
Ask HN: How do you answer “tell me about your self” interview questions? - e19293001
I&#x27;ll be taking a technical interview next week. I need your advice for me to prepare. Thanks
======
acconrad
The real question they want answered is "are you interested in things?" People
who are interested in things are curious about the world, and curiosity is an
arguably critical characteristic of a good software developer.

Curiosity can be manifested in hobbies (width of skills: skiing, running,
chess) and in involvement of those hobbies (depth of skills: skies
backcountry, runs marathons, president of state chess org and/or grand
master).

Curiosity in computers/electronics is a huge plus - you used an arduino to
regulate your windows; you wrote an app to automate the rebalancing of your
retirement portfolio. If you like working on this stuff even when it isn't
work, you're curious _and_ motivated.

And answering this reveals about your personality - tone of voice, inflection,
approach - these all let us know you're affable, easy to work with, fun to be
around. A cold, one sentence answer reveals a much different person than a
warm, passionate paragraph about your interests and feelings on the world.

Talk about your passions, and the rest will work itself out.

