Zero to Hero

A couple of months back when I had decided to switch my job, I wasn't too sure/confident about what all is asked to a 2 + year work ex guy in a technical interview.

It is strange that now I find myself on the other side of the table. Within a month of joining the new firm I am now interviewing guys with more work ex than me coming from all tier 1 companies (Factories as called by Purnima). Somehow I feel that just about anybody with okaish education background could be a software engineer and not even that, but be a software engineer in companies with Rs 50,000 Crore+ market cap. (I am into reading basic finance these days :).

Anyway back to the where I started; I was a little thrilled in the beginning to take up this responsibility, but all of it soon fizzled out when I started interviewing guys with communication skills no better than our local cricketers from Najabgarh trying desperately to speak in English after winning a man of the match or somebody anchoring a show on Sun TV.

I found : -

1) Casual attitude towards answering a question. If you think that you have worked on some technology that you do not remember now, then please go and revise it before you start facing interviews.

2) Lack of basic communication skills. Every sentence constructed had "I mean" ... "you know" ... "means" and the rest were nouns, verbs spoken in an absurd order.

Also, say NO, if you do not know the answer to the question asked. It's better than listening to the trash/crap like in the case below :-

My senior: What are the different types of testing you have performed in your previous project?
Candidate: What testings?
Me (loud enough): Repeating the question..
Candidate: Any testing... hmmm... manual testing!... ya manual testing!!

The current state of IT in India is so sad (or I should say so bright), that anyone with 2+ years work experience with basic communication skills and an average technical skills can crack any of top companies' interview. No wonder I wasn't excited even after having offers from almost all tier 1 companies in Pune.

I had this childish thrill to ask those tricky questions which had confused me once, but still looking out for that elusive candidate who would deserve such questions to be asked!