Answer programming for “What are your interests?” interview questions? [closed]

Question

For interview questions that ask for personal hobbies, should you mention a bunch of tech activities you enjoy, like how "I love building java applets in my free time" or should you focus on non-programming activities to show you are well rounded? Does it show passion to say programming is a hobby, or does it sound disingenuous? I could see it going either way, so please back up your answer with some sound reasoning.

Answer 1

I think you should be honest. If you do love building java applets in your free time, you should say so. If you like other non-programming activities, you should mention that too. There are varied culture among companies and programmers. Being honest takes you one step closer to work for a company whose culture matches with what you are comfortable with.

Answer 2

Frankly, "I love building java applets in my free time" sounds scary. Besides, most employers don't want tunnel-visioned one-trick ponies. I would encourage not only mentioning non-programming activities in an interview, but also actually doing them.

Of course your professionalism is the first thing in the interview, but I think the idea of a "What are your interests?" question is to probe areas outside your professional capability to get some kind of big picture of you as a human being.

Answer 3

I've been engaged into interviewing applicants for quite some time and I also ask the question about hobbies from time to time. It is not a question to influence my decision - as a rule by that moment I already have a decision. It is more to enrich the portrait of the person I've been talking to.

And I should say that it can be easily noticed if a person says "I like coding in my free time" meaning "give me a job, see I'm true geek". It is more interesting for me to see how a person is passionate about non-job-related activities. If our interests intersect, we can even discuss the most recent news in that area :)

So, +1 for "be honest" and +1 for "show your other side".

Answer 4

I scared a few interviewers mentioning I like reading mangas and playing videogames. After that I just say "I like reading and swimming". Which is indeed true, but still not the whole truth.

Answer 5

If a programming applicant didn't mention at least one techncial interest outside of work, I'd be surprised and probably probe further. I go for trying to seem well-rounded and slightly cerebral: reading, music, movies, traveling, technical self-study, but recommend avoiding inappropriate subjects like partying, porn, gambling, nude sunbathing, etc.

Sometimes you have to be disingenuous to avoid being an idiot.

(EDIT) I'm starting to feel like this and others like it are bad interview questions for progamming. We need to focus as a profession on technical merits and unlike other fields take pride in our ability to work with diverse groups of people. It's not that you can't get additional information, but should you.

Answer 6

This is a question that depends a lot what kind of culture you live in, and what the corporate culture is. In some companies employees might be expected to be total nerds, in others perhaps outdoor activities are popular, or it might be more diversified. It can be impossible to know this in advance, of course.

The reason I asked this question in interviews, was two-fold: first, it's a way to get to know a person better. Second, it's a way to get to know if the person has a passion about IT, beyond it just being a job. To me, the latter is big plus, but not a show stopper - there are many variables to take into account.

Having programming or programming-related hobbies (such as hanging out on programmers.stackexchange.com or stackoverflow.com) are highly likely to be seen as positive, so if that are your hobbies, go nuts.

However, having unusual hobbies might be considered weird, so it might actually be beneficial to not speak up about them. However, I do not exactly know what should be considered unusual - this is highly subjective. On the other hand, you might not want to work somewhere where your hobbies are considered unusual or weird!

Mostly, I believe this is asked to get to know the applicant better, and hopefully to find some common interests. Bonding with the interviewer by having common interests should definitely be seen as a plus!

And by the way, asking about hobbies in interviews can be illegal in some countries (US?), or at least can lead to asking questions that are illegal: Don't ask a job applicant these questions

Answer 7

The interviewer may also be trying to get a sense of how passionate you are about anything. I've never seen a well-rounded, non-one-dimensional personality count against the candidate. By this point in the interview process, they are probably past evaluating your technical competency anyway. Whatever you choose to say, be prepared to talk about it in length, because they will ask.

Answer 8

The interview is a chance for the interviewer to see whether or not you will fit with the team and if they would enjoy working with you for 50 hours a week. You probably won't know the culture in the company and what your coworkers do in their spare time so it is best to be honest and hope that you fit. I was put forward for an agency where they specified that the candidates must like Irish Whiskey, they were wearing their heart on their sleeve, in many respects, as that gives a clear indication of the culture.

aufather summed is up nicely. Be honest, its for your benefit as well. Your going to have to spend a lot of time with these people if you land the job.

Answer 9

should you mention a bunch of tech activities you enjoy, like how "I love building java applets in my free time" ?

if you do that for hobby, you could mention it. but you'd better have some examples and some insights into applets. you would want to back up your statement with evidence

should you focus on non-programming activities to show you are well rounded?

if you have other hobbies, you should mention those too. you might wind up with a company that embraces that type of activity; if not a company, maybe a couple of people. having friends at your workplace is great

Does it show passion to say programming is a hobby, or does it sound disingenuous?

back it up if you have a programming hobby. it doesn't sound disingenuous.

if, on the other hand, it makes you fell that way, you can mention both types of hobbies. if you still feel that way, don't mention that hobby (but you're losing ground there...)

my cv says i like "gaming with friends". some find that odd, but i like how it sounds and it's true.

Answer 10

Sometimes the hobby determines the acceptable relation between your work and your free time. Someone who loves wandering and mountain trekking, or is jogging on regular basis, will probably find permanent overhours and working during weekends not acceptable for long term, and if this is what the company expects, it'll be best for him/her and the company not to sign the contract to avoid future conflicts and dissapointments.

On the other hand, coin collectioning doesn't interfere with overhours and additionally requires more money, so such worker will be probably more willing to accept overhours and additional payment for them.

Not having any hobbies except programming means normally, that someone is a geek (it's a positive word in that context) interested in newest technologies, he/she will with pleasure stay longer at work, but only if he'll have something interesting, inspiring, creative and new to do. Doing routine work for such person may be even more unacceptable than for anyone else.

Saying about your hobby you give the very important information about yourself, your expectations to the recruiter. 'Wrong' hobby (from the recruiter's point of view) may cause you don't get the contract, but such contract would be probably not adequate for you, if you'll be working for someone not accepting your hobby.