this post was submitted on 08 May 2026
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on a job interview in IT, an interviewer asked me if I understood the difference between TCP and UDP. After giving the best technical explanation I could, I ended with
I could tell you a UDP joke, but I'm not sure if you'd get it.
He said go ahead
I paused, that was it.
Kind of awkward.
I didn't get the job.
Nothing boosts your impression on people like making them feel stupid. RIP
I wouldn't expect this joke to make someone feel stupid if they know what UDP is, so it feels like it was a safe bet
Interviewing is (ideally) quite a structured type of conversation, when is a job interview. A lot of people have to lock in pretty hard to deal with how unnatural it is, and they might not have the spare bandwidth to catch a joke.
Especially not someone from HR, they're fucking troglodytes.
I completely agree with your first paragraph.
But TheFogan was probably not explaining UDP to an HR person in this scenario.
Oh I've seen some pretty bad interviewing, where HR is sent in with a question sheet and a box to tick for which key words the interviewee mentioned per question.
Obviously a red flag and useless method of interviewing, but it does happen frighteningly often. Especially where the IT team is so understaffed, they can't spare the time to do interviews.
This is done, especially in government work, to limit bias in the interview process. Ideally, though, the people conducting the interviews understand the questions they're asking and can use some judgement and give credit if someone explained a concept but didn't hit the specific keyword.
Oomph, ~~buzzword~~ keyword guessing sounds like great interview indeed
Well sure, but the context for my comment was the unnatural-ness of a structured job interview. If you're not just pantsing it, such interviews follow a script, and that's not how we normally talk to each other.
Yeah, but that’s not what this was.
Interviewer asked about thing then does not get joke about most basic property of thing. Either the interviewer is incredibly incompetent or incapable of getting a joke.
It’s a weird situation even for a job interview. (& I’ve been on job interviews that can only be described as tribunals with 8 judges grilling you simultaneously.)
I mean I think he got it after a few seconds, he did laugh, and then comment how everything was so serious before then and it took him a bit to get it. I don't think that was why I didn't get the job.
Humour is not universal, and cracking jokes in an interview is high risk no reward. I've rejected candidates that made inappropriate jokes before. Intentions don't really matter, there's 10 more candidates.
Why do you keep moving the goal posts? We’re not talking about inappropriate jokes or someone being an ass during an interview. Honestly, if an interviewer wastes my time like this I’m ending the interview. Good luck finding just one more guy matching my talents.
I didn't move to goal post at all. In any interaction, you need to gauge the vibe before moving to the next level. Workplace humour is sensitive, and you should drop a joke you're not confortable not landing.
Interviews are also (if not primarily) a measure of cultural fit. Making tasteful jokes is absolutely appropriate, but depends on the culture. I wouldn't want to work at a place that is too uptight for some humor.
The UDP joke isn't one that I'd probably use, but doesn't feel out of place in the context of detailing the protocol.
Hey man, it's not my fault other people are stupid.
What was that Marge meme? It's true, but he shouldn't say it :P
I mean, you would think most people would be used to that feeling by now.
I will also tell you a joke about TCP, and if you don't get it, I will repeat.
This is fucking funny.
I asked someone this same question in an interview, not so much that it was important, but to see if they had general basic networking knowledge like they claimed to on their resume. Their highly confident explanation was "TCP is for sending, UDP is for receiving" They did not get the job, though not just because of that.
Technically correct! Just leaving out a few details.
Unfortunately I don’t know enough about udp to get it, is it that you dumped the information before like, asking about it?
Tcp and udp are to sum it up, internet messaging protocols. UDP specifically is when you send a message over without guaranteeing your message was received. TCP on the otherhand is more like a handshake where you send a message and expect a response back.
The joke is basically UDP=I dont know if you would get it
Yeah I believe i remember roughly the explanation I gave to the interviewer.
TCP basically takes the time to confirm every detail actually was recieved, used in almost all situations in networking where accuracy is critical.
UDP is basically when speed is the more important than everything being perfect, (we were on a zoom call), Like say this video call, if the background gets blurry or a few frames drop or even my face distorts for a few seconds, that would be less of an inconvenience to us than if the network took the time and made sure to transmit every frame exactly as the camera picks it up, at the cost of an extra 10 seconds of lag in the call.
There's pretty basic UDP, that sends without confirming receiving. And instead of fixing it, they just slapped another protocol, TCP, on top of it.
With only UDP, you don't know, if you get it.
Did you say, "well, the way I remember it is Unsolicited Dick Pics versus Tasteful Consentual Penis"