This interview was a long time ago, but I understand it isn't very different from how it works today. I had a friend/classmate who had been hired the previous year. She gave my resume to her manager, who called me. After a very brief phone screening, she told me she wasn't hiring, but one of her colleagues was, and the interview was arranged.

Prior to the interview (in my case, the same day), I had to take a written aptitude test. It was in multiple parts and was somewhat reminiscent of the SAT. I was never told how I did – no one is ever told whether you get an offer or not – and it's also kind of a mystery just how or how much that test factors into a hiring decision.

I met the hiring manager, and we had what seemed a lot more like a normal conversation than an interview. It was a lot of small talk and a little bit about what the job was about. It was a "fresh grad" position, so I didn't have a lot of questions, but I asked a few, and they led to still more normal chit-chat. There was virtually no technical discussion during the interview at all.

I learned much later that the reason there was not much in the way of technical questions was that the project I was being hired for was completely proprietary, including the language it was written in. Therefore, my actual skills were irrelevant since I would need to be trained anyway. They wanted to know what kind of person I was: Could I learn? Could I work well as part of a team? Was I enthusiastic and pleasant to be around? That's what they wanted to determine, and the technical capability was assumed by virtue of having a CS degree.

If we hire you, can you commit to staying for five years?