| Jeff Abrahamson on 12 Mar 2006 16:43:51 -0000 |
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<soapbox>
A couple people in this thread have indicated that it's reasonable to
lie or bluff in interviews. A naive interpretation of this could get
you into trouble, so I thought it might be helpful to add the
following for those without enough experience to read between the
lines:
- If you don't know the answer to a question, *never* bluff. Say you
don't know. If you do know something related or a little bit, say
that, too. You will garner a great deal of respect. I have talked
to many colleagues who have interviewed people who have bluffed,
saying something was true that wasn't, for example. It absolutely
and instantly kills the applicant's chances.
- On the other hand, you *can* bluff on things for which there's no
correct answer, such as whether or not you are expert in a given
technology, *as long as* you've done your research to know enough.
What "enough" means varies, but, basically, you should know at least
as much as a cheap consultant on the subject, except that you should
know the limits of your knowledge and be confident that you can fill
in the gaps. I got my first java job that way: I read a book, put
it on my resume, and interviewed, saying I had experience and
talking about those details I knew. It all worked, and they were
happy with me through the job. But I knew what I didn't know, and I
had ten years of programming experience to help me synthesize book
learning in a way that let me talk about what one can do with the
language.
Just remember that people talk. People have worked at other places
and have friends there. Hiring managers give feedback to headhunters
(if that's how you got the interview), who will be interested in
sending you on more interviews directly proportional to the feedback
they receive. If the hiring manager thinks you're hot but can't take
you, the HH is going to send you to good places. If the HM thinks
you're full of it, it goes the other way.
<soapbox/>
--
Jeff
Jeff Abrahamson <http://www.purple.com/jeff/> +1 215/837-2287
GPG fingerprint: 1A1A BA95 D082 A558 A276 63C6 16BF 8C4C 0D1D AE4B
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