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**Yessaniloas** · 11-25-2011, 07:12 PM

The one question I really hate to get in an interview is:

'What are your weaknesses?'

Awful question and one that can trip you up if you're not prepared.

Think about how you would answer this one.

Awful in general or awful for the interviewee? I agree as an interviewee, in that it's a difficult question and I guess awful in that way that pretty much everyone is prepared for it in that they have a canned "positive negative" answer ready. Mine for example is that I am occasionally too single-minded, which can be positive or negative depending on the situation. A bad answer would be something that can only construed as negative, such as being lazy.

As an interviewer, I prefer questions about failed projects or projects that could have been done better. If someone tells me they never had a failed project or any regrets about decisions made then they are full of ****. That question is not all that applicable to a junior position though so I wouldn't worry about it too much.

We always do a code test for our programmer interviews, even juniors, to make sure that the applicants can at least program simple things because a lot of them can't (also in my own experience). If there aren't going to be any technical questions there probably won't be a code test, but it's a good thing to be prepared for.

11-25-2011, 07:12 PM	#5
Yessaniloas Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 531 Senior Member	The one question I really hate to get in an interview is: 'What are your weaknesses?' Awful question and one that can trip you up if you're not prepared. Think about how you would answer this one. Awful in general or awful for the interviewee? I agree as an interviewee, in that it's a difficult question and I guess awful in that way that pretty much everyone is prepared for it in that they have a canned "positive negative" answer ready. Mine for example is that I am occasionally too single-minded, which can be positive or negative depending on the situation. A bad answer would be something that can only construed as negative, such as being lazy. As an interviewer, I prefer questions about failed projects or projects that could have been done better. If someone tells me they never had a failed project or any regrets about decisions made then they are full of ****. That question is not all that applicable to a junior position though so I wouldn't worry about it too much. We always do a code test for our programmer interviews, even juniors, to make sure that the applicants can at least program simple things because a lot of them can't (also in my own experience). If there aren't going to be any technical questions there probably won't be a code test, but it's a good thing to be prepared for.
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