Do real interviewers (I mean those who are smart and have some experience) still ask questions like "what are your weaknesses"?

Dumbass, why the fuck should I declare, not just to you but also to myself, that I have some particular weaknesses? I know what I'm not good at, and I'll keep trying to improve. But unless my weakness is that I get a massive boner during team meetings, you don't need to know about it. I'm not telling you. Just know my strengths - that's enough. If you're just following a standard list of interview questions that you didn't even come up with, stop pretending to be an interviewer for heavens' sake.

If i was an interviewer, I'd ask it. What you're good at is easy, easy for yourself, easy to tell. What you're not good at is harder to admit, harder to tell. It requires more self-reflection that just telling what you're good at.

The purpose of that question is not to take note of your weaknesses, but to gauge how you answer.

Are you afraid to show weakness? (That might indicate you are hiding something)
What do you consider to be a weakness (what type of person you are)
How you deal with adversity (you should respond with a 'weak' point and how you deal and have dealt with it successfully - showing that you are aware and trying to improve)

An interviewer's job is to evaluate all traits of a candidate. In our area most lie (everyone is the greatest in something). You have to find out if the person is lying and about what in what extent and, most importantly, you have to measure if the candidate is a good fit for your team/company...

So, yes... Seems stupid, also... Useful!

@Alice A massive boner never keeps a low profile.

@CWins It's the kind of question which doesn't really have an answer. Usually you don't know what your biggest weaknesses are - other people tell you. People *think* they have some sexy weaknesses which are all conveniently strengths in disguise, but our inherent weaknesses are so innate that we're usually not aware of them, while others can see them clearly. Better just get me to solve some problems and watch how I go about them. See my weaknesses for yourself!

@xxxx In my opinion that qiestion is there,to see if the interviewee came prepared.
But I don't ask this question, the answer tells me to little and just makes the interviewee uncomfortable.

My favorite question to ask: tell me about the project you are the most proud about.

My biggest weakness when it comes to job interviews is that question. Someone please tell me an answer I can use that is not sarcastic or weak but is still humble

@spacem try something like:

"My biggest weakness might be not being able to precisely estimate the cost of a certain task, so, being aware of that, before committing I try to think on different approaches to a problem and how to handle it beforehand. I do this in order to enable me to fail fast and promptly update management on the correct timeframe"

A bit stupid, but it gives something not to harmful (if you are not a manager) and also states your awareness of the issue and how you try to mitigate it. Also indicates a strength: good communication.

There is no right or wrong answers here. That is not the point of the question. The point is to see how you react only.

I always try to give something real but not to problematic (like "I only know how to spaghetti code!") and always state how you deal to mitigate or eliminate the problem.

They want to know if you can reflect on your own behaviour, even bad things. Which is why you never just state what your weakness, is but talk about how you're aware and what you do to mitigate it.