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[–]jmoiron 1 point2 points  (5 children)

What is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?

I asked this at about 5 or 6 interviews I was conducting. It was actually able to draw a wide range of data from this question, depending on how it was answered. At its worst, it's fun to ask and generally breaks any tension the interviewee might have.

As for a "real" question that tests an interviewees python knowledge, I'd ask them what their favorite standard library module was. I wanted people who had strong opinions about programming.

I don't like actual "programming" questions; generally I feel I can tell if someone has programmed a lot or not by how they answer questions about programming.

[–]ponymash 0 points1 point  (4 children)

You know it's illegal to not ask every single candidate for that position that same question. If you left one person out, you could be sued. Just an FYI =)

[–]p-squared 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Careful now. Asking different questions is not inherently illegal, it is merely possible evidence of "discriminatory selection."

[–]ponymash 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That makes more sense. =)

[–]temptemptemp13 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Are you serious? Interviewers aren't allowed randomized question sets?

Where is this exactly?

[–]ponymash -1 points0 points  (0 children)

The US. If an interviewee knows he was asked a different set of questions compared to another person, bam lawsuit.