• I luckily never had to deal with silly interview questions. I have read about them, and I have thought about how to handle it if the situation comes up.

    My most probable course of action would be to stand up, politely inform them that I am probably not the candidate they are looking for, and leave. Depending on their reaction, I might turn around and resume the interview - but only if they are prepared to take the interview, and most of all: take me, seriously.

    The only slighty uncomfortable interviewing experience I had was when my employer made me take a full-day assessment to qualify for a promotion. Most of the day was filling out multiple choice questions, partly regular personality tests, partly standard IQ test. At the end of the day, I had to do a role-play exercise. I had to advise a "customer" on a project they planned. I had been given some information about the project, but it was not at all related to my normal work (I think it was engineering) - so I stayed deliberately vague and gave no hard promises on how the project would go. After the actor had left, I was given the feedback that I was way too vague, that I should have been more specific. I took the opportunity to explain that I would have done that if they had given me something in an area where I am actually competent. (Like, just to name a crazy idea, the position I was applying for). I don't know how they worked that into their final report, so I don't know if I got the job in spite of or because of this. I do know that I quickly found out I hated the job; I left the company less than a year later.


    Hugo Kornelis, SQL Server/Data Platform MVP (2006-2016)
    Visit my SQL Server blog: https://sqlserverfast.com/blog/
    SQL Server Execution Plan Reference: https://sqlserverfast.com/epr/