From 2000 to 2002, I worked for Nullsoft, which had just been acquired by AOL. Although I don't think we ever had more than 15 members at one time, we shared office space and administration with our sister acquisition Spinner.com, which was much bigger and definitely more corporate. It was my first experience working in such a formal environment, and I spent a lot of time just winging it. Although I didn't think so at the time, one of the parts of the job I probably should have had some training in was in giving interviews.

I just always figured the prescreeners were competent and did their job (bad assumption), and by the time the candidate got to me, it was more a question of cultural fit. If I liked the person and thought they could handle the work environment, I'd recommend them for the job. I was often hungover or late for a ping pong match, so my interview typically consisted of 2 questions plus discussion.


And that was it. If they drank beer or hard liquor, they were ok by me. Even non-drinkers were ok, if they didn't mind being around us boozers. But wine snobs were definitely out. Same too with people who couldn't handle the constant barrage of inter cubicle fbombs. Poor cultural fit, I'd explain to people later. Looking back, I can't believe I got away with it.

It was basically a social meeting for us. My memory is hazy but I believe our interviews included such highlights as Steve sticking cake down his pants, one applicant offering to give us a tabledance, me passing out on another applicant, us issuing a sumo suit challenge and another straight out saying "I'm not cool enough to join this company". Fun yes, but looking back, I think we were just rolling the dice.

Flash forward to 2008. I'm on the receiving end this time, getting screened for a job. I marvel at the brilliance and simplicity of the 3 questions they asked:


Wow. Answering #1 reveals both what you consider a bad day (get fired? swamped with work? have an argument with a coworker? get a hangnail?) and what your coping technique is (withdraw? confront? seek out support? go postal?). And questions 2 and 3 are just veiled ways of getting you to talk about yourself and the values you admire/disdain. So smart. And totally low pressure. None of the usual "what are your strengths and weaknesses" BS. I actually enjoyed the talk. If I only knew then what I know now, eh?

Anyway, after that, Justin and I scrounge around for something different to do. We end up having a pretty fun man-date. We try hanging out at the Spectator in Queen Anne, but it's pretty dead and I discover that Justin can't drink more than 1 drink. So we return to Belltown and chat up some girls who are having an ugly Christmas sweater outing at the Lava Lounge. Then we bounce over to Shorty's, a very cool hotdog and pinball bar/arcade. And finally. Hot dogs.

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