Re: "not technical enough" redux

[Chris Despopoulos <cud -at- arrakis -dot- es>]

Jane of No Last Name says:

What also annoys me when they say "you're not technical
enough" is that a)
they didn't ask me enough technical questions to know the
depth of facts I
know, or at least references I can access, or b) they aren't
qualifying
what
kind of "technical" they mean. 

I would suggest a few questions of your own, assuming the
"not technical enough" statement came from a human with
enough nerve to look you in the eye.  Two obvious questions:

"Just what kind of <<technical>> do you mean?"  

and

"How do you know?"

Now there are fair questions if ever I heard them.  Good
conversation starters, too.  If you learn the assessment is
right, you will learn about new areas that might interest
you.  If not, the interviewer might change his/her opinion. 
If the interviewer doesn't like the questions, you don't
want to work there.

When I go into an interview, I generally assume I have the
job if I want it.  The question is, do I want it?  If the
technology is boring (yes, I'm sort of geeky), or if the
other aspects of the job are boring, or if the culture is
painful, or if I just don't feel good at the interview, I
usually feel that I don't want the job.  That makes it a
relief when I get a no from the interviewer.  What I dread
in this situation is a yes.

Sometimes everything feels right and I really want the job. 
But maybe I don't get it.  Then I feel a little sad, but I
don't feel badly...  I just figure somebody else, who I
would probably like very much, was just a better fit than
I.  Them's the breaks.  

cud