In an interview for a software development position, I was asked why manhole covers are round. I incidentally knew the answer and I responded without skipping a beat. The interviewer was disappointed because I gave the correct answer. He admitted that he asks the question to hear about the various weird explanations that people come up with.
This is also a warning sign to me, because it implicitly tells me the interviewer wanted to be the smartest person in the room. One should steer clear of these types of places.
That's one of those silly questions because there are so many right answers. My favourite is, "because the hole underneath is round." :)
It's so unoriginal though. If people want to see creativity, and thought process, they should ask unusual things, preferably related to software development.
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In an interview for a software development position, I was asked why manhole covers are round. I incidentally knew the answer and I responded without skipping a beat. The interviewer was disappointed because I gave the correct answer. He admitted that he asks the question to hear about the various weird explanations that people come up with.
This is also a warning sign to me, because it implicitly tells me the interviewer wanted to be the smartest person in the room. One should steer clear of these types of places.
That's one of those silly questions because there are so many right answers. My favourite is, "because the hole underneath is round." :)
It's so unoriginal though. If people want to see creativity, and thought process, they should ask unusual things, preferably related to software development.