons?"
Read up on defensive or aggressive versus relaxed/friendly postures (position of arms, leaning too far forward or back etc).
Also, actively listen, and try to understand what is behind some of the questions they ask. Make sure your more opinionated answers are not the kind that risk offending someone who is in the room.
Oh, and as toastmasters probably taught you, avoid saying ummm ahhhh, and keep your answers brief and to the point.
Where are we going and why are we in a handbasket?
+1 grain of truth. it's kinda like ageism but not really. I have the most success when I do my best to make myself look fit, healthy, and fashionable (in a way that is appropriate for the setting). If I were a male model who could code I could get any job I wanted. It's not discrimination per se, it's just that we've been all trained to like pretty people and pretty things.
Read "What Color Is Your Parachute." The author lists several particular problems you might be having with interviews (do you pick your nose? do you smell funny?), and also discusses how to analyze what went wrong in the interview.
If the problem really is lousy interpersonal skills, that can be improved.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
Two things.
First, don't make the mistake of pushing off discussion of salary to the end of the process - Check the price range they want to pay right up front, before you even waste your time with an in-person interview. It doesn't matter if the job listing describes a senior software architect with a combination of skills that would easily take 20 years to master - If they want to pay intern's wages, they don't want you.
Second, you got old. It happens. We can, however, take a tip from our better halves (presuming you as male) to partially remediate that on a temporary basis. Dye your hair, dress considerably little less formally than you learned to do decades ago (if you can't stand the idea of going to an interview without a suit, at least go for a colored, relaxed-fit sport coat rather than the good old standby of black or charcoal), and you might even consider letting the missus help you with just a hint of makeup (don't worry, it won't stick out unless done horribly - Many younger guys have actually started wearing makeup regularly).
Once your coworkers see you in action, your skills matter more than your age. But that requires getting in the door first.
At least you're asking, and I suppose that's a start. Ask your colleagues, friends, and family. You won't get anything good here because we don't know you.
Fuck systemd. Fuck Redhat. Fuck Soylent, too. Wait, scratch the last one.
Here's my $0.05. I've been a hiring manager for a number of developer positions.
i) Practice: Have a few pat answers for open ended or probing questions. Like when you get asked "Can you give me an example of..." pick a good example - one where you look good (I can't tell you how many times someone picked an "example of resolving a conflict with their coworker where they looked pretty bad"). Then bounce it off your NON-tech friends. Take their advice, even if it sounds weird or not how you would naturally talk. Then practice until you can make it sound natural.
ii) Question. It pays to ask a question or two about the questions being asked of you. Not every question but it shows you are listening and can be even used to show off knowledge you have but haven't been asked.
iii) Listen when they are talking. Try to get an idea of what these people are looking for.
iv) At the end you are often asked if you have any questions. Use the information about iii) to get them talking. Find something you have in common. Suggest some solution. i.e. get them talking about their biggest problem areas for software, hardware (whatever you're being hired for and ask them "Have you tried..."). Don't go on too much about a single technology. I don't mind it when someone slips an extracurricular into their interview but it should be a one off. For example, I interviewed a person who did some Ada programming in his spare time. Which is cool but he referenced it two or three other times and it started to sound like an attempt to distract from the question.
Bonus: Avoid jokes. Seriously. Unless you really can take the temperature of your audience it's hard to pull off and it can easily be taken the wrong way and counted against you . Remember that when you tell jokes to your peers at work they already know you (to some extent) and are attempting to think the best of you. An interviewer is trying to differentiate between you an everyone else. If someone from HR is on the interview panel and you tell a joke (or relay an experience) that makes you look like you have a problem or might be mildly sexist, ageist, racist. You can easily find yourself on the bottom of the pile when it comes to a decision.
I really wouldn't want to work somewhere that has 20 year olds doing interviews. A 20-something "senior engineer" is a fallacy they are what "expert beginners" and they often make mistakes someone with more experience will not make, and that includes the hiring process.
I've been shown the door in an interview by 20-somethings after not answering their vague questions exactly the way they wanted them answered. My current company gave me the highest marks they've ever given an employee and they've been around 15 years. They have experienced people giving interviews and performance reviews.
But isn't it also age discrimination not wanting to work with 20-something "senior engineers" or worse, 20-something CTOs who will be your superior when you have 30 years of experience?
Now this is a post that I never thought I'd see on Slashdot.
Somebody, in all seriousness, suggesting that someone wear makeup.
Would that Commander Taco see this.....
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
A manager of mine once told me he hired me because of this. Of course, you have to nuance it a little. I told him something like "I'm good at communicating the ideas of the project in ways that non-technical people can understand and appreciate the value of it. A lot of times in these positions if you're doing your job perfectly, nobody notices because the system just works. It's important to make sure we get credit for this as a team."
I understand your last two jobs were longer, but you have a trend.
The problem with being eight years older is that you are, indeed, eight years older. Past a certain age it seems that the only jobs you will be able to get is through your network. All else being equal, a complete stranger who has to evaluate you against someone eight years younger (heck, you were a good developer at that age, right?) will definitely chose the younger person. More agile, easier to morph.
Work your network. If you are as good as you say you are, use your reputation instead of your skills.
To Terminate, or not to Terminate, that's the question - SCSIROB
When I interview someone, I ask them to explain something to me. A good candidate can provide a concise overview of the topic and then work through it in a coherent manner, seeking and taking in feedback from me to see if they're explaining things at the right level. Just wandering around the topic isn't so good. It's okay to say what you know and what you don't know.
Another thing I do is to ask them to solve a problem (either a simple but slightly tricky coding problem or a problem about a technology we've discussed). What I like to see is someone who can explain their thought process as they go. If they get stuck, they should be asking questions. But just sitting there thinking quietly isn't a good sign, especially when they don't come out with a good answer eventually.
You do need to find a good balance between talking too much and being too quiet. To do this, it is important to seek feedback and take queues from the interviewer. This kind of interaction is key to "working well with others".
This is the truth. Apart from aesthetics, physique tends to say a lot about motivation, determination, etc. Plus, exercise puts your head in a better place.
I just quoted that because it's true. It should probably be cut 'n' pasted a few dozen more times for effect, maybe in bold 24pt Times New Roman with a red shadow effect.
However, I can see their perspective too. They're trying to cut out the antisocial types who are a drag and can often be little saboteurs in the midst of otherwise normally functioning employees.
Those types do exist and they're extremely toxic.
On the other hand, too much labrador and you do have the day care mentality you describe, which is usually a sign that nothing will get done and yet everyone will stay "work" 60 hour weeks to prove how cool they are.
You might just bring this up with the interviewer. Tell them you have a positive work outlook, and like socializing with other people, but you don't like adult daycare and if that's what they're looking for, you're not interested. You'll get some interesting (and not all unfavorable) replies. If you do get an angry reply, you've found Douchebag, Inc. and you don't want to work there anyway.
Futurist Traditionalism
don't try for H1B jobs where the person is for show and you have no hope of getting the job.
For those that don't know yet, H1B jobs are the job ads that largely appear in tech journals or on tech journal web sites.
I consider interviewing to be similar to sales. You're selling yourself and you need to be able to effectively counter objections. It's a skill that very quickly becomes rusty.
One book I found helpful is the Adams Job Interview Almanac as it helps identify the reason why questions are asked.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Adam...
Doing so isn't easy and is a skill that must be practiced. In the current commercial for AT&T with the 4 women and 1 man professionals, would you be able to understand why each question is asked and be able to answer effectively?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
My thought is that once you get a face-to-face interview they have already selected you, and the other 5 to 10 candidates, based on their technical skills. The whole purpose of an in-person interview, then, is to determine how well you communicate, how friendly you are, and whether you have anything in common with the interviewers. While technical questions may be asked, it's more of how you answer that matters.
Do you ask follow-up questions?
Do you ask the interviewer, if a peer, how they would handle the same problem?
When speaking to the interviewer, do you try to find common ground? (i.e. golfing, movies, family, American Idol, latest sport trades, etc.)
Do you show interest in the problem? or do you have a been-there-done-that attitude?
Are you showing a willingness to learn? Despite the old saying, even an old dog can learn new tricks.
Did you prepare? Did you find out as much about the company as possible (i.e. national vs international, HQ locations, latest products, etc.)?
Perhaps none of these are the problem. It could simply be that you are not up on popular culture. Nothing shows your age more and isolates you more from younger colleagues than not being current. Do you get asked modern cultural questions? Can you answer them?
Read the book Knock 'em Dead. Seriously, it's a great book.
The other thing is to remember that an "interview" is just a meeting. You are both deciding whether you want to work together, for years ... pretty important. Makes sense to have a meeting about it. But that's all it is: a specialized type of meeting.
Also, call back if you didn't get the job and ask why you didn't (in a polite way). I had a friend just go through a tough time finding another job (not tech related) and for the interviews where she didn't receive an offer she called and asked what she could improve on, whether that be job skills, experience or personal. She got a lot of good feedback.
The only young guys I've ever seen wearing makeup are actors.. or it's Halloween.
That said, competently applied makeup is difficult to spot, and the interviewer is probably not expecting it. People usually don't notice things they don't expect.
I was a self-employed software contractor during the dot-com boom. I had lots of great technical gigs, but one of my favorite clients was a recruiter who would hire me an hour or two at a time to send me out for "fake" interviews with "difficult" clients after too many well-matched candidates had been rejected. My job would be to participate the interview, gather as much information as possible (interview the customer), then help the recruiter generate a more accurate job description during our post-interview debrief.
You would be surprised at how often the job description is dead-wrong, the interviewer can't interview, and everything feels like a train running off the tracks.
The most important thing I learned from this process was to realize is that an interview is THE FIRST DAY ON THE JOB! You need to think of yourself as a member of the interview team right from the start, with the goal for all involved being to find the right person for the job. Sometimes, this means you may need to run the interview (similar to "leading from behind").
This attitude got me more job offers than I could shake a stick at. Quite often, a startup would be working on technology so new that NOBODY could possibly know much about it, so after basic technical competence is minimally established, the interview became more about attitude, team fit, and other non-technical issues. Technical leaders and managers can be terrible at doing that side of the interview. But it pays for you to be good at it: Though I'm an embedded software engineer, I had one offer from a superconducting startup who literally told me "you can learn the technical stuff on the job".
Being committed to the group goal, beyond your own self-interest, really matters.
More importantly, I applied the same process to the interviews for my technical gigs. Surprisingly often, I'd have to explain to a potential client that they had completely missed the target by interviewing me. We'd shift the interview to discuss what the gaps were, and how they allowed them to persist. (This was during the peak of the dot-com boom, when "warm technical bodies" were needed.)
One time, this led to a 2-week contract (at my top rate) to help them create a better job description (by having me interview the technical folks and managers), and to consider other candidate finding processes (sometimes I'd refer them to my recruiter friend or other recruiters specializing in their area).
The word soon got around that I was there to help, and when small companies or groups got stuck they'd literally say: "Let's interview Bob". This was their way of getting a couple free hours of my time, and I never minded (it was the kind of PR money can't buy). This snowballed to the point where I was offered a partnership in a technical recruiting firm! But I'm an engineer first, last, and always, and really didn't want to spend my day reading job descriptions and resumes, filtering candidates, or spending endless hours on the phone or writing emails.
It's not that I was in any way good at this stuff (I know very little about HR): It is simply that I care about the process, was aware of my place in it, and was able to tell if it was on-track to its goal. That's what was rare, and was often valuable to those on the other side of the desk.
So, what do you do if it becomes clear during the interview that either a) you are the wrong candidate for the job, or b) you don't want the job? It's the same as when you want the job so bad you can taste it: You try to leave the interviewer better off at the end of the interview than they were at the start. Either way, it's the professional and ethical thing to do.
And it makes one hell of an impression.
You're probably more specialized than before, straight out of college most assume you'll do well at "general development" and the assignments they have in mind are more of that nature too. Now they're looking at someone with many years of experience working with X, how is X relevant to them? I've jumped "subject matter" quite a bit and I feel it's because I've been able to make my experience seem relevant. Personally I feel I've stretched it very thin at times, but I guess a little is better than nothing. And I've tried to keep a positive spin on the things I don't know, as in this is the part of the job I know well and these are things I hope will challenge me and expand my horizons. It sounds awfully cliche but the number one thing you need to show them is that you're still hungry. I'd work on what do you do and say when you don't know the answers.
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
Practice behavior-based interview questions out loud. Have a friend ask them and give feedback if possible. They will help you give a great interview. If you still don't get the job, you may not be a fit.
calling all destroyers
If you're changing jobs every year, then the problem probably isn't with your interviewing skills.
As empires age, truth becomes secondary to working the system. Then just as the proles-turned-kings think they have it all figured out, it collapses around them and they end up in a third world wreck. It surprises them every time.
Futurist Traditionalism
Are you out of shape? Put in a little effort toward a p90x type program (or whatever fits your fitness level). You will look and feel a little younger and it will affect the way you are perceived. You don't have to be Ryan Gosling, just a little improvement will help. In fact, if you are too in shape, it may actually hurt.
Where are people getting this? My career didn't start picking up until I was over 35. While I've interviewed at places that didn't actually want a senior engineer (they meant 5-10 years when they wrote "senior"), I blame myself for not asking better questions earlier about those jobs.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
The title of this post could be interpreted as sarcastic, but it is totally possible to improve your people skills, especially if you think that's where your problem is. Early on, I considered myself a total socially awkward introvert, but turned that around by reading books like this and working on my social skills. Sounds corny, but it works. Classic advice, good book: http://www.dalecarnegie.com/da...
Sometimes it's a commitee and every member decides to put a criteria into the mix just to show they have contributed something. While that's not an ideal workplace either it's different to having a person already that ticks those bullet points and a stupid policy of advertising for everything even when it's going to be filled internally.
Step 0: Have a friend do a mock interview with you.
Tell your friend to pick a question like the ones you've been getting.
Solve it on a whiteboard.
In addition to getting some scenario practice, your friend can point out if you're coming across in an awkward way.
Step 1: Listen
Listening is more important than talking in good communication.
I interview a lot of software engineers. Sometimes candidates get so excited about an idea they have that I can't get a word in edge ways to point out they missed a requirement or to suggest there's an easier solution. They may leave the interview saying "I cranked out some great sorting code," but in my notes is written "Implemented bubble sort."
Before diving in to code, verify that the interviewer wants you to implement something. If they say "How would you sort the data," you might not need to implement a sort algorithm.
Step 2: Think Out Loud
If a solution to a problem occurs to you, say it so the interviewer knows where you are.
If they ask questions about your thought, follow their line.
If they just acknowledge what you said, analyze it for a minute and see if it's a good solution, or if there are interesting caveats.
Ceci n'est pas une signature.
Dye your hair to look younger, get some type of product to cover the crow's feet. But don't fake your resume or dodge when you went to school. That is pretty much a deal-breaker if it looks like you are being less than forthcoming with your past. Age on paper looks okay, maybe? Age in the visual sense will play into the interviewer's subconscious bias.
Hipsters are actually using make-up on their faces.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
GET OFF MY LAWN!
Damn kids....
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Be friendy, humorous and honest. Play the senior card. Practice interviewing. That is, have many, apply for all jobs that could fit somehow. 90% of the specs in the ad are bogus anyway and are collected and written by people who can't even abstract a desktop icon from a file on the harddisk, let alone acutally know what they are talking about or asking for in a hire.
Display self-worth by not having to prove yourself anymore.
When you're losing your inner game just think: "If you don't hire me, that's your problem, not mine. I'm just being nice to you."
If you're in your mid-fourties, start wearing shirts and perhaps even ties (I'm going to start wearing my first tie soon), along with the matching pants and shoes and maybe a jacket to match. Skip the next 2-3 generations of high end grafics cards or other geek gadgets for a quality wardrobe. Get a good book on dressing well and perhaps pay a professional tailor to give you some advice if you are a total fashion n00b. It may even be time to give those printed t-shirts to the red cross or use them as oil rags.
Get and maintain a good haircut and pimp your grooming skills. Talk smart and less that a usual nerd and keep your voice calmer that you're used to. This all works particularly well if you've already got some gray hair to show. I call this 'the gray hair bonus' - played well it has a solid direct positive impact on your salary.
I got my last job by being friendly and honest and telling some interesting war stories about my times as a developer. We talked for 1,5 hours, had a lot of fun and in the end I got the job. 1 phonecall, 2 short emails (one being the contract for me to review) and a nice long chitchat. They didn't see a single piece of official paper from me. That's how interviews should go at 40+ when you've started programming in 1986 as a 16-year old.
If you're an IT expert you'll get a job, one way or the other. Don't worry to much. Take the edge of age discrimination by being approachable but with a senior aura. Your boss should to feel safer and better understood when you're around, because you're 'the experienced guy' on his team. That works best when you're around his age and are friendly and forthcoming when pointing out flaws in his software production.
My 2 cents.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
Aren't you being too candid here If you ask a candidate what he wants to be paid and you eliminate him from the list of candidates because 1) he has grey hair and 2) He said that he wanted too much pay, then don't wonder that he and others won't bother applying at your company, and don't tell me either, that here is a talent shortage and go plying to the Congress to get more H1B visas.
Also isn't the senior track really unfair to people? People are fairly locked into their personalities, if they became engineers because they are geeks and like to solve technical problems then to tell them by age 35 that they have to start becoming schmoozers and go into management and become bullshit artists is really unfair? This sounds like an idea invented by management theorists at business schools who are already bullshit artists to rig promotions in companies to promote their own.
If you know personality theories, you will have to admit that people's basic personality is set by age seven and that it is impossible to change the basic stance of that personality, so for people in finance and management to demand that people of certain other personality types to change at midlife is not fair, and is indeed cause for a push back that I think is coming.
In terms of one widely-known personality model, Eneagram of Personality, engineers are often types 5 and 6, whereas the management people are often types 8 and 3 in America. Type 5 has some access to point 8, and 6 has some access to 3, But you can really make people change their type, Nor is it wise to force an engineer to sacrifice his talent for unrelated ones.
To me this just proves that their isn't the opportunity to advance in the current economy since generalizations like you are making a just inventions by people in power to protect their control. Such power historically can get undone, and often by force.
Tell me, have you ever been an engineer or scientist? Rereading you post, I would think not. I don't doubt that engineers want to and can do management roles, but people like them often find themselves in those roles against their basic inclinations, and they often don't do good in business politics, so when you assert an inclination to management, aren't you telling us that you never were very technical and always were more outer directed, that you are more type 3 or 8 and not type 6 or 5, and never have been?
But really it is the intangibles that come into play, not whether a young programmer applies the current best practices to development and his older counterpart may need to get up to speed with these. That is simply a matter of taking the time to tell people what you want. The fact that companies who hire younger staff and discriminate against older people has an answer, reduce the supply of youngsters. If that happens they will have to change their tune and damn fast. This is simply a result of the oversupply of people for too few jobs. Lets suppose we get into a war with the Russians and all the young people have to go into battle, the priorities will be reversed as they were in 1970. People with generic skills will be in demand again.
The other intangible is maturity and tact, and loyalty when things get tough, A bunch of young 20-something programmers might be smart, they might be current on best-practices, they might be energetic and able to work for 72 hours straight and they may need to be paid less to do all those things, but they will bore easily and they may not wait aground when things demand patience and staying power.
Google, how ironic. I had interviewed there, was unimpressed and now absolutely hate the company, as well as Facebook, and I live nearby but wouldn't think of working for either even if I had the skills. So, talking about very technical interviews must either indicate a ruse or a deception because the way these two companies face the outside should rank as a major shock to any one with a computer science degree who wants to do good deeds, or that person is a total sell out
You would be putting comp. sci. expertise to the most banal of missions to support the low pursuits of social media, of using Python to squeeze garage out of analytics data. What an ignobile use of time, about as bad as microtrading on securities markets letting institutions speculate in stock prices. Both are abominations, quants and quants.
My MBA professor recommended starting a network marketing company to improve social and communication skills beyond those you can pick up in the tech industry. Hard to find a good one with a decent education and training support system but overall worth looking.