Interviews Shouldn’t Feel Like the Hunger Games

We’ve all been there. You sit on one side of the interview table. It feels like it’s less about who you are and more about whether you’ve memorized the right cheat codes. You’re asked to invert a binary tree. You need to detect a cycle. Or you have to optimize a function most real-world projects will never even look at. And then, if you survive that gauntlet, someday you become the interviewer… and what do you ask? The same questions you suffered through.

The trauma is like a generational glitch in the system. It just keeps getting recycled. Each new interviewer unknowingly continues what they once resented.

This post is not a rant (ok maybe slightly), and it’s not about naming and shaming. It’s about exploring a better way for both interviewers and interviewees. Interviews should be treated like the meaningful conversations they’re supposed to be. Let’s break this cycle.

What follows is based on my experience. I have taken countless interviews. I have also heard stories from friends, peers, and candidates across the industry. I’ve been on both sides of the table and absorbed a lot of patterns, both good and broken. So no theory here – this is all coming from the trenches.

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1. Ask from the Resume

Sounds obvious, right? But you’d be surprised how many interviewers barely glance at it before launching into their generic preset list. A good interview starts with curiosity:

“You worked on XYZ? Tell me what the biggest challenge was there.”

Ask things that only they could answer. Validate the experience, dig deeper, look for the spark in their voice. If someone wrote something just to pad the page, it becomes obvious fast.

Watch for: People who can talk about the why, not just the what.

Caution: Don’t over-index on one bullet point and turn it into a full-fledged interrogation. The idea is exploration, not entrapment.

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2. Gauge Their Thinking Ability

This one’s gold. Present them with a problem they’ve never seen before. You can also provide a simple scenario ideally related to your domain. Just observe how they think. Are they calm? Do they break it down? Do they ask clarifying questions?

It’s not about the right answer. It’s about the journey. You’re hiring a brain, not a calculator.

Avoid: Brain teasers from 2005. No one cares how many golf balls fit in a bus.

Bonus points: If they involve you in their thought process. Collaboration > isolation.

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3. BS Detection (a.k.a The Trap Question)

Ask a question where the honest answer is “I don’t know.” Something niche. Something Google-able. Something that’s not common knowledge – and see how they react.

Do they bluff? Do they dance around it? Or do they admit it and move forward?

These days, though, there’s a twist. People have learned that saying “I don’t know” looks good. So they say it… and stop.

Real talk: Admitting ignorance is not the destination. It’s the bookmark. If you don’t flip back to that page later and learn it, you just performed honesty without doing the work.

An example? Throw a cutting-edge term like MCP or a PQC algorithm at them. Or give them a borderline absurd scenario: “How would you receive a bind shell on your listener?” It should make near zero sense – that’s the point. You’re not testing knowledge; you’re testing composure, reasoning, and honesty.

Even better, if someone says “I don’t know” during the interview, give them 24 hours to come back with an answer. See what they do with that time. Did they dig in? Learn something? Or did the bookmark stay untouched?

To be honest, this is a tricky territory, the result of this section relies on capabilities of both interviewee and interviewer.

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4. Let Them Brag a Bit

Ask them to explain something they’re proud of. A project, a bug they fixed, a feature they shipped. Let them walk you through it like you’re a teammate.

The trick? Follow-up questions. You’ll know who actually did the work and who was just on the CC list.

You’re looking for: Pride, ownership, clarity, maybe even a little storytelling. If they light up, good sign. If they deflect or speak in vague terms, dig deeper.

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5. Cultural + Intellectual Fit (Without Turning Into a Clone Factory)

This is the squishiest part of interviews, and the one where bias can creep in fastest. Don’t confuse fit with familiarity. The goal is to figure out if they can thrive in your environment as themselves, not as a carbon copy of everyone else.

Ask yourself: Will they challenge the way we think in a good way?

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6. The Interviewer’s Real Job: Help People Get Hired

This gets lost in the noise, but it’s foundational.

The job of the interviewer is not to gatekeep – it’s to find the right candidate. And that means giving people a fair shot, helping them be seen at their best, and sometimes even nudging them gently toward success.

Start with the intent to help someone clear the round, not to crush their ego or put them through an emotional shredder. Give them benefit of doubt. Guide when needed. Clarify when they’re stuck. Listen with the intent to understand – not just to judge.

Hiring is not a power trip. It’s a responsibility to the team, the company, and the person on the other side of the table.

Also, please – don’t use interviews to get free consulting. Don’t ask candidates to solve problems you are struggling with just to see if they can do it. It’s not just lazy – it’s unethical. If this becomes a pattern, it doesn’t just damage the candidate’s experience, it damages your company’s reputation in the industry. They are not your free labour.

If you want low-cost problem solvers, hire interns. Train them. Invest in them. And once they prove themselves, convert them. That’s ethical, and it builds loyalty.

But don’t disguise unpaid R&D as a hiring round. That’s exploitation, not evaluation.

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Meta-Problem: Dehumanizing the Process

Big tech needs to hire thousands. So they build hiring pipelines – standardized, scalable, dehumanized. And it works for them.

The real tragedy? Smaller companies copying this model thinking it’s maturity.

You’re not Google. You don’t need a thousand resumes. You need ten great humans.

When you apply factory logic to craft problems, you lose nuance. You filter out curiosity, potential, and spark – and hire based on who trained hardest for the Hunger Games.

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The Interviewer Feedback Loop

So why do we keep asking the same questions? Because that’s what was done to us. And when we finally get the chance to sit on the other side, we replicate the pain instead of rethinking the system.

Just because you survived the trauma doesn’t mean you need to pass it on.

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Final Thoughts: Make it a Conversation, Not a Test

Good interviews feel like collaboration. Like problem-solving. Like two people trying to find out if they can build together.

So whether you’re asking the questions or answering them – show up as a human. Be honest, be curious, and most importantly, be real.

Let’s stop performing. Let’s start connecting.

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If this resonated with you or even made you uncomfortable – that’s good. That means we hit something worth talking about. Let’s keep the conversation going.