Re: "not technical enough"

[AndrewWatt2000 -at- aol -dot- com]

In a message dated 27/07/00 06:16:33 GMT Daylight Time, judydh -at- total -dot- net 
writes:
<< 
OK, here's the next step: I was thinking through the last round of

interviews (this would be excellent to counteract any non-technical

impressions) that I needed a question sheet of my own to ask my interviewers

about their company and technology. Does anybody else have a canned sheet

like this, or a couple of trusty questions to grill or impress the

interviewers?
 >> 

Jane,

I have been watching this discussion with interest.

It perhaps isn't a precise fit with your question but I would suggest asking 
the interviewers precisely what it is that they want the [documentation/user 
manuals/whatever] to communicate and to whom, perhaps prefacing the question 
with an indication that the job description gives you only a very general or 
imprecise notion of what *exactly* they want. Whether you get clear answers 
to that question or (perhaps just as likely) there is some shuffling of 
papers and lowered eyes as the interviewers try to hide the fact that this 
hasn't been thought through will tell you a lot about how clear the 
interviewers are about the writing task and, implicitly, about the skills 
needed to do it.

Follow up questions depend very much on the level of answer you get and your 
personality. Your follow up to an answer such as "Oh ... em ... we want 
somebody to write the documentation" is probably very different from the 
situation where you get a clear description of what is needed. If you get a 
very vague answer then you have an opportunity to shine by providing a clear 
analytical answer to the question you asked. If in doing that you can list 
the necessary skills and then show how you are a good match it has to help in 
situations where the potential employer is genuinely open to the best 
solution.

Andrew Watt