Regarding the MS Project reference, you're quite right -- although I detest this product, it's more because it's the embodiment of 'some guy wearing a suit, sitting in an office telling me what to do because of some damn chart'. When you get down to a GANTT chart that's down to the level of spending half a day writing one specific routine, that's the time to start a new career as a musician .. or something.

Again, an opened ended question goes a long to probing gently about the employers attitude, in this case, towards developers doing overtime. The whole job interview thing is a conversation that's really a negotiation. You have to explore, question, examine, with the understanding that both sides want to get as much information from the other side as possible, so as to make a fully informed decision on whether This Is The One.

Hearing someone describe a job interview as 'self-flagellation' tells me they're not comfortable in their own skin yet. Or maybe it's the jacket and tie -- hey, if you're not comfortable in it, ditch it and wear something comfortable. Think about it this way -- if you're going to wear a suit every day, then wear one to the interview. If not, not. I wore black jeans, nice shirt and sweater to my first interview at $work[-1] and I was probably the best-dressed in the room. I dressed down (ditched the sweater) for the second interview, and it was (as the kids say) all good.

And thanks for the vote of confidence. ;)

I was making a tongue-in-cheek simile, of course.

One of my early co-workers once said to me, “you can never go wrong in a light-pinstripe blue suit with polished shoes.” I don't personally dress-up much like a page from Vanity Fair, but when he did, he was right.