In responding I'm not raining on the idea of wiki, etc...

My perspective is from that of a hiring manager for technical positions.
Some of my current favorite soft questions:

1. What was the last program you wrote and what did it do?
2. What was the last thing you learned about programming?
3. Tell us about a programming mistake you made, and how you corrected it.
4. Have you ever worked on another person's code that you thought was any
good?

In general what I try to look for is not any specific "right" answer, but
an adventurous and open attitude embedded in answers:

Do they have some reason/calling for working in the education sector, some
enthusiasm to providing information access?
Will they be able to learn next year's challenge?
How will they work with both technical and non-technical people?
Can they listen?
Do they have enough ego to be disruptive and move us forward?
Can they keep their ego in check to avoid disruption?

I also love hearing and thinking about candidates' questions. Are they
reeling off boilerplate stuff or is there some research behind them? Does
the question arise out of any of the conversation we've already had about
the position (demonstrated listening)?

So for me...while there is certainly a technical proficiency that needs to
be there depending on the position, potential for growth and people skills
are often distinguishing characteristics.

All the best and good luck with the interview,

Jimmy



On Thu, May 8, 2014 at 3:42 PM, Samantha Winn <[log in to unmask]>wrote:

> Although it is not specific to code-oriented positions, the Hiring
> Librarians blog maintains a very extensive spreadsheet of interview
> questions. You can access the spreadsheet on the Hiring Librarians
> homepage<http://hiringlibrarians.com/>or at the link below.
>
>
> https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AuYsyqpmSJUHdFJOS0toVC1tTmNwTXVBM0xMdW5UR3c#gid=0
> <
> https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AuYsyqpmSJUHdFJOS0toVC1tTmNwTXVBM0xMdW5UR3c#gid=0
> >
>



-- 
Jimmy Ghaphery
Head, Digital Technologies
VCU Libraries
804-827-3551