"Could you be more specific" is a great question to find out more what the person knows and how they thing. You give an answer that, just due to the nature of knowledge and the limitation of language, has some black boxes. And "could you be more specific" is basically asking to go through the black boxes.

Its like asking how does Java work or something like that? You can go from "The JVM interprets java byte code" to quite a lot of depth on how various parts work if you have enough knowledge.

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ASalazarMX 27 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

A great response is "What exactly do you want to know?", so we don't end up like Cliff giving answer after answer. In his case it was a great test question, but such a vague question is a horrible communication tactic if abused.

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leeoniya 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

i used something like this in unstructured technical interviews all the time.

"you type a phrase into google search, you press enter, get some results. tell me, in technical detail, what happened in that chain of actions"

the diversity of replies is fascinating, you learn a lot about a "full stack" candidate this way.

Feynman's classic "Why?" chain: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36GT2zI8lVA

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SAI_Peregrinus 4 hours ago | parent [-]

I'd probably spend at least 20 minutes just to get through how the keyboard works, much more if it's a USB-HID device.

	▲	dmd 3 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Hah - that is exactly what I did. Someone asked me this question and after 5 minutes in the weeds of the debounce on the mouse click they said "look all we wanted was to find out if you'd ever heard of DNS, let's move on, that was great".
	▲	leeoniya 3 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		the good ones would usually follow up with, "how much detail do you _really_ want ;D"

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HPsquared 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

It's reminds me of that scene from Fargo: "He was kinda funny lookin'" ... "Could ya be any more specific?"

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4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

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