I REALLY HATE TECHNICAL PHONE INTERVIEWS!!!
I was asked: "What are the differences between C++ and Java?"
I got a mind blank at that point... Good thing it didn't last long and I came back with a reply.

But seriously, if you can't speak English clearly, why? Why? WHY?!
(I lost a whole question because I couldn't understand the interviewer. ☹)

At least it went "well" and now I have to improve the "technical" document and do 2 tests by Monday!

Once had an interview with an Indian dev, no offense to Indians, but I was not able to understand a single word of what he is saying to a point he ended up pronouncing it to me, it is hard for me to understand their English especially that English is not a native language to me :S

@gitpush No offense taken.

@HPSingh great :)

How does knowing the difference between c++ and java prove you can program anyway? I know the difference between the server and a coffee machine but I doubt I could fix either of them

@Jonnyforgotten I don't know, it's for an entry/graduate level position. I suppose questions like that pop up.

Lol, what kind of question is that? It's so generic, what can an interviewer learn from it?

It would be easier if they could use text chat for this. There even are tools that can detect if it's you or someone else typing depending on the key-pressing scheme

@stacked I suppose critical thinking! At first I was like "WtF, they're almost the same!". Then I started talking about how they compile and tried to elaborate a bit, but he stopped me, he didn't want to hear more.

@mt3o I had both my laptop and my desktop open, so if I wanted I could search from the desktop while I was having the conversation from the laptop.

@Qaldim if it's for critical thinking, then a more specific question like "tell me about Java interfaces and the lack of thereof in C++", and from there you could have talked about C++ virtual methods, the lack of multiple inheritance in Java, the fact that you can define a protocol in Java while in C++ you always have to deal with classes that may contain logic, ...

Or maybe, "tell me about fact that C++ is compiled to machine code, while Java has a virtual machine", and here there are many things to say about speed, memory, ABI/API, ... Maybe even a few words about languages that are not Java but are compiled to Java bytecode.

Lots of topics that can show your critical thinking and technical preparation at the same time, but still very specific so that you don't have to read the mind of the interviewer and guess what kind of answer they want.

@stacked I was just making speculations, I'm not defending the guy... After all, this was a preliminary interview. I still have to pass the technical tests and sit on another interview.

@DLMousey What did happen in the end? Did you make the cut or did you give up with the madness?