Here are seven of my favorite questions/scenarios I use in an interview:
- What books have you read lately and what books do you recommend to your peers?
- Describe a technical philosophy you believe has value in the workplace (some examples might be: test-driven development, extreme programming, anything really). After they answer I tell them that I disagree and that I would like them to convince me otherwise.
- I describe a scenario that pits their loyalty vs. their ethical sensibilities and ask them to make a choice (I'm looking for the ethical decision).
- Given a team of 5 people, including yourself, what personalities you would choose for your teammates?
- If you were suddenly independently wealthy, what would you do with the rest of your life?
- What are the top three goals you would like to achieve in the next 6 months, year, 5 years?
- I tell them that I would like them to role-play as my manager and I describe a scenario where I made a trivial mistake and as my manager they must discuss the situation and determine a fair reprimand/outcome.
