Brett's Short Interview Notes
Notes to Review Prior to an Interview to Keep Focused

Ideal Interview Structure:
	15-30 minutes - Introduction to You
	15-30 minutes - Introduction to Me
					(Welcome to My Resume)
	15-30 minutes - Introduction to Your Code
	15-30 minutes - Introduction to My Code
					(The Good Stuff)
	5-15 minutes  - Wrapping it Up (the next step)
					When?  Where?  How?  Who?
					A Night to sleep on.
					After that, the sooner the better

Ideal Boss
	Assessable
	Knowledgeable
	Skilled Programmer
	Wants to Give Me Their Present Job/Duties
	
Ideal Work
	Challenging
	Beyond What I Can Do Now
	Beyond What I can Do Alone
	Learning and Research Built In
	Extremely High Paying (of course)

	
Generic Type Questions, Information to Be Gleaned from Interview:
	
Who (is hiring, company, boss, etc., their history):
  Tech
  Business
  Personal

What (essentially, why are they hiring):
   Problem
   How long
   What worked
   What didn't
   Alternatives they've tried
   What will they do with time (extra forces), now

Collaborative
   History (past employees, past partners)
   Vision. Desires (ideal relationship)

Customers
Competition
How is money made now

Their Perceived Ideal
  Customer
  Project
  Solution
  Employee

In the end, the only question I have to answer for myself in the interview is:
	Do I want to talk to this person ever again?
	If so, over what, about what?

What do they like about the job most?
What do they dislike about the job?
Where are they going next in their career?

I am a programmer. 
I want to work with, be hired by, and collaborate with programmers.

Non-programmers will be unable to see what I bring to the table nor understand the process; as such, I will ONLY work for the technological illiterate if they are willing pay me at least as much as they expect to be paid for their work and/or however much they pay to achieve their core function, whichever is more.

This last, of course, is a bit of attitude; but also as an ego defense reminder, if the interview isn't about code, then that's not what they are interested in.  Keep that in mind.

11-17-14
(c) Brett Paufler
Copyright Brett Paufler