Is flat earth belief disqualifying for tech jobs?
Let's say you were conducting an interview with an SDE2 candidate, and it was going well (whiteboard coding) and then you found out the candidate was a skeptic about the globe earth because you asked a brain teaser that rested on the assumption that globe theory was correct. How would you evaluate the candidate?
This is a troll right, tell me this didn’t actually happen?
Not really a troll, more a thought experiment
Yes. Deal-breaker.
At least, I listen to his explanation. He might meant that the curvature of space might look flat to our eyes.
For those that said this is a deal-breaker: can you explain why in a way that would be legally defensible?
“The candidate was not well-rounded”
It raises significant questions about the person's critical thinking skills. Surely these skills are important for a successful software engineer.
If I thought they were serious I definitely would reject them. Same as if someone told me about their religion in a job interview. I would reject them for lack of self awareness and poor judgement about when to speak and shut up.
Being an idiot is not a protected class, you can reject someone for any reason EXCEPT for race, religion, or gender.
I’d ignore it, your coworkers all likely believe things you consider idiotic
Change the interview question to “prove to me that the earth is flat”. Use it to gain insight into their way of thinking. And if you rightfully see holes in their proof, you can rightfully reject them as a candidate on the basis of lack of problem solving/proof writing skills.
I would actually hire the person right away, because their believe about the earth being flat is the truth.
‘Flat out’ rejection