Comment by eesmith
If a candidate comments that libraries are getting rid of overdue fines as research has found it's not effective at getting books back in time, while negatively affecting their poorest members, and that libraries which got rid of fines found it "has raised circulation numbers, brought lapsed users back to the library, and boosted goodwill" (quoting https://www.libraryjournal.com/story/the-end-of-fines ) - would that improve or worsen their changes of employment with you?
Are you looking for someone who will follow orders, or looking for someone who will challenge them?
I suspect no one has brought it up, but wonder if any have decided to not bring it up for worry that a challenge would risk their chance of being hired.
It would neither improve nor worsen their chances. I'm only looking for their ability to model a software application.
I wouldn't see it as a challenge, as it has nothing to do with the task at hand. If they said "I don't want to do this exercise, because I don't believe in library fines," that might hurt their chances.
My comment was more about being surprised that they had never checked out a book from a library, since I thought that was a fairly universal experience, at least for software engineers, but going forward I don't think I'll assume that.