Matthew Schnurer

It's just as the prompt suggests for me. Articulating your thought process is often more important than the conclusion itself. If I can understand how you arrived at a wrong answer, I can teach you how to arrive at the right one. There's likely a gap in your knowledge that you aren't aware you have, and that can easily get filled. I can only speak for myself on this one. Some people prefer you to take a beat and compose your thoughts as opposed to "shooting from the hip," but I like talking through stuff. Do your best to read the room and articulate your answers according to the energy you're being given.

Speaking as an interviewer, this is one of my key points in looking for someone I'm going to hire. I might ask a question that has no real answer, because maybe the software I'm talking about doesn't exist... if you want me to clarify, it will tell me you have the integrity to not simply try and lie your way through a stressful situation. Even if it's a legit question, I will respect it more if you probe a bit, even if you're way off... It at least shows you're invested and looking to learn, which is far more important to me than having some "ninja/rockstar/genius" on my team. Curiosity can be satisfied. Arrogance cannot.

Look, interviews are all hypothetical anyway. Yes, the goal is to get hired, but ultimately, you can approach them from several angles to get some insight. Take it as an opportunity to learn about yourself. How did you react to the question, and more importantly, why? The questions can also give you insight into your interviewer. Why might they ask such a strange question? What does it tell you about them? Is this someone worth working with? Interviews are a two way street. Look between the lines in the questions for answers to how the company culture is. The important thing to remember, is there is nothing to be nervous about. It's just a potential job. There are more out there, even if times are tight. You'll be okay.

Much of the advice put forth in these articles before anyone even contributes is common sense, but there are some where I think there's a degree of situational dependence. I disagree with this one. As a general rule, staying positive is smart, but temper it with how much you REALLY want to work with the person interviewing you. If the Curveballs are a lot and it seems as though there's not much point to their line of questioning, then it's a pretty good indication of how much point they may have in their position at whatever company. I would advise calling out poor or nonsense questions for what they are, so long as you're not being outright insulting. You can both speak negatively and have tact. They aren't mutually exclusive.

Speaking from the interviewer side of the table, Curveball questions are a way of looking for certain things I can't outright ask someone without getting an unconsciously biased answer. I'm looking for how you might react under pressure, with a customer that makes out of scope demands, or to see how you think your way through a problem. I'll also use questions with no real answer in a technical interview, so that I can assess whether a candidate is honest and curious, or just trying to exude some kind of confidence to outshine other candidates. Sometimes the "right" answer is "I don't know/I've never heard of that/can you elaborate?" You may be surprised how few people have admitted they aren't sure... Best to be honest.

This is literally no different than any other field. You need to level up, you need to get better. Music is fun, but it needs some brevity, so keep it in the back of your head to take your fun seriously. Challenge yourself. Keep listening critically, but try to remain uncritical. Everything has something to teach you. It might be lyrics, it might be two notes, or an arrangement you hadn't considered, or even what NOT to do in a song... but there is value in all of it, regardless of your personal taste. The more you can absorb, and the more you challenge yourself to do, the better off you'll be. Get out of your comfort zone. That's where the magic is!