Can applicant evaluate the interviewer's knowledge based on the asked question?

Question

Recently, I was in a technical interview with a QA lead with several years of working experience in this field. During the interview, the interviewer asked questions, which made me doubtful about his automation skills. I do understand that leaders do not need to have all the technical skills, but he is a technical QA lead.

During the interview, the team lead asked meaningless questions on CSS-Selector, Lombok, and Eclipse (STS) which made doubt on his programming (automation) skills.

I want to work in a team which the QA lead is a lot more knowledgeable than me. It gives me the opportunity to learn from him.

To what extent do you agree with the following statement?

During the interview, the interviewers evaluate applicant based on his answers, and the applicant can evaluate the interviewers based on their questions.

Obviously, I understand that the applicant also has the opportunity to ask questions typically at the end of the interview, but I believe I can gather an interviewer's technical expertise from their questions. The applicant definitely cannot ask the same kind of technical questions to their interviewers. Thus I believe the only way to evaluate the technical knowledge of the team lead is based on their questions.

Answer 1

I wish to work in a team which the QA lead is by far knowledgeable than me.

In which extend do you agree with the following statement?

"During the interview, the interviewers evaluate applicant based on his answers, and the applicant can evaluate the interviewers based on their questions."

Certainly your evaluation of the quality of questions being asked can help you decide if this is the kind of person you want to work for/with, and if this is the kind of company you want to work for.

If you are very skilled at interpreting the questions, you may be able to draw some conclusions.

But be careful that you distinguish between someone who is knowledgeable in QA but is a poor interviewer, and someone who isn't knowledgeable in QA, but is a good interviewer. And remember that their questions are designed to evaluate you, not to show off their own knowledge.

Remember that you'll get an opportunity to ask questions at some point. Rather than relying solely on the questions asked by your interviewer, be ready with questions of your own. Choose questions that can help you determine if this QA Lead's knowledge is sufficient for your needs.

Be careful that this isn't the sole focus of your questions. Make sure you ask about the company, culture, career path, and anything else you need to know about the position.

In many interviews, you'll also get to talk with a peer. You may choose to ask that peer about the QA Lead - what they are like, what it's like to work with them, perhaps even how technically knowledgeable they are. Often you'll hear clues regarding their knowledge level.

During the interview, the interviewer asked questions, which made me doubtful about his automation skills.

Most QA Leads have a lot more on their plate than just automation. Often Leads aren't directly involved with automation at all.

Still, if automation knowledge in the Lead is of primary importance to you, then it makes sense to reject a job offer with someone who isn't knowledgeable enough for your purposes.

Answer 2

In which extend do you agree with the following statement? During the interview, the interviewers evaluate applicant based on his answers, and the applicant can evaluate the interviewers based on their questions.

Very little. The interviewer has developed a list of questions based on determining your knowledge, not based on showing off their knowledge. There are many cases in interviewing where you may want to ask questions at various technical levels, and even "bad" questions in the sense that they appear to display a poor understanding of some technical concept. It's hard to discuss without knowing the specifics of the questions you were asked, but it's very fair to say that there may have been good reasons why they were not a clear representation of the interviewer's technical skills.

Further, you made this statement:

I wish to work in a team which the QA lead is by far knowledgeable than me.

That's a great goal. However, you seem to be trying to evaluate it very passively. If that's important to you, you should prepare and ask questions to help you determine if the employer will be a good fit. Things like,

How do your team members collaborate and share knowledge?

Or,

How does your company support learning and technical growth?

Or,

I value an environment where I can learn and grow technically. How do members of this team pursue skills development and growth?

This way, you can get an idea of how growth-oriented the culture is, and whether or not it'll be a good fit for your desire to learn.

Answer 3

During the interview, the interviewers evaluate applicant based on his answers, and the applicant can evaluate the interviewers based on their questions.

In any interview, the interviewers are evaluating the interviewee, and the interviewee is evaluating the interviewers. It is a two-way process.

You are free to use whatever metrics or criteria you wish to choose who to work for. If you think you have picked up an indication you would not be happy at this company, don't accept an offer. You don't need the permission of strangers on StackOverflow to do that.

With that said, some interviewers will ask nonsensical questions deliberately to see how you handle being challenged, or how you respond to people who are not as familiar with a technology as you are. They may know full well that the question doesn't make sense, and are hoping you're not going to respond with "that's a stupid question, you must be stupid" because that might be a sign you might not be very easy to work with. A response like "you're asking about X but that could never happen because of Y; may I ask, is this a topic you're familiar with? Just want to clarify so I can pitch my answers at the right level" might be better received.

Answer 4

During the interview, the interviewers evaluate applicant based on his answers, and the applicant can evaluate the interviewers based on their questions.

I definitely use the interview questions to gauge the interviewer's skills, but I focus more on what kind of probing questions they ask of my solution. You can sometimes tell which questions are pre-prepared and which are impromptu.

Watch out for generic interview questions though. A lot of companies will use a generic pool of questions, so the type of the question the interviewer asks you isn't indicative of them, but is indicative of their organization. For instance, did the team chose to chose an entry-level programming question for a senior role? This could mean that they are inexperienced in hiring more senior roles or their definition of senior is more junior when compared to other companies.

Obviously, I understand that the applicant also has the opportunity to ask questions typically at the end of the interview, but I believe I can gather an interviewer's technical expertise from their questions.

By far, it's the open questions at the end of the interview slot that are the most informative. You want to gauge your technical lead's skill level. Ask them about the design of their framework or architecture and the reasons for the design decisions. What level of details do they go into? You'll quickly understand if this person built the framework or inherited it.

One of my favorite questions is to ask the interviewer to walk me through a typical day. It'll give me a chance to see how their role fixes in the context of the team.

I want to work in a team which the QA lead is a lot more knowledgeable than me. It gives me the opportunity to learn from him.

A lead isn't necessarily more knowledgable than the rest of team, but is responsible for mentoring team members, working with other teams, aiding design decisions, managing projects, etc. A lead creates opportunities for you to learn and not necessarily from them.