The Technical Interview

The fundamental principle of the interview is to distinguish between people who can make it work, and people who can make it right. These are different disciplines entirely, and take different skills. The former move mountains.  The latter build airships.  And both are necessary from time to time.

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But while airships can be impractical, moving mountains can be dangerous and destructive and expensive to cleanup. So when a team is really working well, they're finding solutions that are elegant as well as practical. That can not only be done, but done right.

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The worst ideas are the ones that work, but work poorly. So the best engineers must say: I know it will work, that's why we shouldn't do it.