Is asking about "The most interesting bug in your career" a good interview question?

Question

We've been interviewing for quite some time and I've been asking candidates: > What is the most interesting bug you've found in your career? Either the most interesting, or the one they are proud of finding, or because it was challenging to reproduce, or the symptoms were unusual. So far, not a lot of people could actually recall something during the interview. It is understandable that sometimes it's difficult to recall something not from the top of the head under the stress of an interview. We are not pushing hard on this, saying that it's okay if you cannot remember one now. My thinking is that we can get some signal from the answer - it may provide insights into how critical, serious and diligent one is about the detected issues and give some idea about the ways of candidate's exploratory thinking. But, is it overall an appropriate question to ask, is our motivating logic correct? Should I modify it or build on top of it adding some similar questions?

Answer 1

While Exploratory Questions are fair game during an interview, the truth of the matter is---these kinds of questions may or may not yield the answer(s) you are looking for, or expecting to help move the potential candidate into the next phase of consideration. The candidate doesn't know which information you are seeking, and for which reason. Therefore, you as the interviewer can avoid adding additional stress to the candidate by "showing your hand" and asking tailored or specific questions in order to learn more. Also, consider how the question relates to similar challenges the candidate could experience in this new job role, if selected for the job position, which will probably result in your asking the question in a different, still meaningful way.