Is it acceptable to email an Interviewer after the interview?

Question

Yesterday I took part in an interview for a Java position in a company and one of the questions was

Does Java pass by reference or by value?

In the heat of the moment I (mistakenly) confidently said it passed by reference, possibly because I come from a C/C++ background. Unfortunately after the interview I'd realised my terrible mistake to my horror.

So my question is this, is it acceptable for me to wait a few days and drop a quick email to recognise my mistake?

Or should I just let this one lie?

Answer 1

I guess that you can take this with him if you talk to him. Of course, anyone can email afterwards and say the answer. It's just a google search away. Better to take this with him if he confronts you about your answers or you speak to him in any matter.

Answer 2

Anything that simple is too easy to look up. I wouldn't put any weight on a candidate correcting themselves on something like that.

Answer 3

Personally, if I were the interviewer, I wouldn't mind seeing an email for a corrected answer. It shows you care about the interview process, and you are willing to admit mistakes. If you feel necessary, go for it.

Answer 4

No you shouldn't mail him. It sounds like youve talked to your programming-expert-buddy about the interview, in which he corrected you.

Answer 5

i thought that java passed references by value(copying references), as such its pretty easy to get the terms mixed up and there a large number of cases in which its basically the same as pass by reference in c++. As such they probably wouldn't consider it a huge mistake.

Answer 6

It really depends on on how the interview went: If you think you gave the impression that you're insecure about your capabilities, writing an email might confirm that impression. If you think you gave the impression that you are the self-confident anal-retentive type, the mail might confirm that, too.

If you do decide to write the mail, don't say something that might be interpreted as "I've looked it up and I know better now.". Anyone could do that. But you could e.g. write that you thought about the interview on your way home, and realized that you probably misunderstood one of the questions (thinking about "pass-by-reference" semantics in C++ instead of Java).

(Whatever you do, I don't think a mail like that would change your chances for getting a job much either way. If I interview people I look for the one with the best technical abilities. If someone beat you at that, a single question won't change it. If the best candidates seem to have similar technical abilities, I pick the one I liked better on a personal level. Guessing technical abilities is pretty much guesswork, but I do have to work with the person every day, after all.)

Answer 7

I don't think that contacting the interviewer will help.

Questions like that are asked to gauge whether you really understand the language that you claim to be experienced in. When you gave the wrong answer, that told the interviewer that your understanding is rather shallow. Emailing the interviewer to correct yourself won't change that impression. (After all, anyone can Google the answer.) On the contrary, it may raise further red flags by annoying the interviewer, or by giving him the impression that you are desperate for the job.

That's how I would be thinking if I was the interviewer in question ...