Interviewing Web Designers - 20 Questions that Don't Matter

I disagree with you about the standards stuff That's so important. Especially in a team environment where everyone needs to be on same page. Best to have a standard to go by. But we don't need to start an argument about that now

I think there should be more questions about working with others - what do you think is important, how do you work with people with other specializations. There's always problems on web teams when the everyone thinks their area is THE most important to the project and doesn't want to compromise.

I also agree about the blogs. There's a certain circle of "cool" people who write and read the blogs. So what if someone isn't into that? Keeping up with blogs is time consuming too. It is really important to keep up with what's going on in the industry but you don't need to be snobby about what sites people are getting that information from. All professionals need to keep up with changes in the field - doesn't matter if you're a brain surgeon or a hair stylist or a web developer.

I have recently done a little interviewing for PHP programming. Only one of them recognized that I would need to come in and actually show the code behind the scenes, and quized me on general PHP / mySQL.

This is why I am looking at making a tutorial site at my domain name, so people can go there and see an example of what I have done, and click on a link to see the source code as well.

I was given this the other day:

"The boss calls, says he needs a site for customers to upload files, that is all you know, where do you start. What do you ask to figure out how to complete the project."

The guy was obviously looking for a certain issue, so wouldn't give good answers to anything else I asked, which I was asking becasue I didn't know much about the company at that point. And I didn't ask other thing (like how many customers) becasue I figured this is something you would not need to ask the boss, you could query the login system to find out.

I didn't get the job LOL. Their big concern was how to organize the 50,000 files people uploaded each WEEK. If I would have had some clue to the size of their client bas,e i would have checked more on that. LOL

-Greg

My new boss just mentioned something to me the other day about how important it is to have a portfolio site. She said that mine really set me apart from some of the other candidates. And I didn't think mine was that good!

Now, back to the original point, I'll go through those questions and give some thoughts:

1. What industry sites and blogs do you read regularly?

This is a reasonable question but would be better phrased as "How do you keep up with what's going on in the industry?" They should be reading some quality sites and making some attempt to keep up with new technologies but it shouldn't matter which sites or whose blog.

2. Do you prefer to work alone or on a team?

I don't think this is a valid question because everyone needs to be able to work on a team, no question about it. Something targetting their working relationships and communication ability would be better.

3. How comfortable are you with writing HTML entirely by hand?

I agree with Tim on this, more or less. The point of the question should be to find out if they know HTML well enough to do it by hand *if necessary*, but not to exclude anyone who might have different ways of working that produce the same result.

4. What is the w3c?

Important question. They definitely need to have some knowledge of the w3c.

5. Can you write table-less XHTML? Do you validate your code?

Very important question IMO, depending on the job description. If the job is to do only front end design or only back end programming then valid HTML might not be as important. However, as I mentioned above, having standards helps a lot to improve workflow within a group.

6. What are a few of your favorite development tools and why?

I think the "why" might be the key part of this question. The attitude of the interviewer frames the question here. If you're looking for them to say a certain tool that you personally like then it's not a good question. Keep an open mind

7. Describe/demonstrate your level of competence in a *nix shell environment

I don't know anything about this but it seems odd in the context of the other questions...

8. What skills and technologies are you the most interested in improving upon or learning?

Excellent question.

9. Show me your portfolio!

Also a good question. Everyone should have something to show what they've done - doesn't matter if it's small school projects or hobby things. Even if they're just starting out they should be able to demonstrate some knoweldge.

10. What sized websites have you worked on in the past?

Part of the porfolio thing. Shoudl be open to the possibility that these websites aren't accessible (i.e. intranet work)

11. Show me your code!

Good.

12. What are a few sites you admire and why? (from a webdev perspective)

I'd have a hard time answering that too. I also don't go around looking at source code all the time.

13. Fix this code, please.

Yes, good.

14. I just pulled up the website you built and the browser is displaying a blank page. Walk me through the steps you'd take to troubleshoot the problem.

Tim: Better yet, have them supply a website, then break it and have it online for them to look at.

Good idea

15. What's your favorite development language and why? What other features (if any) do you wish you could add to this language?

Interesting questions. I can always think of things I'd change about software I'd use. Might be a way to get a feel for creativity and imagination.

16. Do you find any particular languages or technologies intimidating?

Another good one.

17. Acronym time (oh boy!)

I agree that it's important to know what the acronyms mean for technologies you work with very day but might not be the best use of interview time.

18. What web browser do you use?

Good question unless you're looking for a specific answer (as above). It's not fair to hold it against someone if they're not using your favourite broswer. Asking which browsers they test in might be more appropriate.

ETA: reading the response - okay, so he's talking about asking which toolbars they have installed. Which means you expect them to use firefox. That's rediculous.

19. Rank your interest in these development tasks from 1 to 5 (1 being not interested at all, 5 being extremely interested)

Hmmm... I don't really like this question because people are going to answer what they think you want to hear and not what they really think.

20. What are a few personal web projects you've got going on?

Tim: Personal web projects? Who has time for those?

I agree! It also gives the impression that you expect them to be so obsessive about web development that they want to work in their spare time. Instead, it might be good to ask about any hobbies or interests. Well rounded people are good

_________________________

So, I don't think they're all rediculous questions at all. Actually, most of them are very good. A few are a little off but I've heard much worse in interview situations.

Reading the full answers on that site, it does seem that this person is trying really hard to weed out anyone who might be a little inexperienced, which is too bad. I guess it depends on what your needs are for the organization, and what you're paying, but it's good to give inexperienced people a chance too. Experience is just one factor of many to consider when hiring.

1. What industry sites and blogs do you read regularly?

Not really a question of utmost importance but reading something is good, wether its blog you frequent to get updates on the IT scene either local or interntational...

2. Do you prefer to work alone or on a team?

I agree with Megan on this one, you should know how to worki in a team or how to work alone especially in a delegated position. I think the more appropriate to add here is are you comfortable with a leadership position in a team?

3. How comfortable are you with writing HTML entirely by hand?

At least they know how to code by hand, the theories involved would be shown if you do understand what you are doing... Instead of actually knowing something will do it for you automatically.

4. What is the w3c?

I agree that they should have a knowledge about the W3C...
should add WCAG here too...

5. Can you write table-less XHTML? Do you validate your code?

I like this question, it raises too many eyebrows... At the very least try and validate so that you would at least smooth out some quirks thats happening to a project actually caused by poor markup... Its also appropriate to say its not a rule its just a guideline, you follow it or not, its what you are comfortable with that matters...

6. What are a few of your favorite development tools and why?

I do have my favorites, but this question is out of context, whats that to do with what I know?

7. Describe/demonstrate your level of competence in a *nix shell environment

I know little, but I intend to learn more, since I like to keep on learning.

8. What skills and technologies are you the most interested in improving upon or learning?

Really good question...

9. Show me your portfolio!

This a good question, the difference with a portfolio is not how many you have made, but the quality you made it... There are designers who get a lot of clients since they are either good salesmen or good at Marketing, SEO and Advertising.

A person of good skills and an "eye", if its just one and its quality work, then its a good gauge of the persons skills with appropriate time and pay...

10. What sized websites have you worked on in the past?

Quote:
Part of the porfolio thing. Shoudl be open to the possibility that these websites aren't accessible (i.e. intranet work)

I agree on Megan on this one, also remember html work is also done by designers to installation CS or presentation and the general thought on intranet is something I can relate to. Also take note that sometimes customers pay extra to me for example for them to acquire the design but don’t want me to post their design on my portfolio or having to put my link as their designer on their site. So actually paying me extra for example just to give the rights of the design to them, and its developed or designed by their people and not from a design company outside of them…

11. Show me your code!

Good question…

12. What are a few sites you admire and why? (from a webdev perspective)

There are sites that actually is all about the codes, but I don’t go around frequenting sites just to look at their codes, I do look at popular sites to see how they get indexed so well…

13. Fix this code, please.

Another good question…

14. I just pulled up the website you built and the browser is displaying a blank page. Walk me through the steps you'd take to troubleshoot the problem.

Quote:
Tim: Better yet, have them supply a website, then break it and have it online for them to look at.

Good point by tim here… or print an html or css on paper and let them browse through it if anything is wrong with it…

15. What's your favorite development language and why? What other features (if any) do you wish you could add to this language?

Sometimes I feel I want to add something to the language, but there are so many languages…

16. Do you find any particular languages or technologies intimidating?

Good Question

17. Acronym time (oh boy!)

You need at least to know some, its not a gauge of how you know your technology or how well you know things, it just shows you are a good reader and you take time to study your stuff, not knowing something if someone asks, just be honest and you may find that meaning soon…

18. What web browser do you use?

same answer as megan especially the ETA part,
I would like to add that some people use different browsers in the same frequency…

19. Rank your interest in these development tasks from 1 to 5 (1 being not interested at all, 5 being extremely interested)

Not a Good question, misleading…

20. What are a few personal web projects you've got going on?

I have to feel the pain here a little, because I do take time to make personal web projects, personal projects for me is making sites for children to visit to, or making sites for increasing awareness are the kind of sites I do on my spare time, I don’t want this sites acknowledged that its from me, I just love doing them… I love designing so but when I do have a little extra time, I do tend to put them to my family, my outside hobbies and interests… There are personal web projects I do for others that need it and believe what they are up to, they don’t need profit but acknowledgement but they need help and they cant afford it…

Excellent thread, Tim.

I'll add a few comments too. I disagree with you on some points while I agree on others.

1. What industry sites and blogs do you read regularly?
The question appears to be misleading at first, possibly poorly phrased. But I think it's a good one. Three possible answers I can see:
- No idea about any blogs. Not a good thing.
- Knows some or many popular blogs (either reads regularly or infrequently - doesn't matter). Shows awareness at least or interest at best.
- Knows some additional unusual blogs, perhaps with a wide variety extending to distantly related technologies. Shows versatility and interest.

The bottom line is that the question shouldn't demand a prescribed answer. It should be expository to be of any use, to provide insight.

3. How comfortable are you with writing HTML entirely by hand?
6. What are a few of your favorite development tools and why?
WYSIWYG editors haven't 'taken over' from textual editors. Textual editors are not less productive. Using techniques like code generation, templates, editor macros, and shortcuts, textual editors can be put to good use in production.

Now Notepad would be a bad answer because it's severely limited for this purpose. An answer including Emacs or Vim should be perfectly acceptable. Yet as with any tool, it matters more how the user handles it.

Like the first question, here we shouldn't expect a predetermined answer. What matters more is what insight this can give us to the general development principles and work ethic of the candidate.

5. Can you write table-less XHTML? Do you validate your code?
Good question. I agree with Megan.

7. Describe/demonstrate your level of competence in a *nix shell environment
I think this is perfectly relevant. In practice, I think it should be a bonus, not a dealbreaker, unless the job requires it. In theory, I think everyone ought to know it.

9. Show me your portfolio!
10. What sized websites have you worked on in the past?
11. Show me your code!
13. Fix this code, please.
14. I just pulled up the website you built and the browser is displaying a blank page. Walk me through the steps you'd take to troubleshoot the problem.
I see these as the same question.

15. What's your favorite development language and why? What other features (if any) do you wish you could add to this language?
No offence, but I think this does separate the men (or women) from the boys (or girls).

Understanding the strengths, drawbacks, and limits of your favourite languages, as well as other languages (both similar and different); knowing what new developments there will be in these languages, and what will be obsolete; knowing various styles of programming and how languages affect them; which languages are best suited to which tasks and why; are all hugely important.

I don't think you can really master a language until you have that sort of an understanding. Sure, you can get the job done without knowing all that, but someone else who does will probably do it better, adapt faster to new problems, and advance with more ease.

8. What skills and technologies are you the most interested in improving upon or learning?
16. Do you find any particular languages or technologies intimidating?
Also good. Similar reasoning as the previous, you need a degree of understanding about the technologies to justify your answers.

20. What are a few personal web projects you've got going on?

timjpriebe wrote:
Personal web projects? Who has time for those?

Someone not in a job.

This is another question that could provide interesting insights, as with the first question.

The questions themselves seem to be directed towards predetermined answers - possibly just a wording issue. And some questions are just redundant imo.

Actually, come to think of it, the standards question would be a good one whetehr you use them or not. If you prefer table code and non-standard based development you don't want to get someone who is really passionate about standards. Then they'll get in the job, spend loads of time converting your old code and arguing with you and your other employees about why standards are better. Eventually they get fed up and quit and you have to go through the hiring process all over. It would be important to find out if you're on the same page during the interview process.

Same with the programming language question - if you really like to use open source technologies you don't want to end up hiring someone who loves Microsoft.

If you're hiring a programmer, this checklist might be helpful:

http://damienkatz.net/2006/05/signs_youre_a_c.html