# Good insight on interviewing programmers

DevFeed: [Good insight on interviewing programmers](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/good-insight-on-interviewing-programmers-25253.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://kau.sh/blog/good-insight-on-interviewing-programmers/>)

Author: Kaushik Gopal

Published: 2012-03-08T07:00:00Z

Content type: opinion

Language: en

Sources: [Kaushik Gopal's Site](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/kaushik-gopal-s-site.md>)

Topics: [Programming](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/programming.md>), [Algorithms](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/algorithms.md>), [Polymorphism](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/polymorphism.md>)

Tags: [algorithms](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/algorithms.md>), [article](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/article.md>), [engineering](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/engineering.md>), [hiring](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/hiring.md>), [inheritance](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/inheritance.md>), [interview](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/interview.md>), [language](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/language.md>), [polymorphism](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/polymorphism.md>)

## AI overview

The article argues that programmer interviews should emphasize abstract thinking, system design, algorithms, components, and engineering judgment rather than factual syntax questions that can be answered quickly with Google. It suggests asking candidates about their favorite programming language and its weaknesses.

## Source excerpt

If you're in the business of hiring programmers, the article linked is a must read. It's concise and a gold read. No excuse for not reading it. Avoid nano-questions A good engineer thinks abstractly in terms of designing and building systems, they think in terms of algorithms, components, and engineering design. They do not necessarily know all of the details of syntax of a given language, especially if they are used to a good IDE... ... it is more important that I be able to tell you when and where I should use inheritance, and when and where I should use polymorphism, than to be able to spit off the definition. ((bolded text my own)) Basically: Any question that takes 5 seconds to answer with Google is not a good question. My favorite phone interview question? "What's your favorite language?" followed by "What are it's weaknesses?"