I had two tries. My first was in 2012. I did a full-day interview with five or six people. Only one guy in pair programming and another team lead asked me technical questions; for all others, it was all 'tell me about yourself' type of thing.

The second try was last week. I got a friend to refer me, so I was brought in to chat with the recruiter. Two young women, fresh out of school, showed me around their fancy new office and sat me down in a fancy meeting room. Then one of them opened: "Okay, I know nothing about you. I didn't even look at your resume, so tell me about yourself."

Recently, I had a stretch of interviews with many companies, like Google, Amazon, Groupon, and Apple. Most of the time, I was asked to talk about my projects. So, I asked for clarification: "So you mean my recent projects?" "Yeah... but start with where you were born, what your parents do... and go from there."

After spending almost an hour talking about my life in the past 30 years, she asked: "So, I asked you to bring a project of yours..." Finally, I took out my laptop and showed her a few projects that I had carried out. The two women nodded along and followed up with a question: "So, do you have any questions for us?"

Two days later, I got a call from one of the women, who told me they decided not to move forward. Well, I've heard this, but mostly after an on-site or a round of phone screen. This is truly the first time, and I really don't understand how the recruiting logic is like at this company.

Where were you born?

What do your parents do?