From the course: Tech Career Skills: Interviewing Developers

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The weirdest bug you've ever encountered

The weirdest bug you've ever encountered

From the course: Tech Career Skills: Interviewing Developers

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The weirdest bug you've ever encountered

- What's the weirdest bug you ever encountered and how did you solve it? This is the favorite question on the list for many interviewers that I've trained. It often leads to some interesting and entertaining conversations. That can build a sense of camaraderie between the interviewer and the interviewee. There are two reasons I ask this question. The main purpose is to probe the candidate's depth. Experienced developers are far more likely to have encountered strange and perplexing bugs. The second purpose is that it's excellent for seeing how the candidate thinks. Novel or creative solutions to tracking down bugs is a sign of a top notch developer. This is the only question where I find it helpful to set the stage for the answer. I usually relate my own strangest bug to give them an example and give them some time to think about their answer. In 1995, I was working on an application that was about ready for release.…

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