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Ask HN: How are you preparing for interviews nowadays?

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Re: Ask HN: How are you preparing for interviews nowadays?

#21

Post by VirusNewbie »

tptacek wrote: post #18
kentich wrote: post #17

Leetcode is implicit IQ testing. That is why they will likely keep it despite AI.

If you're hiring software developers and you care about IQ, you don't need to test it implicitly; you can safely test for it explicitly, and there are several large, deep-pocketed plaintiffs lawyer targets who routinely do so. The idea that general cognitive testing is verboten in US employment is almost entirely an Internet myth. People use Leetcode because they believe it tests for programming aptitude.

It tests for multiple things, at its best: A basic work ethic to understand fundamental CS concepts. Sure maybe plenty of people can't write a binary search in two minutes unless they practice live coding a bit, but plenty of people do study, so it self selects for that type.

There are also people who, no matter what, could not live code simple tree traversals or bin search or something, and it filters on that.

Finally, there's a pattern matching aspect to it. Some of the best interview questions I got involved very simple algorithms, but it was obfuscated by the problem. So the 'trick' was to just think through the problem and ask questions. Not to have memorized something obscure.

Re: Ask HN: How are you preparing for interviews nowadays?

#22

Post by isaisabella »

Meliwat wrote: post #9
isaisabella wrote: post #8

Maybe AI-assisted coding? I just interviewed with Amazon and they are quite looking on how you use AI to finish a task with a wide scope. Leetcode is not the main part now though.

I had just interviewed with Amazon and it was purely leetcode, with the exception of their leadership principle question. What role did you apply to?

SWE internship, but the team is focusing on machine learning

Re: Ask HN: How are you preparing for interviews nowadays?

#23

Post by sedev »

markboo wrote: post #11

As a tech lead, from last year, all my new hire interview is fundamentally changed, no concept, no algo, no design. Just a real world problem, even not clearly defined yet, allow candidate use any AI tool they like, ask me questions or do research for problem clarification, and work it out. I'm watching all this process in 1-1.5 hours to see if he is a problem solver. 99% will be solved by AI with your proactivaly an…

How has that worked out? What are you looking at when you compare that to what you were doing before last year?

Re: Ask HN: How are you preparing for interviews nowadays?

#24

Post by tptacek »

kentich wrote: post #19
tptacek wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're hiring software developers and you care about IQ, you don't need to test it implicitly; you can safely test for it explicitly, and there are several large, deep-pocketed plaintiffs lawyer targets who routinely do so. The idea that general cognitive testing is verboten in US employment is almost entirely an Internet myth. People use Leetcode because they believe it tests for programming aptitude.

Nope, you'll get a lawsuit for discrimination if you explicitly test for IQ. That's why they do it implicitly. The scheme is very simple: hire people with the highest IQ, and since they have high IQ, they will figure at least something out.

This is obviously not true. The companies that administer general cognitive testing for employment literally have logo crawls on their front pages, full of companies your mom has heard of.

Re: Ask HN: How are you preparing for interviews nowadays?

#26

Post by red-iron-pine »

markboo wrote: post #16
nm980 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 99% will be solved by AI with your proactivaly and smart prompt or questions in current work, so the thinking and prompting process is key. I am still a junior but this seems like you are interviewing the AI rather than the candidate. Also why bother with a technical interview if you expect AI to do their job?

Actually not a real technical interview for this case, it's a real world problem solving, including business analysis(for the uncleared problem), coding, and testing to deliver to me. What I'm looking for a individual builder(or a one-person tech team) instead of an expert on a specific tech stack.

so then what do you do if you need an expert on a specific tech stack?

we got database and mainframe legacy code and I need someone who gets that world, not a plucky undergrad who is strong in "prompt engineering"

Re: Ask HN: How are you preparing for interviews nowadays?

#27

Post by red-iron-pine »

rolph wrote: post #4
holden_nelson wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

did someone actually ask you that?

no, but i would make plans for an answer somewhat better than " i dont know, thanks for your time." such as " hiring me will ensure that your AI sessions are few and limited to a couple hundred dollars expense, bare minimum, a human must prompt an AI or it does nothing. as a [professional] i have insight regarding structuring prompts, as well as fast response to code based remediation for incidents involving off the…

if they're already thinking that, then "thanks for your time" is probably the best choice

Re: Ask HN: How are you preparing for interviews nowadays?

#28

Post by hash07e »

tptacek wrote: post #24
kentich wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nope, you'll get a lawsuit for discrimination if you explicitly test for IQ. That's why they do it implicitly. The scheme is very simple: hire people with the highest IQ, and since they have high IQ, they will figure at least something out.

This is obviously not true. The companies that administer general cognitive testing for employment literally have logo crawls on their front pages, full of companies your mom has heard of.

[flagged]

Re: Ask HN: How are you preparing for interviews nowadays?

#29

Post by mts_building »

Most interviews ask for a motivational letter. You can use give an AI the job description with a list of experiences you have, tools you know, manage, etc. As AI gives you this nice summary, you can expand on each elements whether alone or again with an AI and without learning it, making sure you know it more or less so you can go to the interview ready to talk and answer questions.

Re: Ask HN: How are you preparing for interviews nowadays?

#30

Post by t23414321 »

rolph wrote: post #2

be ready for zingers, like " what benefit do i get if i hire you for thousands of dollars a month, instead of paying a couple hundred for a few AI sessions?"

If you like to be one of "AI coders .. carrying half-open laptops" I could let you do the same with the lid closed ?

https://www.businessinsider.com/coders-keep-laptops-open-in-... ;)))

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