What would you do? QA lead is out. No process to handle backlog. As SM...

SM = Scrum Master

Sometimes it is just so frustrating dealing with people. Am I not understanding their question or their problem? Do they just not understand what other people is supposed to know or do? Are they just clueless or am I clueless?

Scenario

The QA lead has been out and will be out for the rest of the week. I brought up that I have been completing my tasks. These tasks when completed go to the QA lead. In the call, I just bring to attention that there will likely be a large backlog of items for QA team to do and if their is some process to check on the list while the lead is unavailable.

Not surprisingly, there is no processes for this situation. So it was tasked to our new Scrum Master to look into the situation. The SM is responsible of making sure changes are moving along.

You have two QA testers who have their usual work and backlog. QA lead used to assign tasks to them. How this is done is not known. I add about 5-10 changes to their backlog per day. When looking into the backlog there are over 50 changes pending. Some are four months old. It is Thursday, and QA lead will return on Monday.

What would you do?

Time Limit to Think = 1 hr

Time to Explain = 5 minutes

As the scrum master, what would you do?

Interview: Good or Bad? Google, Amazon, Microsoft brain-teaser interview questions

This is a good question to understand a candidate's ability to problem solve.

Super vague and opiniated history of question

Just historically, Google and Microsoft have asked these questions since 2000. And see how much they have grown since then. The extremely vague and generic macro outlook to me rather indicative that something was right during that period of time. My guess why this was more effective in the beginning because the people who wrote the questions knew why they were asking the question.

Now there are too many people who do not understand the intentions of the question.

Not For Interviewers

The biggest problem to these questions is the interviewer. Majority if not all interviewers do not even understand the intention of the question. The main reason is that interviewers just ask a list of questions that need to be answered. The company gives them the list, and they ask it. So like many other questions, they think the right answer is the correct answer.

I've interviewed with many companies who have asked these questions, and none knew the intention of the questions. I know this because I knew the answers to all of them. There were a couple new ones but they were far easier than FAANG. When I answer them, the interviewer are easily impressed and moves on. In many cases, I would even give them other questions I knew of and they would be even more impressed.

Even if the interviewer has some clue to the question, they have no way to score a candidate like they can with technical questions. Also interviewers are not hired to have problem solving skills, so how well can they judge another person's problem solving skills? 

So basically, this is not an interviewer question. This is a hiring manager's interview question to ask and only if the hiring manager understands why they are asking this question.

Why the question?

The point of the question is to understand the candidates problem solving skills. In my opinion, this is one of the most important skills I look for. The main reason is that technology is always changing and I can train information, but I cannot train (or at least have no time to train) problem solving skills. I am looking for the candidate's ability to take the problem, break it down, ask questions, etc. 

The question is actually meant to be nearly impossible to solve for most candidates. That is probably why arbitrary questions became a thing too (like "how many tennis balls fits in a jumbo jet"). Because everyone became so obsessed with the actual answer than the reason why they asked it. And knowing the answer is quite useless for software engineer employees. If there's an answer, it is cheaper for the company just to buy the answer. What the company needs is an employee that can solve the problem that doesn't have an answer to it.

Bad Hires from Traditional Interviews

One example in my life on this difference was this one time that we hired a highly certified employee. He had many, many Microsoft/Cisco certificates. He had a lot of work experience. His projects were never completed. Near the end of his employment, the owner had me help him with a project and he couldn't tell the difference between a class and an object. I told the owner that he wasn't worth the time to train. We could hire a college grad that could do more.

Another example was a college "graduate" that was tasked to setup a computer with Windows. He was provided an install CD. He installed, then got stuck with a video driver. A bit odd for him to ask for help with this, but I answered his question. 6 hours later, my colleague calls me over and we find that he never installed the video driver because he didn't which video driver to install. The PC case was already open, and I just google the video card name and it was the first result that comes up. My colleague told me that he just told our boss to let him go. I learned that he had actually asked everyone how to install the video driver and still couldn't figure it out. We also found out later that he didn't actually graduate but dropped out of school.

Another example was a transfer from another department. He came with a lot of recommendations from his previous group. He was also very good at talking and making others feel good. Although he had the credentials, he was not able to do anything on his own. Every task had to be spelled out, even if it was a repeated task. Not only did it have to be explicitly written down, he had terrible attention to details. This was almost clear to me within the first 5 minutes of interacting with him for the first time.

My final example was a person that we actually hired before and basically fired for incompetence. I did my best to give her the benefit of the doubt. Even then, she was only able to accomplish two tasks of thousands of tasks. The two tasks being to copy a file to another server (which she actually copied to the wrong server... twice). I even had her screen share and watch her do it incorrectly, then corrected her (just to make sure she had access). At the end, I had her delete the file and have her do it again on her own. She was never able to do this for an entire week with a daily reminder. She was hired to be a procedure manager and she could not even copy files (she had plenty of tasks that was to set up meetings or talk to people but none of those were ever done).

My point with all this was that they all passed the interview. I did not interview any of them. To this day, I have no clue how they even lasted 5 minutes. I think firing people is harder than rejecting, and I wanted to fire all of them within minutes. I think the brain-teaser or open-ended questions are great to weed these people out.

Many candidates that I have recommended are either the longest tenured, promoted, or very well-liked.

Other Questions

These brain-teaser / open-ended questions should not be the only question to determine a candidate. This is just to understand the candidates ability to problem solve. 

One type of candidates that do well but are toxic to the company are the ones that are very smart but also have very big egos. So it is important to ask other questions that will determine their ability to work with others. In general, you do not want those candidates. If you do, then you need to make sure they and your existing staff have the right environments to handle such situations.

Another type are those that often cannot stop asking questions or only sees problems. The main problem with these candidates is that they analyze too long. A group could afford maybe one of these candidates if they are very good at identifying critical issues, but it is equally important to have someone that counter-balances to make sure things still move forward.

Reference

https://douglastclee.blogspot.com/2013/02/interview-oddball-and-riddle-questions.html

- Almost seems like I contradict myself here but not really. Will have to review that post in more detail.

Paradox: Corporate Leadership Communication. Can it be fixed?

One of the most common issues with leadership from worker surveys is communication. I have been thinking how to resolve this issue, and feel this is somewhat of a paradox.

If leadership has communication issues with delivering and receiving communication, how would a worker communicate this properly to leadership to correct this action?

If leadership was capable of delivering and receiving communication, the workers would not be required to come up with a solution to correct fundamental communication issues.

I believe this can only be corrected by leadership on their own. Workers need to still voice their concern, but should not invest time to explain to leadership how to correct the problem. Because if leadership was able, workers do not need to explain. But if leadership was unable, no amount of explanation will fix the problem.

I am dumbfounded on why communication is so difficult with leadership. Is it because they have never worked at our level? Have they never been conned, cheated, or unfairly deprived of opportunities? Is it because of their personal greed to earn significantly more than their workers? Do they just not understand our plight?

Or is it because they have been in our position and is now taking their "fair" share to compensate for the life that we still live in? Is it an elite class where they now have to do that to fit in with the existing leadership?

Or is it that I do not understand? I suppose leadership is getting what they want out of this, so perhaps this is the real grand scheme of things. Just keep creating chaos faster than the workers' can cope with, while their value to the company is to swindle our efforts.

Then the question becomes, why can't a "fairer" company outperform a greedy company? Does power corrupt absolutely?

Life: Meaning of Friendship?

More interesting than the article, the comments have some rather polar differences. What does friendship mean to you? Are you ok with a 'stranger' to use your name and call you a friend? Do you use friendship loosely for use on anyone?

One post even suggests that the term 'friends' has evolved due to social media. Has it evolved?

Reference

https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140730152125-69244073-you-re-not-my-friend?trk=tod-home-art-list-large_0

Interview: New Oddball Interview Questions for 2013 from Glassdoor

Question was asked: "If you were on an island and could only bring 3 things, what would you bring?

• If I were already on a deserted island, I wouldn't be able to bring anything.
• If I were bringing something from the island, it would depend on what island I was on.
• If the question meant 3 things to bring to a random, deserted island for survival, then a knife, shovel, and a fishing line (or fishing net or fishing rod if it came with a line).

If you were a pizza deliveryman how would you benefit from scissors?

• Cutting coupons and self-defense
• I liked this response: It would keep me from running.

Are you more of a hunter or a gatherer

• Because I am typically assigned to solve more complex problems, I have more experience as a hunter. Complex problems tend to require the ability to analyze a moving target. Otherwise, I can be a hunter or a gatherer effectively.

What is your least favorite thing about humanity?

• I actually interviewed with ZocDoc, and my questions were all technical. All questions were generic programming questions that you regurgitate from a text book. Sadly, I do not perform well with those questions. Seriously... who says they are going to use polymorphism when they design, architect, or program? Or list the different types of sorts when most frameworks already provide solutions to sort data? Although I can answer them, I think part of my mind goes into why do they even ask these questions. Sorry for the rant.
• People who complain but do not vote. People of apathy deserve what comes to them. Procrastinators know it is their fault. But, whiners think they are right, portray an illusion that their problems are bigger than they are, and yet do nothing about the problem thus wasting everyone's time, attention, and energy.
• People who think oddball questions are a waste of their time, especially if those people are engineers.

Can you instruct someone how to make an origami "cootie catcher" with just words?

• What is a "cootie catcher"? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_fortune_teller
• Yes. Get a square paper, fold corners toward the front center to form a smaller square, fold corners toward the back center to form an even smaller square, create two creases by folding and unfolding the square into rectangles, stick fingers underneath the square flaps created

What's the color of money???...

• The color of blood and sweat

Reference

http://www.glassdoor.com/Top-25-Oddball-Interview-Questions-LST_KQ0,34.htm

Life: Narcissistic Personality Test

I found the title amusing and clicked into the article (link below). Some of the questions are somewhat obvious to which way it leans towards so I wonder if it is possible for a narcissist to actually answer some of them honestly. Could I be one too? Perhaps, I truly believe that I am humble but not in practice?

For example, I ask a lot of questions when I see a problem. These questions may or may not be related to the direct problem. I ask questions like where did it come from, should this be handled by me, should this even be handled by the person presenting the problem, what should be the proper protocol, etc. Then one of my coworkers who seem to have a problem with that started to do the same thing to me except that his questions do not even pertain to the problem and feeds it into his paranoia that the world is against him. He would ask, why are you asking, why are they asking, why are you doing that, why should you be doing that, etc. Although the questions are similar, his intentions are not the same as mine and does not help our group, in my opinion.

But what if I am really blind to see that I am actually like that? I can clearly say that I eventually use my information to provide better solutions either to preventing the problem or channeling the problem to the proper resources.

Or is my coworker the one that blindly sees that he is copying what I am doing? I have discussed that he is just wasting my time with a lot of the requests or questions that I have posed to him. He said that I do the same thing. After some thought, I can see how he thinks it seems that way. But, I the key factor (the intention of the question) is that it is not. I was unable to convince him of this.

Lastly, could we both be blind to what we do? I imagine it to be something like an addiction. I know that I am not supposed to do something, but I will still do it and may even deny acknowledging that I did it to ease my mind. For example, procrastinating but saying that I am just really busy.

Reference
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-03-16-pinsky-quiz_N.htm
http://bps-research-digest.blogspot.com/2014/02/student-narcissists-prefer-twitter-more.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BpsResearchDigest+%28BPS+Research+Digest%29

Ryan Homes: Experience So Far

I am currently in the process of buying a new home. I am not sure if I could be any more confused about all the things needed, all the terms, and all the technicalities. I stumbled across a blog that basically went through their experience, and thought to share my experience so far and hopefully continue in the future. I am kind of saddened that there hasn't been any updates since 2010 in the blog but it did go through 2 years after they moved in.

Up to this point, I have "signed" the contract. I am not exactly sure if it is official because most of it seemed to be that I have reviewed it.

First Deposit

After signing, I had to pay $10k for some good-faith payment. There are a bunch of conditions to how I get this money back if financing does not work out. I am not completely clear on this.

Flooring

During this time, I also picked out the flooring with Advanced Flooring & Design. I went with the ceramic tiles in the kitchen and wood flooring. The vendor lady was helpful and kind. I could tell she was getting a little impatient with me though but remained professional and courteous.

Low-Voltage and Security Options

Low-voltage was with Guardian Security. The "representative" claims that he is only there as a consultant and not as a sales-person but the meeting still felt very sales-like to me. I felt pressured into the different options. Also, I was not familiar with all the options so I did not get a lot of time to think where I wanted all the ports for phone, internet, and cable. The mood seemed to have gotten worse after I declined the security option. The security option sounded very tempting where they offered no installation fee if you bought a 5-year service. He also threw in a tidbit that new homes are more likely to be broken into. The "consultation" seemed very much like a sales-pitch to me even if that was not his intention.

Questions

A lot of this is moving way to fast for me due to pressures from my parents so I have not put as much research as I would like to put into such a huge investment. I still believe renting is not much more expensive than buying a home. Although, I admit once you pay off the mortgage it is worth it. It is also probably worth the price after 10 years. But, I haven't stayed in a single place for over 3 years even changing states 4 times during that span.

• How do I shop for mortgages?
• Each bank seem to assume that I will be signing on with them so I'm not sure at what point I should tell them to wait for me to see what I get from other mortgage loaners.
• How do I shop for attorneys?
• I have only spoken to one so far and it seems that she already assumes I am going with her even before telling me what her rate was.
• How accurate are the reviews online?
• Unfortunately, I did not bother to research and just trusted my father that this was a good company. After doing my own research (today), I found a ton of negative reviews and no positive reviews. I specifically did a search on "happy with Ryan Homes" to find any positive reviews. Since I'm already somewhat invested (although very uncomfortably), I hope that a townhouse would not be too terrible since there would be multiple owners. Also, there are plans for 4 more lots so my lot has to at least last till those are sold.
• Why do mortgage loaners ask for so much information?

Overall

Overall, buying a new home takes up a lot of time. I have not been able to spend a lot of time on it because of work and all the research needed (and the lack of time to research). I have also had to take time off from work to deal with different vendors to make certain options. Currently, I am feeling very uncomfortable which is rather normal considering how many unknowns I am dealing with so far.

Reference

http://www.buildingwithryan.blogspot.com

Interview: Can you put this deck of cards in order?

Can you put this deck of cards in order?

I wish I had this question in an interview before I read the article because I am not sure how I would have reacted to this question. I have a slight feeling that I may have just sorted the deck right there because it was something I used to enjoy doing when I was bored at some random place that had a deck of cards way back in the day.

On the other hand, I should have had enough experience to know there is something else that the interviewer is looking for. What order? Why do you want me to do that? Are you crazy? Ok, maybe not the last question but still probably better than just start sorting in silence.

Unfortunately, I read the description and it spoiled what I should not have known. What I like about this question is that this is actually very common type of request from "clients" in any industry. There are three main questions that needs to be asked: time, quality, and cost.

1. How much time do I have to sort the deck?
2. How well do you want the deck sorted?
3. How much are you willing to pay to have the deck sorted?

Most people's questions will probably revolve around quality. How do you want it sorted? So I would figure if you asked questions that answer the other two, you'd be ahead of the competition.

On revisiting this question, I think it would also be good to also demo certain sorts even if it is very simple to explain. For example while asking the interviewer (treated as a client) how they want it sorted, I would suggest some alternatives. "Perhaps you would like it sorted by suits" and separate the cards into 4 piles of the different suits. "Perhaps you prefer it sorted by odds and events" and separate the cards into 2 piles of evens and odds. When reaching a face card and ask "how do you want to treat face cards?" Maybe at the end show a card trick.

Reference:
11 Interview Questions You Wouldn't Think to Ask--But Should

Interview: Can you make a function that determines whether a string is a palindrome or not?

Can you make a function that determines whether a string is a palindrome or not?

I like this interview question. It is a simple question but gives the interviewer some leeway on how to manage the question. On the other hand, the interviewee also has some opportunity to show off without having to spend a lot of time.

The first part is knowing what palindrome means. If the interviewee knows, then they easily skip to the second part of finding the solution. My guess is that most people do not know what that means. In this scenario, I would imagine there are people who would guess what it meant and continued with a solution hoping that they guess correctly. In another, the interviewee may just admit that they do not know what the word means. The length of time and how you say it could say quite a bit about what kind of person you are. Eventually, the interviewer will provide the definition.

The next part is to explain how to create the function (not "yes, I can make a function..."). Depending on the job, the level of detail may be different. Basically there are two common solutions (in my limited world): 1. create another string in reverse order then compare if the two strings are the same, 2. compare each letter from start to end with the opposing letter from end to start.

That may be sufficient for most non-programming jobs. For programming jobs, interviewees are probably expected to be more elaborate. They can provide alternate solutions, improving their proposed solution (refactoring), compare different algorithms, etc.

Personally, I like this question as an interviewer in that there is a lot of information that you can get within a short period of time and most interviewees will be able to answer the question. Also, I found it surprising how many candidates are incapable of answering basic questions. For example, I had one candidate with a BS in Computer Science who couldn't explain a loop. Another example, I had to train a new hire who supposedly has been in the IT industry for several years and has several MCSE certifications who asked how to create an object from a class. (Sorry for the CS lingo... it basically translates to a carpenter not knowing how to use a hammer)


Reference:
11 Interview Questions You Wouldn't Think to Ask--But Should

Interview: How I Answer Basic Questions

Summary
I've been on a handful of interviews (less than 10). I think I have been pretty successful in that I have been offered the job to a majority of my interviews (declining a couple). I've been on the other side only a few times. Below are some random thoughts on certain basic questions. Sorry about the flow of information. I may clean this more in the future.

Advice
Before getting to the questions, I just wanted to state some general advice for all questions. Stay calm, speak slowly. Practice not filling in the pauses with uh, um, eh, or other non-constructive words. It is ok to take a moment in silence to construct your response. These simple practices will help you more on presentation of yourself with more confidence.

Do not be disappointed if you do not get an offer. There are many factors besides your responses like sudden hiring freeze (a friend's group hired a candidate, sent an offer, the candidate had quit, then the department enacted an immediate hiring freeze which denied the candidate).

Most importantly, learn from your interviews. Which questions did you stumble on? How can you improve on the questions? Why did the interviewer ask the question? If you believe you have lost any hope, practice some other responses but still be respectful to the interviewer.

I had a head-hunter (who thought it was an Application Development position) set me up for a DB programming position which I did not have any interest, so I knew pretty early in the interview that this was not really for me. I had explained my concerns to the interviewer which he kindly explained that I could still qualify so I spent the remainder of the interviewer how I could contribute in other ways. Unfortunately, I still did not like the position so saved the interviewer some time by saying that I still was not interested. But I found (also from other interviews) how interviewers seem to have a more positive outlook if I took more control over the interview. By control, I do not mean speaking all the time. In an odd way, it becomes more than me volunteering the basic information but interviewing the employer why I should choose them.

Examples

• Tell me about yourself?
• This is primarily an ice-breaker
• Take this chance to find what type of person the interviewer is to determine how to answer the interview questions
• If laid-back, then you have more freedom to focus on anything important to you like your strengths or more information about the company
• If process-oriented, try not to go out of process and answer questions more directly
• If inexperienced interviewer from HR, do not spend a lot of time in details of your expertise
• If someone that you may work with if hired, go into more detail
• If the interviewer shares a story, try to tie in the story with your answers (but do not overdo it)
• Make sure to prepare items that you want to highlight about yourself
• Do not bring up any negative aspects.
• I have always enjoyed programming since high school. I studied electrical engineering to better understand the electronics behind programming, specializing in computer engineering. I also ended up with a Computer Science minor. I developed software primarily for both Application and Web development in C# and .NET for several years. I worked mostly with small-sized companies so I have a wide range of experience in the different SDLC process. I later completed my masters in Software Engineering with a thesis on Software Traceability to improve Software Documentation. Finally and for the first time a non-development role, I now do software release management which I find to be very fascinating.
• Why did you leave your last job?
• Use your discretion. The interviewers are primarily testing to see if you did something terribly wrong. On a lesser level, they are also trying to learn how you perceive your coworkers.
• Avoid any personal reasons. Examples (potential alternatives):
• I hated my boss (We did not agree on certain topics. [Provide constructive example]"
• Boss was stupid (See above)
• Could not stand coworker (See above)
• Passed on a promotion (See above)
• I did not enjoy the work (The work was not challenging. The work did not use all my potential.)
• Bored (See above)
• No money [Choose a different reason. No alternative]
• Other generic responses:
• Looking for new opportunities
• Closer to home (if true)
• Better hours (if true, but may also hurt your chances)
• (Unfortunately, I cannot share my answer publicly on this question... but for the previous job for example-sake)
• I had moved back into the area to help my family and found the job conveniently nearby. Eventually, I no longer needed to stay and there was no new job opportunities within the company. I applied for graduate school but the company did not allow part-time work so I put in a month notice basically the time I got the acceptance letter and start of class.
• What kind of salary are you looking for?
• This is just a filter question. There really is no way to spin your answer for further consideration if you are looking for something outside the employer's range. A good HR person may consider if you are worth your price, but they will almost always not offer if you are beyond their price range.
• There are a lot of opinions on this from salary range, a specific amount, and avoiding this question. I think this really depends on your situation. Ways to avoid is by saying it depends on what the responsibilities are, benefits, urgency of hire, etc.
• I have no range in mind, please make an offer if you are interested.
• I am employed, single, no family, can easily move, wide range of relevant experience, no debt, healthy, and not planning to retire early but looking for a place where my talent can be used.  
• Just an example if I was looking, I am currently happy where I am at although suburb life is quite boring. Although at the rate that I am at... it may be possible for someone to buy me away *nudge nudge* LOL
• http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20131217070749-52594-how-to-answer-the-question-what-was-your-last-salary?trk=tod-home-art-list-large_0
• How do you respond to the change in workplace?
• Provide an example if possible.
• There is always change. I try to take as much notes if time permits. For me it is important to have as much formal information as possible because many future problems come such changes especially tasks related to audit trails. Most changes are forward-looking but unfortunately audits are backward-looking. Rarely do any of the companies I worked for could actually do a backward trace on tickets.
• I've always wondered how they prove something like this. What prevents someone from just using this type of story.
• Do you like to work independently?
• Be truthful but make sure to add how you still are capable to work the other option.
• I enjoy working in teams and independently. Even independently, I am usually aware of the company direction (if one exists) and try to align the two goals together. Even without a goal, I always find things to do or resourceful to find the information needed. I rarely need to be micro-managed. 
• What do you know about our organization?
• Be truthful even if you do not know. You should do some research although I have been in interviews where head hunters just dropped me in so there is no way I would know. If you had notice, be prepared to lose some points if you did not research. Pretending to know will lose you more points.
• For IT, the question is more an ice-breaker. I did not know any of the companies I worked for prior to the interview. I researched online but rarely does it tie in with the position. One exception would be if the position is at a software firm and I was to work on that platform, then maybe a decent response would be helpful.
• What has been your biggest professional disappointment?
• This should not be difficult but make sure you choose one where it has driven you to better success.
• I was laid-off because I was made to be the scapegoat of an unpopular project that changed multiple hands and should have been completed before I started.
• Bad answer
• I was unable to fully promote a very unpopular software implementation within the entire organization. This has helped me reflect on many parts of project management and people management. This experience has helped me greatly with my current employment in handling difficult people.
• Tell me about the most fun you have had on the job.
• Make sure this is business related. This should not be a party unless it has business relevance like team building.
• The most fun I've had on the job was working on New Year's eve with coworkers to update software for the new year. Ordered pizza, watched a move, then worked on several clients into the new year. A yearly event that created a bond with coworkers that I still keep in touch with.
• On an individual level, I always enjoy creating tools or processes that assist my work. For example, I created an content management tool so that I didn't have to make updates to the website, enterprise platform, and other applications. This later became more useful when we needed new modules to a manufacturing platform which would have cost the company over $30k.
• How do you manage stress at your workplace?
• If possible, provide an example where your stress was tested. If more than one, choose one that will help with your career.
• I am rarely stressed in as a mental state. When I do have one, they are more like puzzles to be solved. Most of my stress comes more from time constraints. I think because I am capable of getting things done, I always seem to end up with tasks that no one else can do and also needs to be done immediately. I used to stress that there was not enough time in the day to fix them all. Today, I now know how to manage myself and people around me.
• Note-taking
• What plans do you have for improving your qualifications?
• I haven't had this question but you should always be thinking about this for your career.
• I am trying to find time to further the thesis I wrote for my graduate program.
• Have you ever been asked to leave a position?
• If yes, you should always have this explanation prepared.
• Yes, there were some fundamental differences between myself and the management team. I wanted to share our department information so that we can be more streamlined with the other departments. I helped promote Confluence, a free wiki solution, to help publish work completed and documentation. Management wanted to control the information so that they can manage other departments more easily. After I left, two others have also left. One of the two was the main promoter of Confluence. Now, they have implemented Confluence and replaced with more people to handle the same workload. 
• I haven't, so I just made up a story.
• What are your main achievements when you were working in your previous position?
• If more than one, choose one that strengthens where you want your career to go (which may not necessarily be your strength).
• I assisted a client with their logistics solution that they specifically requested a support contract for me to be their primary support architect for $50k which most contracts were around $2k and $10k was a big client. 
• If you had enough money to retire right now, would you?
• Yes seems like a terrible answer but be prepared to why you wouldn't. "I like to stay busy." "I enjoy being around people."
• No, I enjoy creating solutions to problems. And if there were no problems in the world, I'd like to be teacher.
• Why are you interested in this position?
• I haven't had this question. I cannot see how this is a useful question except to see if you know what the job is. A generic response would be that I am looking for new opportunities or looking for new skills and experience.
• Generic responses:
• My experience will help you in different ways, while I can learn your methods.
• I enjoy working in a team. I worked by myself in my old job.
• Or vice versa
• I am looking for an environment where I can work more effectively, and I think I can accomplish that with your resources in A, B, and C.
• Generic bad responses:
• More pay
• Less hours
• Less work
• How do you approach the problem when a customer calls you and says they cannot access the database?
•  This really depends on what type of job. Try to keep your answer in a decently ordered process like ask preliminary questions then depending. How is this a basic question?
• Posts with related questions:
• How many quarters would you need to reach the height of the Empire State building?
• How would you direct someone else on how to cook an omelet?
• How many cows are in Canada?
• What qualifications and experience do you have that make you feel that you could do this job successfully?
• Review the prerequisites for the position and cross-reference with your experience and qualifications.
• What are your strong points? Weak points?
• Spin the weak points into strong points. Generic ones are "work too hard," "too focused," etc. Better ones are real weak points added with how you deal with them. For example, I have poor memory, so I take a lot of notes. (see my post on note-taking)
• This question also becomes easier as you have more work experience. You will soon realize where you are valued and where you are not as good at.
• I am weak at flash recalling details especially details that were discussed months ago. But once I recall (usually with a few reminder keywords), I usually recall more details than most others. This is the primary reason I started taking notes.
• http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130709020109-52594-answering-the-question-what-s-your-greatest-weakness
• Do you prefer working with others or by yourself?
• You should be truthful with this or related to the position. There is a similar question above if you enjoy working independently. 
• What is your ultimate career goal? What are you doing to achieve that goal?
•  This should be business related.
• My ultimate career goal is to be at a place where I can work effectively with a team of people to produce a solution to a problem greater than what a single person can solve. Experience has shown that I work well in a lead or management role where I am trying to get my team to work as independently as possible. Similar to one of my life goals in trying to be lazy where I will do everything I can to eventually do nothing knowing that I will never reach that goal but yet somehow motivating in itself.
• What personality traits do you most admire in a person? Why?
• I have not been asked this before but I find it an interesting question. 
• Perseverance and vision. In all areas of life, I always found it odd that basically all children have these two traits yet seem very lacking in adults. And the adults that do, they appear very effective and happy in whatever they do and wherever they are.
• How would you describe the perfect job? What would be characteristic of such a position?
• Use your discretion. Make sure it has business relevance. Avoid saying "Casual attire because it is comfortable." A better option would be "Casual attire because it encourages free thinking." I would still avoid that unless you have good evidence of such statements. Although personally, semi-formal should be the minimum in my opinion for most working environments.
• Same as "What is your ultimate career goal" for me.
• What do you think determines a person’s progress in a good organization?
• I have not been asked this before. I am also not sure what the question is asking.
• I'd ask what they mean by progress and by good organization. If I had to hazard a guess, I would say that determining a person's progress is difficult to define. Because everyone's collection of skills are typically very unique, certain groups of people work differently together. By this it would seem that the group's result would then determine the person's progress, but this would not identify a slacker. Thus I can only answer in general that a person's progress would be how well the person fits into the company.
• What have you learned from some of the jobs you have held? Any important lessons?
• This should be an easy question to answer. Be prepared to keep the lesson relevant to the job prospect. Choose a lesson better reflects your strengths.
• Confidence. The most important lesson from any task or job is to always have experience. To get the most experience, you need to learn. The best way to learn is to reach out, ask questions, or try things out. At the end of the day, you realize people will accept small mistakes and if you are lucky will have more respect for you as long as you learn from it.  
• What have you done which shows initiative and willingness to work?
• This is a straight-forward question. If you don't have one, you should try to find something of the sort. Volunteering work is a good place to start if you cannot find something at work. Start a new process; document a process if one does not exist; organize a get-together with coworkers; coordinate an event.
• I have started many small projects to improve the way I work. I've created a CMS solution and other modules to improve manufacturing processes. I've set new process to help the team implement new solutions more easily and more supportable. I watch out for my colleagues and help them grow into the position. Turnover at a company was about 2 weeks to 3 months. The group I trained stayed for several years. 
• Finally towards the end they normally would ask “Do you have any questions”?
• You should prepare a bunch of questions. After some experience, this question becomes easier because you have a better what you are looking for. This is your opportunity to interview your interviewer to find out if the company is a good fit for you.
• "How many people would I report to?" "What is the turnover?" "Why is this position open?" "Who do you report to?" "What is the experience of my supervisor/manager/boss?" "Who would I be working with?"

Reference:
Most Common Questions 2013 (Thanks to Thiep)
http://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/10-ways-you-should-never-describe-yourself.html

Interview: My Take on Answering Oddball and Riddle Questions in the Interview Process

My Take on Answering Oddball and Riddle Questions in the Interview Process

Recently there has been a rise in the use of out-of-the-box thinking questions which I used to only find at larger corporate interviews a decade ago. Now there is even an article on the top questions.

The trick to answer these types of questions is very similar to the other questions in the interview that are not technical in nature. Although it may sound technical (a question that has a right answer), your answer should be based on what the interviewer is looking for.

I do not mean give the answer that will get you hired, but to understand the real question beneath the interview question. Is the interviewer looking for someone that is more forward-thinking, detail-oriented, or imaginative? How you answer the question should sell your views in what type of person they are seeking.

For interviewers, I find they use these questions because they are simple but have an infinite number of answers. Interviewers who are using the question to understand how you think will ask questions to either in attempts to focus your answer or challenge your thought process. Others who use the question as a warm-up question, as an ice-break, or to lighten the mood will be less attentive or allow you to answer in full. Once I recognize the latter, I will try to wrap up my answer as it would save us both time but more importantly the interviewer wants to move on with the interview process.

Before I start to answer, I like to ask questions but limit the number of questions. This means avoid asking for details if the interviewer knew that detail could answer the question themselves, do not be redundant with your questions, and stop asking a specific question if the interviewer has declined to respond. Stay positive and ask only questions that will greatly enhance your answer. Think out loud.

The only exception to this is if the interviewer is extremely detail oriented. They are usually very easy to identify because they are very meticulous in the order of questions, organized binders/folders/pens/resume, and very formal. In this case, you have the option to try to be also detail oriented.

If you are truly stumped by the question, all questions and problems can be broken into smaller manageable parts. For example, "how many windows in NYC" can be broken down to number of windows in a block then broken down to number of windows per building. Then build back up, take the number of windows per building multiply by number of buildings per block.

For extra bonus, prepare some short riddles of your own to ask. More likely than not, the interviewer also enjoys these types of questions. Be sure to be able to answer them though. I have withheld the answers for a day or two to let them think on them. That way they are forced to remember who I was so they can ask for the answer.

Unlike my reasons whether these types of questions should be asked, these types of questions are great opportunities to outperform the interview process for those who know how to answer but are weaker on the technical questions.