Interview: How would you direct someone else on how to cook an omelet? (Take 2)

How would you direct someone else on how to cook an omelet?

Gather Answers to Follow-up Questions

Why am directing someone?

• Instructional?
• To cook me breakfast?
• For himself? How many tries? How many eggs? Are there eggs?

Who is "someone"?

• Experience
• Age
• Language
• Customs
• Culture

How? Where?

• In-person? Virtual? Text? Amazon how-to? SMS?
• Language?
• High elevation?
• Stove? Campfire? Barbecue?

Goal?

If I get this question in my next interview, I feel like my goal is to keep asking questions and hope to not answer the question. I think it would be entertaining to see how far I can push without actually answering the question which then go back to the first post with modifications to the additional information.

Reference

Take 1: https://douglastclee.blogspot.com/2013/01/interview-how-would-you-direct-someone.html

Work Life: Why do I seem like an enemy when providing fyi? (no answer)

Scenario

A colleague (Bob) who does not report to me became extremely defensive. I suspected that the topic I wanted to share would could be misinterpreted so I had prefaced my call that this is purely informational. I explained that I am not blaming him or blaming anyone. Yet, he really took offense and told me that the process was broken and he will continue to do as he sees fit.

I do know one of the problems was that I am sharing this information because of an issue that came up which was not directly him fault. There is some fault because he made the change directly in production and due to unforeseeable issue, the db team had to restore him db object with one from another environment. Essentially, him change was overwritten. To make matters worse was that he was just on vacation. Him manager had to contact me to get a backup because I audit the promotions. I did not know the origin, and I told him that there has never been a request for that object so I do not have backup. DB did not have a backup because the issue was that it was corrupted... also the DB team did not want to restore an entire enterprise core database just for a single object.

Initially, I called him to let him know what happened since he was not here at the time. The DB team is also implementing processes to audit and log user access which was very loose before. I shared this information, the he started to explain why he had to do what he did. I listened to what he said then I explained that I am not saying that he did anything wrong in the past. Everyone understands people did what they had to before. To address him concern about process, I just shared that we have a process to promote changes. He retorts that the process is too slow so he has to make the changes in production to appease the business. I tried to explain that is not him problem. He continues to reiterate then added that someone needs to define a process (I interpreted that as he is not taking that from me). After a while he continued to repeat herself, and I tried to interrupt because he was addressing poor process. I wanted to share that he will get into policy issues if he continues and that he should take proactive actions. He would not listen and said so directly with "I will not escalate anything" which to me was ironic because he is personally escalating him fixes. So eventually I just let him finish, doesn't ask me any questions,  basically gives me an empty thanks, and hung up on me. 

Since he will not stop doing what he does, I called his manager (Joe). I did not share most of the details from my last conversation. I did tell him that Bob is under the impression that he has to make changes in production to fix the issues. I asked Joe to speak with Bob that he does not need to be concerned with escalating the fix. Bob's focus is to come up with a solution. If my process is too slow for the customer, then that is between the customer, me, and the executive management because my process is dictated from them. My process is typically slow because it requires their approvals. Joe was already on board with my process, probably unaware that Bob did this, and exemplified by these recent issue that he had to support during Bob's absence. I also told him that I am not looking for anyone to get in trouble. I am just trying to keep them from getting in trouble. Joe agrees and will speak with Bob. 

My Thoughts on Above Scenario

First, I felt bad that he thought I was attacking him. Second, I felt a little angry because I am trying to help him by sharing some changes maybe he was not aware of. If anything, he can just ignore my advice and continue as he had before. Third, I felt guilty for being angry.

Then my thoughts turned to an article I read recently about why geniuses have "poor" social skills. I remember my reaction was that geniuses are not the only ones with poor social skills. Every level of intelligence have examples of poor social skills. Back to the topic, one of the comments was that geniuses just don't want to deal with low iq conversations.

Initially I thought that made some sense because the topic is not important to them. Either because they know the answer already (fastest route from A to B) or the topic is inconsequential to their beliefs or values (why did A cheat on B on a scripted show). But after this transaction, I am starting to think the main reasons is that it is just a waste of time.

Either they have to figure it out on their own or they will never understand it. Adding myself to the variable made no difference to the outcome, so why add myself to the problem. So, why do I even bother? I want to see them do well but they do not listen. Even if they listen, they do not do because either they didn't understand or they do not understand the consequence. So if anything, I seem to have made matters worse.

I don't know. I really do feel that I waste more of most people's time. There have definitely been some that it helps. But honestly, it is just tiring to think if I am being more helpful than hurtful.

My Thoughts in General

Then I started thinking of others that have became angry, pissed, upset, or defensive when I was just trying to give some information small or large. In my personal life, I am very sarcastic so I can see some personal relations strained because it seems that I am not very good at explaining what sarcasm is.

So is it maybe me that is the problem? If I could redo my conversation with Bob, what could I have done better? If I didn't have the conversation, then at least Bob wouldn't have gotten unhappy.

I really cannot think of anything to change. Give more apologies? Give more prefaces? The only thing I can think of is to not have brought it up... but then I wouldn't have learned that he was pressured to deliver a fix (as much as I tried to relay that it was not his role to escalate or to resolve the issue).

Another thing that I have trouble explaining to people is that I very rarely get frustrated at people, but I do get frustrated with inefficiencies. For example, people who leave trash near the trash can. Is it really that hard to push it a couple more inches into the trash can? I have to schedule time every week just to clean the pile of trash into the trash, then they complain why I have no time. I explain if they just put in the last 1% effort after they already did 99% of the effort (ie trash, laundry, cling cabinets, turning off the light, locking door, care for things only they care about like garden, plants, etc), they could save me a lot of time. Somehow that conversation always ends up with everyone being upset even though I was only sharing that if they did their part, they would save "me" a lot of time... mind you, I do not bring up this conversation nor have I complained that I do this for them.

I am starting to think transparency is such a farce. Unless people start to be more self-aware, all these things is such a waste of my time. Sometimes I feel like a complete idiot whenever I try. Am I losing hope in people?

Interview: Attentive to detail? It is a rather low bar to pass.

 I remember early in my career there were several questions I struggled with in interviews. One of those questions was "Are you detail oriented?" In my mind, I am always seem to miss a minor detail. I seem to consistently score 99% than 100%. If there was a silly mistake to make, I can make it. So I was always hesitant in responding to this question. But of course, I knew better and responded yes anyways because there is no other answer to this question.

First, what a useless question from interviewers to ask a question that any intelligent person can answer but cannot verify.

Second after years of experience, I am way, way, way, way more detail oriented than most people I have worked with. And those that were more detailed spent too much time on details than getting the work done. I know most people will claim this whether this is true or not, but I am saying that they are on the more extreme side. 

Because everyone kind of have to answer that question (now more indirectly than directly like in the past), that means all those people also claimed they are detail-oriented.

Now, I want to say that I am far from perfect. But there are so, so, so many details that I catch that just makes me wonder why we even hired this person. What broke the camel's back to make my publish this post was where one of our developers repeated the same ticket number in the description. The number is right next to the original number. The developer added to the description, #12345, right next to that exact number so that it read #12345, #12345.

COME ON.... that is too blatantly obvious. They even had to click in the field to update so it is not like they copy/pasted too quickly.

Another example is when they provide their list of changes, they consistently miss items on their list. More than 50% of the time.

Grouping remaining examples together: they misspell objects (in development this is quite important because they are use shorthand so I cannot tell if it is intentional or not), they repeat items, they do not enter data consistently (eg they will repeat an item name but have different types).

I am lucky to have one good ticket with no errors 10% of the time. And this is just with requests. If I get into email messages, instant messages, etc... it just boggles my mind how terrible my colleagues are with details. Of course, I am not saying they are terrible people or workers. I am just saying that being detail-orient is way more overrated than most intelligent people think.

Conclusion

If you ever get the question, be confident that you are detail-oriented especially if you finished in the top 10% of your high school class or got into a top-tier university, you are easily more detail-oriented than most people.

That is besides the point that the question is just useless like "are you a good person?" or "are you telling the truth?" One answer lets you progress and the other... well, no one chooses the other answer. That's why they are useless questions. Sometimes I wonder if HR even tries. Or if I want to be more open-minded, I think HR wastes too much time on the bottom 20% than the top 80%.

Interview: What Project Were You Most Proud Of? (Software Engineering role) (Failed)

I have had several interviews in the last couple months. This was probably one of the most popular questions for me (January - February 2020), "Describe to me about one of your proudest projects that you worked on?"

Because I was a release manager applying for a software engineering role, this question was quite tricky because I did not work on projects. I had other projects that I would like to share but they were not really programming projects or projects where I produced something. In most cases, I managed and delegated so I gave those samples.

Thinking back on those interviews, I do not feel that I gave good responses to the question. I also tried to provide a side project that I worked on as a release manager. The proof-of-concept did not get enough traction to be approved for actual use, although everyone liked the idea. Environment and management of an application was not something management wanted to handle, as they rather just purchase a third-party system or none at all.

Perhaps, I should have used a project that I worked on back when I was a programmer. I am not sure what a good response would be even after seeing what our developers do. Especially in an agile environment, the developers no longer work on projects in the same sense as a waterfall project. They are constantly just writing code per user-stories, test, and refactor. Most of them do not know the full project scope. Maybe they should, but from a procedural point-of-view, this method has been rather effective for the company.

Perhaps more effective for the company in that the developers will have trouble finding new jobs because they may also struggle with the same question. Without the experience, they will not know how to position themselves in such a way where they can also gain something that they can market.

Given that I was not able to even get a second interview with any company that asked this particular question makes me really think that I am definitely failing this question at some level. There have also been other weak parts of my interview that may have also contributed like not being the local vicinity (even though I recently moved to the area) and no in a current programming role which a couple HR managers have told me directly.

Job Search: Why can't ATS (Applicant Tracking System) transfer my profiles to other companies?

ATS solutions like Taleo, SuccessFactors, iCIMS, etc., do not transfer your profile from one company site to another. Yet LinkedIn and Google can, albeit they do a pretty terrible job of it.

Completing an online job application form is already a pain in the tuchus, but what drives me near insanity is the constant steps of upload resume, re-enter resume information into digital format, then cry/whine and repeat with maybe a 5% chance to get an initial call.

After so many applications, you start to realize a lot of sites use similar ATS solutions, which makes me question why they cannot just pull my information from last application to this one? I thought maybe it was a regulation issue but LinkedIn basically does that so does not seem like it. Perhaps if the ATS solution has a contract not to, they can at least build it on their main site so that I can provide them my information voluntarily for them to auto-populate the fields.

Interview: Have You Experienced Something (When You Haven't)

I had an interview when the interviewer asked me to describe an experience when I had direct influence in pushing an agenda in a release last minute for a role in release management.

I am paraphrasing the question as I cannot remember the exact wording of the question, and also that he repeated the question a couple more times with different words.

My Response

My response was on the line that I had never had to step-in to "force" a deliverable to be in a release. The reason I believe that I do not have these situations in my 8 years as release management is due to my ability to bring people together to re-evaluate the situation and re-prioritize the work. Development team can only do so much in 24 hour days, and there is a limit to how much can actually be done no matter how many people you throw into the issue within a short period of time (ie last minute). Both teams have had little issue with my methods. I manage the most applications on the release management team, so I handle a lot of different teams. I have had good reviews, and no one has complained of my methods.

I wish I responded that eloquently on the interview, but the bulk of the message is there.

My Reaction to the Questions

Oddly enough because the interviewer was really stressing this question, I was suspecting there was so underlying issue at the company especially in the release management role. I tried to address this concern (unsure if that really is the case). I mentioned that specific task really lies on the product or program owner. I am not shy on taking on other responsibilities or going beyond the traditional bounds of the release management role to get things done. 

My Personal Thought on Result

I do not think I passed the interview, unless the line of questions was to try to incite some reaction from me by asking the same question differently. At the end of the interview, the interviewer also did not seem interested in answering my questions. I do not believe that I answered his question.

Post-Interview Thoughts

I spent too much time rewording my initial answer to answer his follow up questions. I should have redirected the question so that he gave me a scenario and I would then describe to him how I would have handled it. Thinking back on it, I think that would have been the best method to clarify the concern or at least in some way to side-step the initial question.

Interview: Are you more of a hunter or a gatherer?

Internal thoughts

My initial thought is neither as the concept seems a bit archaic. But to go with the flow, I think both. The natural answer could also to be a leader for managers. Although it may seem like thinking outside the box, it does not really answer the question. What are the questions?

• Can you think outside the box (choose an option not provided)?
• Are you proactive (hunter) or passive (gatherer)?
• More go with the flow (hunter) or need time to analyze the problem (gatherer)
• More vulgar (hunter) or civilized (gatherer)?
• More risk tolerant (hunter) or risk averse (gatherer)? 

Of course, some of the descriptions could be flipped but I think this is a decent guide. So thinking through this, I want to tell a story on how I can attack a problem. And the problems that I enjoy solving are operational problems like how we work as a team and making processes more efficient. This target is more mobile thus making it seem more like a hunter.

My answer

I feel that I am better suited as a hunter. To be more specific, I think I am more of a sniper hunter. The skillsets of a hunter requires the ability to analyze a moving target. While a gatherer would require the ability to analyze more static variables which seem more suited for research or academic-type people, or collect details and facts before coming up with a solution. I am more natural at following moving targets.

I am not the type to just jump in and battle it out which would seem more like an in-fighting type hunter. Nor am I the type to just try everything and just hope something hits or sticks... something like a shotgun.

My preference is definitely more precise and surgical like a sniper. Not one that is able to hit the target, but one where it would not hurt the ecosystem. For example, my MO is typically to meet with the subject matter experts to learn their pros and cons. I attack the problem by slowly adjusting my processes to align with my findings. Not to just adjust to appease them, but to nudge them in the direction I would like them to go. In some cases, people won't even realize that they have changed for the better.

So on the scale, my strongest value from experience would be in the middle of hunter and gatherer but leaning towards the hunter category. My other value is that my skills allow me to be anywhere on the spectrum. If I have to go in fighting, I could hold my own. Or if I have to do a 500-page thesis, I can also do that.

Afterthought

It is possible that a scenario could be created to suit a gatherer. Given the limited amount of time to think for an interview, I prefer to choose the path that seems easiest to explain to someone which typically would be the natural way that I associate two different scenarios. This may well be easier as a gatherer for someone who is more attuned to that line of thinking. 

The important thing is to stay focused on what you want to demonstrate to your interviewer. Sometimes it may be figuring out what they are asking, but in this case I think the situation is to create an open-ended question to give some leeway to tell a story.

Also, I think reading the comments on glassdoor helps. Pretend that you are an interviewer and you asked this question to 20-30 people, and those are the answers that you got. Some seem interesting at first, but then you realize a lot of people respond in similar fashion. Remember that one response to one question does not define you. There is nothing wrong if your answer may be similar to another, just know that you'll have to excel elsewhere to make a difference.

https://www.glassdoor.com/Interview/Are-you-more-of-a-hunter-or-a-gatherer-QTN_468567.htm

Question: Google Drive Charts - How to create a year-by-year comparison? (no solution)

I am playing around with Google Drive charts. I have data of my weight over 1 year and some months, so I wanted to be able to view the data year by year. This way I can view my weight compared to previous years.

The reason I would like this is because the holidays are approximately the same every year. This means that my macro eating habits are going to be somewhat similar every year. For example, I overeat during Thanksgiving, around year end holidays, July 4th bbq, certain birthdays, etc.

Currently, my graph is one long time line. I do not feel like splitting my data into different sheets separated by years (i.e. a sheet for 2014 and another sheet for 2013, etc.). I would like something similar to the article I found on superuser for excel.

As far as I can tell so far, I cannot find a way to manipulate the Google Drive charts to display what I am looking for.

Reference

superuser "Excel chart with year-to-year comparison" - http://superuser.com/questions/492284/excel-chart-with-year-to-year-comparison

Question: Max 90 days of audit logs?

In one of my meetings, one of the new requirements was to keep a audit logs only for 90 days. Up to this point, the audit logs were kept for 1 year. This was according to a new mandate that I am not familiar with.

What is the reasoning behind mandating a shorter period of audit logs? I can understand if it was stated as keeping a minimum record, but not even allowing more logs seem odd to me.

Question: Protect the People or Capture Bad Guys

If there was ever a situation, is it better to protect the person but letting the bad guys get away or allow the person to be hurt to capture the bad guys?

On the society-level, I feel that it is better to capture the bad guy because they are likely to hurt other people. But then if they are likely to do it again, there is a better chance they will be captured. But then, more people will be hurt.

On the individual-level, I feel sorry that they have to be in that situation and then have to push them down further to help other people. Why do they have to be punished further for the group (especially, if they feel that the group let them down in the first place)?

In the long-term, I believe the proper education of people should allow the individuals to be comfortable and safe from their peers to do the right choices. But in the meantime, which option is more just?