That is exactly what I'm going for. I'm actually looking for 2 things:
* If they don't know how to debug SQL, I'd like to know that.
* Do they simply say they don't know, or do they try to bluff? Are they confident about what they don't know? Like I said in a different comment in this thread, one of my greatest hires ever was a former teacher who was very confident about what she didn't know -- she never felt any need to bluff.
Given two people of exactly equal skill, if one bluffs and the other is confident enough to say "I don't know", then I'll hire the one who says "I don't know." Because then when we are actually working together, I know they will be honest with me whenever they need help, they won't be trying to keep secrets from me.
Also, about this:
"triggering the candidate’s imposter syndrome"
Given two people of exactly equal skill, if one has imposter syndrome and another doesn't, I'll take the one who doesn't have the imposter syndrome. Or put differently, given two people of exactly equal technical skill, if one demonstrates a higher emotional intelligence, I'll hire that person.
* If they don't know how to debug SQL, I'd like to know that.
* Do they simply say they don't know, or do they try to bluff? Are they confident about what they don't know? Like I said in a different comment in this thread, one of my greatest hires ever was a former teacher who was very confident about what she didn't know -- she never felt any need to bluff.
Given two people of exactly equal skill, if one bluffs and the other is confident enough to say "I don't know", then I'll hire the one who says "I don't know." Because then when we are actually working together, I know they will be honest with me whenever they need help, they won't be trying to keep secrets from me.
Also, about this:
"triggering the candidate’s imposter syndrome"
Given two people of exactly equal skill, if one has imposter syndrome and another doesn't, I'll take the one who doesn't have the imposter syndrome. Or put differently, given two people of exactly equal technical skill, if one demonstrates a higher emotional intelligence, I'll hire that person.