Interview Question: Where do you think the IT industry is heading?

[SouthGate]

My cousin got asked that question in an interview today, it would have also put me on the spot. How would you respond to such a question?

[Jason S. Global Moderator]

pretty vague question. i'd be irritated if i got asked that.

[SouthGate]

Kinda my thought too, would it be bad to ask an interviewer to be more specific? I guess it's just gauging your response but where would you start with such a question.

Edited May 2, 2018 by Broughton

[Jason S. Global Moderator]

not bad at all.... but i think the intention of the question is to be vague. they just want to hear you talk intelligently and that you know about the industry. kinda like asking "where do you see yourself in 5 years?"

 

(Peter Griffin: dont say doing your wife, dont say doing your wife.... doing your....son?)

[SouthGate]

There's a lot of pertinent information provided by Google, but I guess the point of the question is to explore your personal views and forecasts. Still a tough one to answer on the spot.

[Jason S. Global Moderator]

i would answer that question by making up some nonsense about how customers want access to their data at all times. they expect instant everything so the industry would need to continue to head toward and always-available, cloud based blah blah blah. just keep talking in buzzwords.

[Skiver Veteran]

I think the context of the job that was being applied for may help. Was this a generic IT Helpdesk type position or was it in a particular field?

 

Whatever the answer is, you need to keep the job role in mind. For instance, my daily work is mostly around virtualization, so if I was asked a question like that for a job interview in a similar role I'd probably want to talk about on-premise vs cloud, self-service or something like that.

[hasad77]

The intention of that kind of a question is not to get the correct answer but to see how the person reacts and thinks. If the job offer was in the IT industry (which would be weird if it wasn't), your cousin could have talked about anything. An article he read recently, or things he noticed himself. Anyhow, I HATE these kinds of questions myself. They always throw me off.

[sc302 Veteran]

During an interview you will be asked some open ended questions.  You won't be able to know every scenario or every possible option.  The interviewer is looking to see if you are up to current affairs, see how you think, see how you troubleshoot, and see what interests you in IT.  

 

When I ask open ended questions, I have a few things I am looking for...how comfortable they are, how correct or close to correct they are, if they can show me a different angle than what I have seen before, do they know as much as or more than me, where do they fit on the team, and a few other things.  I want to hire people who are smarter than me, as smart as me, or have a good general knowledge of things.  I don't want to hire people who guess, who want me to train them, who aren't independent, and who constantly look to me for answers (I have my own tasks, a few questions or scheduling a q and a time to become more familiar with things is fine...teaching you computer 101 is not what I am here for, neither is teaching you basic AD, basic networking, or basic troubleshooting).  I learn what your capabilities are by open ended questions.