The Technique Of Refreshingly Honest Interview Answers

Dr Stuart Woolley
CodeX
Published in
5 min readJun 22, 2023

--

Dressing up honest answers as acceptable replies in a world controlled by HR, busywork, and cookie cutter psychology.

Photo by George Milton on Pexels

I think I can safely say that we’ve all been there at some point— sitting in some supposed technical interview or other and being asked the usual lowest common denominator questions that the interviewer got on a faded photocopy from HR that very morning or saw in some direly produced video course from the company’s shared login to an equally dire “training” site.

  • Tell me about a time when you disagreed with a management decision and how you handled the situation
  • How have you handled potential conflict with a co-worker?
  • Tell me about the greatest challenge you have faced and how you overcame it

Or even the unanswerable ones of the style,

  • How would you fix a problem in a production environment?
  • Do you prefer to work in a team?
  • Where do you see yourself in a few years time?

I’m sure you know a few more — some of the all too familiar staples from the well used file “InterviewQuestions_v33.docx” stored in the firm’s OneDrive folder, updated every time someone from HR comes across a new influencer blogger working remotely from…

--

--

CodeX
CodeX

Published in CodeX

Everything connected with Tech & Code. Follow to join our 1M+ monthly readers

Dr Stuart Woolley
Dr Stuart Woolley

Written by Dr Stuart Woolley

Worries about the future. Way too involved with software. Likes coffee, maths, and . Would prefer to be in academia. SpaceX, X, and Overwatch fan.

Responses (3)

What are your thoughts?

I would go on, but I’m seriously losing the will to live after writing those answers

Stop now. You are too valuable a resource to lose in such a manner. Save yourself.

--

It's kinda like being a politician: how can I make it seem like I've said something meaningful yet in reality, I've told you nothing.

--

nodding heads, grins, and stomach tightening repressed laughs have their own disruptive ROI.

--