Thoughts on my first job interview in two years...

Just came back from a job interview at a small (~70 employees) software company in Boston. I was ecstatic about how well I did, especially how I could remember pretty vague technical questions that I don't deal with regularly.

Some of the tougher (more obscure) ones:

1. Can you get the JVM to garbage collect on command? If so, how?
2. What's the difference between final, finally and finalize in java (only question I "missed"- I didn't remember what finalize was until they hinted at garbage collection. Now, if they had said finalize(), that would have been much easier :D )
3. When you override equals(), always override...

I won't bore you guys with the filler ones (abstract class vs. interface, definition of encapsulation/polymorphism and why are they good, etc.).

Some good questions I got from coworkers:

1. What's the difference between final methods/classes and final variables? Bonus points if you know why final objects are not immutable.
2. When implementing a hashtable, what do you do with collisions? Be specific.

Random stuff about the job itself...

1. It's in the old Teradyne building by the Pike in Chinatown! I always wondered what would happen to that place. They tore out some of the interior and made it look nice, but the ceiling and brick walls are still exposed and look old.
2. One of the employees budgeted 15 minutes to test me with technical questions, then apologized because I'd answered so fast we had 5+ minutes left.
3. The company is a Java/JSP/Ajax shop. It'll be good for me to get experience with web front end software like that, since it's a noticeable hole in my resume.
   
4. The location and the people are nice, and the work seems very interesting. My #1 problem is that I'd be making a lot less than I would at Citi in July. While their rate is competitive with other small software development companies, it's still hard to swallow a pay cut.
   

I forgot that it's actually a lot of fun to interview. It's exciting, interesting, and keeps you on your toes. You get a great feeling from going out and seeing how much you're really worth on the open market- assuming your value meets your expectations. It's like a NFL player who's worked hard for all of his rookie contract, and finally gets a shot at free agency.

Still have two phone interviews tomorrow. There are probably more coming since my resumes just got sent out very recently. We'll see how things play out.