Maria Mateescu • Engineering Log
Do you Believe in the Moon Landing?
This question was my smoke question in interviews. If you are familiar with smoke tests, they're a type of test that is not meant to test that things are right, however they run fast, and if they fail they will tell you that something is very wrong very fast. I ended up not using it anymore because, while in itself the question was fast, the fact that I asked the question in the first place became the point of discussion in itself. And that derailed from the more important questions that I wanted to ask.
If you ask this question, anything other than a variation of "Yes, of course." should be a big warning sign. Sure people may be taken by surprise, or think you might be joking. But the answer needs to be certain, and sincere. Not because it matters if they believe in the moon landing. But if they don't believe, that comes with implications. Especially when in tech, where STEM is king. The smoke is not the problem, it's the fire that generates the smoke.
The other beautiful thing about this question in particular, is that people who do not believe in the moon landing, or are not too sure about it, are all too happy to admit to it. So you get undiluted signal.
Working with an Individual who does not Believe in the Moon Landing
Let's look at what is required to believe in the moon landing and take it as a thing that actually happened, or more specifically what one is not doing when they disbelieve it. The leading argument that these people bring is that they don't trust the data. Whether it's the broadcast, the fact that it's from the government, or the fact that these are moon rocks they brought back from the moon "is just what they are telling us"... it's all an inability to trust in data that is offered to them from an external source, even if those people are experts.
It would be folly to think that this behaviour manifests only in the context of the moon landing. This thinking is a symptom of a way of viewing and relating to the world. It is not, as they say, staying open-minded to the possibility that the experts might be wrong. Staying open-minded means accepting something as truth and if evidence is presented that affects that truth, being able to change your mind. Which is something entirely different. Open mindedness is something desirable. But, inability to trust can be damaging.
How does this affect you? Well, imagine having to convince this individual of something. Perhaps migrating to a new framework that most of the company is already using. Or using an externally approved and peer reviewed security protocol that they didn't code themselves. There will be questions around the reliability of the framework and the protocol, that is normal. Most of the data for that will likely come from the team that developed it or the scientists that researched it. People with a "vested interest". So, when you say that this framework has five nines of reliability and hasn't had a major incident in the last 3 years, you might just be met with "that's what the team want you to believe".
How do you combat that? There isn't really an easy way to argue with it. Thus, every single technical discussion becomes a difficult argument. If there is even the slightest disconnect in views from the beginning, in other words, if they didn't agree with you in the first place, you will have to work very hard to convince them, regardless of how obvious or safe of an idea it may seem. If you can do it at all, that is.
And I cannot express how frustrating it is to go "2+2 = 4" and then have someone disagree with you... But you can't just walk away now, which is what is best to do in these cases. Because you work with that person, and you need to use "2+2 = 4" to do your job.
Working in an Organisation that does not Believe in the Moon Landing
Let’s say you don’t have to work directly with an individual who denies the moon landing. What if that attitude exists higher up in the management chain? With your direct manager, it's the same issue as with the individual case described above, but what if it's someone so high up you will likely never see them. Surely that won't impact your daily life?
But it does. How the leaders of the organisation treat information from outside their inner circle, or that may differ with how they personally feel, affects you. Every. Single. Day.
One such example is the return to office mandates that have been going around lately. From Google to JP Morgan, more and more companies are calling employees back to the office. While the data was beginning to show the benefits of remote work, with some benefitting greatly from it. Yet the decision was made in complete disregard to it.
You may argue that that data wasn't being gathered for long enough to be relevant, and still has some exceptions. Fair enough. Let's look at a different example with another recent trend in tech. There's been an increase in companies who are openly stating that they expect a 60-80 hour per week commitment from their employees. And it's not just small start-ups. These are things affecting major companies like Google, or xAI. Silicon Valley is seeing a rise in the 996 work culture when even the Chinese Government has banned it. The Pragmatic Engineer has a good article on this.
This is a matter that has been researched for years with many books and papers. The effect of sleep deprivation (because make no mistake, there is no way this kind of schedule will not lead to sleep deprivation) has been proven time and again. To the point that further studies on the matter have been greatly limited for ethical reasons as there is sufficient evidence about the permanent adverse risks such studies pose to the participants. There are even reports on the precise impact on businesses. But if these people cannot take data presented to them by scientists they don't personally know and let it impact their views, it won't matter. And all we'll have will be the studies that will tell us the negative impact of what our organisation is having us do, and still having to do it. Why? Because they feel like if you're not in the office for your every waking hour you don't care and are slacking.
Smoke questions
The moon landing itself doesn’t matter. What matters is whether you can trust someone to trust the data. Anyone can say they are data-driven, but not everyone who says it actually is.
