Peculiar set of interviews with identical questions
A few months ago, a company contacted me about a 2-year data science contract. I agreed to an initial telephone interview, during which I was asked:
- "in Python, what's the difference between a list and a tuple?",
- "what's Bayes' theorem?"
- "what is the interpretation of the derivative of a function?".
They then invited me to a Skype interview, where (after some very basic SQL questions), I was asked:
"in Python, what's the difference between a list and a tuple?",
"what's Bayes' theorem?"
- "what is the interpretation of the derivative of a function?".
They then scheduled another telephone interview (with the head of data science), where (after some standard questions about my experience / goals), I was asked:
"in Python, what's the difference between a list and a tuple?",
"what's Bayes' theorem?"
- "what is the interpretation of the derivative of a function?".
The wording was identical. It was like they were all reading from the same script.
I was then invited to a final Skype interview - which would likely have featured the same questions, had I accepted it. They made no mention of a face-to-face interview.
All of the above happened in about a day-and-a-half.
I don't have much commercial experience, but this struck me as terribly odd.
Why would a company do this? Is it a red flag?
interviewing
asked 16 mins ago
EuRBamarth
1
New contributor
EuRBamarth is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |
A few months ago, a company contacted me about a 2-year data science contract. I agreed to an initial telephone interview, during which I was asked:
- "in Python, what's the difference between a list and a tuple?",
- "what's Bayes' theorem?"
- "what is the interpretation of the derivative of a function?".
They then invited me to a Skype interview, where (after some very basic SQL questions), I was asked:
"in Python, what's the difference between a list and a tuple?",
"what's Bayes' theorem?"
- "what is the interpretation of the derivative of a function?".
They then scheduled another telephone interview (with the head of data science), where (after some standard questions about my experience / goals), I was asked:
"in Python, what's the difference between a list and a tuple?",
"what's Bayes' theorem?"
- "what is the interpretation of the derivative of a function?".
The wording was identical. It was like they were all reading from the same script.
I was then invited to a final Skype interview - which would likely have featured the same questions, had I accepted it. They made no mention of a face-to-face interview.
All of the above happened in about a day-and-a-half.
I don't have much commercial experience, but this struck me as terribly odd.
Why would a company do this? Is it a red flag?
interviewing
asked 16 mins ago
EuRBamarth
1
New contributor
EuRBamarth is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |
A few months ago, a company contacted me about a 2-year data science contract. I agreed to an initial telephone interview, during which I was asked:
- "in Python, what's the difference between a list and a tuple?",
- "what's Bayes' theorem?"
- "what is the interpretation of the derivative of a function?".
They then invited me to a Skype interview, where (after some very basic SQL questions), I was asked:
"in Python, what's the difference between a list and a tuple?",
"what's Bayes' theorem?"
- "what is the interpretation of the derivative of a function?".
They then scheduled another telephone interview (with the head of data science), where (after some standard questions about my experience / goals), I was asked:
"in Python, what's the difference between a list and a tuple?",
"what's Bayes' theorem?"
- "what is the interpretation of the derivative of a function?".
The wording was identical. It was like they were all reading from the same script.
I was then invited to a final Skype interview - which would likely have featured the same questions, had I accepted it. They made no mention of a face-to-face interview.
All of the above happened in about a day-and-a-half.
I don't have much commercial experience, but this struck me as terribly odd.
Why would a company do this? Is it a red flag?
interviewing
asked 16 mins ago
EuRBamarth
1
New contributor
EuRBamarth is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
A few months ago, a company contacted me about a 2-year data science contract. I agreed to an initial telephone interview, during which I was asked:
- "in Python, what's the difference between a list and a tuple?",
- "what's Bayes' theorem?"
- "what is the interpretation of the derivative of a function?".
They then invited me to a Skype interview, where (after some very basic SQL questions), I was asked:
"in Python, what's the difference between a list and a tuple?",
"what's Bayes' theorem?"
- "what is the interpretation of the derivative of a function?".
They then scheduled another telephone interview (with the head of data science), where (after some standard questions about my experience / goals), I was asked:
"in Python, what's the difference between a list and a tuple?",
"what's Bayes' theorem?"
- "what is the interpretation of the derivative of a function?".
The wording was identical. It was like they were all reading from the same script.
I was then invited to a final Skype interview - which would likely have featured the same questions, had I accepted it. They made no mention of a face-to-face interview.
All of the above happened in about a day-and-a-half.
I don't have much commercial experience, but this struck me as terribly odd.
Why would a company do this? Is it a red flag?
interviewing
interviewing
asked 16 mins ago
EuRBamarth
1
New contributor
EuRBamarth is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 16 mins ago
EuRBamarth
1
New contributor
EuRBamarth is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 16 mins ago
EuRBamarth
1
New contributor
EuRBamarth is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 16 mins ago
EuRBamarth
1
asked 16 mins ago
EuRBamarth
1
1
New contributor
EuRBamarth is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
New contributor
EuRBamarth is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
EuRBamarth is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |
add a comment |
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
No, it's not a red flag, it's a sign that they're using the same script to ask questions for this role.
Clearly, the people running those stages of the interview don't talk to each other and just pick up their questions from a central depository.
You could have joked about this during your interview and seen what their response was.
answered 13 mins ago
Snow♦
58k50185233
Bonus points if they had been able to use the Bayes' theorem question to work the joke in (Probability of being asked these questions again if I have another interview etc)
– motosubatsu
6 mins ago
add a comment |
Is it a red flag?
No.
Why would a company do this?
To give a uniform experience. I see maybe 50 people at mass interview events. The five other interviewers will do the same. There's a set of questions we're supposed to ask to enter into the computer, as in I can click "yes" or "no" because the actual question is already there.
Now they're mostly not engineering questions but the drive to uniformity is a thing.
answered 10 mins ago
Dark Matter
3,5131616
add a comment |
Your Answer
StackExchange.ready(function() {
var channelOptions = {
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "423"
};
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);
StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
createEditor();
});
}
else {
createEditor();
}
});
function createEditor() {
StackExchange.prepareEditor({
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader: {
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
},
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
});
}
});
EuRBamarth is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fworkplace.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f125837%2fpeculiar-set-of-interviews-with-identical-questions%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
No, it's not a red flag, it's a sign that they're using the same script to ask questions for this role.
Clearly, the people running those stages of the interview don't talk to each other and just pick up their questions from a central depository.
You could have joked about this during your interview and seen what their response was.
answered 13 mins ago
Snow♦
58k50185233
Bonus points if they had been able to use the Bayes' theorem question to work the joke in (Probability of being asked these questions again if I have another interview etc)
– motosubatsu
6 mins ago
add a comment |
No, it's not a red flag, it's a sign that they're using the same script to ask questions for this role.
Clearly, the people running those stages of the interview don't talk to each other and just pick up their questions from a central depository.
You could have joked about this during your interview and seen what their response was.
answered 13 mins ago
Snow♦
58k50185233
Bonus points if they had been able to use the Bayes' theorem question to work the joke in (Probability of being asked these questions again if I have another interview etc)
– motosubatsu
6 mins ago
add a comment |
No, it's not a red flag, it's a sign that they're using the same script to ask questions for this role.
Clearly, the people running those stages of the interview don't talk to each other and just pick up their questions from a central depository.
You could have joked about this during your interview and seen what their response was.
answered 13 mins ago
Snow♦
58k50185233
No, it's not a red flag, it's a sign that they're using the same script to ask questions for this role.
Clearly, the people running those stages of the interview don't talk to each other and just pick up their questions from a central depository.
You could have joked about this during your interview and seen what their response was.
answered 13 mins ago
Snow♦
58k50185233
answered 13 mins ago
Snow♦
58k50185233
answered 13 mins ago
Snow♦
58k50185233
answered 13 mins ago
Snow♦
58k50185233
58k50185233
Bonus points if they had been able to use the Bayes' theorem question to work the joke in (Probability of being asked these questions again if I have another interview etc)
– motosubatsu
6 mins ago
add a comment |
Bonus points if they had been able to use the Bayes' theorem question to work the joke in (Probability of being asked these questions again if I have another interview etc)
– motosubatsu
6 mins ago
Bonus points if they had been able to use the Bayes' theorem question to work the joke in (Probability of being asked these questions again if I have another interview etc)
– motosubatsu
6 mins ago
Bonus points if they had been able to use the Bayes' theorem question to work the joke in (Probability of being asked these questions again if I have another interview etc)
– motosubatsu
6 mins ago
add a comment |
Is it a red flag?
No.
Why would a company do this?
To give a uniform experience. I see maybe 50 people at mass interview events. The five other interviewers will do the same. There's a set of questions we're supposed to ask to enter into the computer, as in I can click "yes" or "no" because the actual question is already there.
Now they're mostly not engineering questions but the drive to uniformity is a thing.
answered 10 mins ago
Dark Matter
3,5131616
add a comment |
Is it a red flag?
No.
Why would a company do this?
To give a uniform experience. I see maybe 50 people at mass interview events. The five other interviewers will do the same. There's a set of questions we're supposed to ask to enter into the computer, as in I can click "yes" or "no" because the actual question is already there.
Now they're mostly not engineering questions but the drive to uniformity is a thing.
answered 10 mins ago
Dark Matter
3,5131616
add a comment |
Is it a red flag?
No.
Why would a company do this?
To give a uniform experience. I see maybe 50 people at mass interview events. The five other interviewers will do the same. There's a set of questions we're supposed to ask to enter into the computer, as in I can click "yes" or "no" because the actual question is already there.
Now they're mostly not engineering questions but the drive to uniformity is a thing.
answered 10 mins ago
Dark Matter
3,5131616
Is it a red flag?
No.
Why would a company do this?
To give a uniform experience. I see maybe 50 people at mass interview events. The five other interviewers will do the same. There's a set of questions we're supposed to ask to enter into the computer, as in I can click "yes" or "no" because the actual question is already there.
Now they're mostly not engineering questions but the drive to uniformity is a thing.
answered 10 mins ago
Dark Matter
3,5131616
answered 10 mins ago
Dark Matter
3,5131616
answered 10 mins ago
Dark Matter
3,5131616
answered 10 mins ago
Dark Matter
3,5131616
3,5131616
add a comment |
add a comment |
EuRBamarth is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
EuRBamarth is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
EuRBamarth is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
EuRBamarth is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Thanks for contributing an answer to The Workplace Stack Exchange!
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Some of your past answers have not been well-received, and you're in danger of being blocked from answering.
Please pay close attention to the following guidance:
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fworkplace.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f125837%2fpeculiar-set-of-interviews-with-identical-questions%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
