I’ve noticed lately that interviewers seem to like using technical trivia stuff as a way to screen people. I’m cool with that but it drives me nuts. The issue to me is that you can game the system pretty easily. The recruiter you are working with will typically give you the heads up what you are going to be asked about. (C#, using clauses, IDisposable, etc). All you gotta do is hop up on google and there are a bazillion blogs, forums and technical web-sites that list all the questions you are likely to be asked and their answers. If you have good learning strategies it is a pretty straight forward process to commit these answers to memory.
What annoys me about this is that a person’s ability to do rote memorization tasks is absolutely no indication of their ability to solve problems. And as already stated it’s pretty easy to game. The other annoying piece is that being a good software developer is more than being the alpha geek. Having good (excellent) communication and interpersonal skills is also really important. Knowing what a BizTalk Value mapping functiod does provides no insight in to the ability to know when to use it – even with the brief explanation that is usually given.
So if this is so mind numbingly dull why are so many interviewers doing it? The sad truth is because it actually works. While I don’t have the C# 2.0 spec (or is it 3.0?) memorized I know my way around. There are a few points where I’m vague on the details, but I come across as knowing what I’m talking about.
So why the whining? Because, I’ve come to the realization that at my level it’s time to clean up a few things in my practice. Specifically going ahead and allocating some space for the trivia. Does it help my clients complete their projects? Nope. But doing it will make interviews go smoother and make me look better.