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

Review: Chase Mortgage experience (poor)

Because this was my first time going through the mortgage process, I had decided to try a few lenders to compare different rates. This turned out to be such a huge hassle. I thought I could just get the rates that I wanted. To get those rates, I had to submit so many different forms.

There are some costs to go through the mortgage process. I was told that I didn't have to make a decision until it was closer to the closing date. But I was charged an application fee, $400+.

Eventually, I had decided to go with another lender more than a month prior to the closing. So, I asked if I could have the application fee refunded. I figured since they never got around to doing the appraisal for my place because it was still being built, I could recover some of that cost. I never received a response back.

Even thought I had notified the loan officer, the processor still contacted me on how the progress of the building was... so that was another awkward moment.

So sad to say that even though I have been a long time Chase customer since they acquired Bank One, this experience was quite disappointing. I even shared what I would have liked to see to help with my decision, but feel that it was completely ignored.

On a side note, I had also tried Wells Fargo. The loan officer there kept asking for the same information multiple times. The first time, I visited a branch and I provided my name, address, and other basic information. Then, he put me on the phone which I had to provide the same information. Then we scheduled a physical meeting. Before that, he had his processor call me and requested the same basic information. Then I met the officer, and he asked for my basic information again! At this point, I just easily eliminated them as an option.

Now, I kind of wish that I had tried TD Bank. I have found that their desk personnel are much more helpful and seem to be extra helpful with problems. Maybe it is different between branches, but sometimes that it is all it takes. She even mentioned that my credit score could be lowered due to multiple inquiries which I have confirmed because Chase had requested for my credit score twice.

I'll have another post after everything is completed on my recommendation on what to prepare for on a mortgage. I really took the hard way of doing things, but I want to wait till it is all over before I post so that I can evaluate the entire process.

Work Life: C# Web Service Errors

No spaces in name of XElement

Error Message:

System.Xml.XmlException: The ' ' character, hexadecimal value 0x20, cannot be included in a name.

This is because I had used:

XElement root = new XElement("List Of Members", e1, e2, e3);

... which should have been:

XElement root = new XElement("ListOfMembers", e1, e2, e3);

Parameterless Constructor

Error Message:

cannot be serialized because it does not have a parameterless constructor

This was because I was trying to return a variable of type XDocument which does not have a parameterless constructor. I then tried return specific classes, but still received this error because my classes did not have parameterless constructor.

Basically what the compiler is looking for is the follow:

public Class1
{
  Class1()
  { }
}

The constructor can also be private or internal if you do not want to have a public parameterless constructor.