What's your most odd/unique job search moment?

[Nunavut Pants]

Personally, as a software engineer in the industry for nearly 25 years, I don't like coding tests.

That's why I sat with him and tried to walk through the problem and possible solutions after that part of it. Nope, he just shrugged. He wouldn't even talk basic algorithmic stuff, loops or lists or anything. I mean, I understand that being put on the spot with a whiteboard isn't the same as sitting at an IDE trying to solve a problem, but you should at least have ideas and be able to talk about them!!!

[MadMike]

Not sure if this counts, but here's something on a lighter note...

It took me the better part of a year to find a job in my field after graduating. I went on many interviews, but I was always turned down because "We're looking for someone with experience." Which you can't get without a job, which you can't get without experience, and so on. I actually interviewed three times where I'm working now. The first two weren't exactly what my degree was for, but I figured it would be a foot in the door at least. The first one I didn't get, and then after I interviewed the second time, they called me and told me I could have that job if I wanted it, but they were offering something else that was better suited to my degree, which was what I really wanted in the first place. All I had to do was take a test and go on another interview.

I stayed up half the night studying my old programming books from school, only to find that the test was basically just an intelligence test. I must have done OK, because from there I went on to the interview. There were two guys interviewing me, one of which would later become my supervisor. They were quizzing me on one computer term after another, and I nailed it every time. I remember seeing something on the white board -- "WIDS" -- that I thought was a computer term that I hadn't heard of, and was hoping they wouldn't ask me about that one. Finally, the one guy told me, "Well, you seem to know your stuff." So I thanked him but admitted I wasn't familiar with the term on his white board. He just said, "Oh don't worry about that! That just means We're In Deep Shit!" Then I started laughing, and the other two did the same. The rest of the interview was a lot more relaxed after that, which is good because interviewing was of the most stressful experiences of my life, and I had to do it multiple times.