Bitcoin Forum

When recruiting I tend to look for intelligence (looking at a problem from more than one angle) and engineering mindset (leverage critical thinking to solve the problem) over a skillset (Guru level Solidity developer).

I'd appreciate hearing what you guys think are good interview questions to mine a good engineer from a group of applicants.

Ok, I'll be the genesis here...  Some theoretical questions I could ask are:
- What is cold storage and how does it work?
- Difference between POW and POS?
- From a technical standpoint, what's a smart contract, where is a smart contract, how does a smart contract work?

- How funds for DAO project was stolen?
- What is Turing complete language?
- What smart contracts can do, and what they can not?

It is very beginner questions.
You can find all the answer very easely on the internet.

In few words.
 - cold storage : you disconnect from internet the system where yours privates keys are.
 - PoW : your return is dependant of the electricity you burn - PoS : your return is dependant of the number of coin you have
 - Samrt contract : the transaction is dependant of some external conditions

It is obvious that you are looking for talent rather then knowledge. So don't ask them questions like the above, instead give them a problem to solve.
Just give them some small portion of work that you will want them to do or something related to it and see how they do.

Thanks aleksej996 - sometimes people feel companies are trying to get some "free consulting" by giving them a problem to solve, but I'll try to be clear of my intentions and see what they say!

I agree the demos are best, but great questions are simply to ask what they have done in the past when faced with ___ . Ask a bunch of probing questions for follow up. Then ask them another scenario. Be sure to look for the patterns in the answers - it's never about one word, or one bad or good thought, it's about the patterns. Most people get hung up on the details, but it's about the patterns.