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Ask HN: Tell me about how you bombed a technical interview

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Re: Ask HN: Tell me about how you bombed a technical interview

#31

Post by ikiris »

D_B_Koopa wrote: post #5

Google relies on writing syntactically correct code in a google doc with no autocomplete/auto indenting during their interviews. The cognitive load of this plus having to answer very difficult obscure algorithmic questions was too foreign from my normal workflow and too heavy of a cognitive load for me to be able to answer the question accurately in the time given. I hope they don't build production code this way.

Now I'm just imagining an april fools event where they replace the really nice internally hosted code editor with google docs, disable code search, and call it interview awareness day.

Re: Ask HN: Tell me about how you bombed a technical interview

#32

Post by [deleted] »

emehex wrote: post #16

I found myself interviewing with a hedge fund last year because they liked some of my open source stuff (and approach to API design)... I had about six conversations with a bunch of the team and a conversation with the CEO to sell me on the position. The last step was a seventh “conversation” with the Chief Data Officer to figure out if this was something I really wanted. The CDO had different ideas… he joined the Zo…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Tell me about how you bombed a technical interview

#33

Post by mpeg »

1attice wrote: post #14
geraldwhen wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fact that it’s unintuitive and different is why hooks are a joke. Class components just make sense.

TBH I disagree, I prefer strict functional programming, mostly for composability. Class components feel like translating everything into latin numerals and then back out again. Hooks help me avoid that pain. But is the API perfect? Nope.

There are also frameworks like solidjs which have similar syntax to React but avoid the complexity of hooks with a simpler API and no hook rules. Classes are not the only solution

Re: Ask HN: Tell me about how you bombed a technical interview

#35

Post by k2052 »

I have pretty severe C-PTSD and structural dissociation and this has resulted in some moments... Usually this is just a tendency to have memory issues under stress. I have blanked on everything from the names of my own projects to names of companies I have worked for.

When I get triggered in an interview very "interesting" things can happen. Probably the most "legendary" is when I started uncontrollably crying and sobbing in an interview. They obviously wanted to bail and reschedule but I composed myself and was like "no keep going. I am fine". The irony was that they completely lost focus and did a terrible interviewing job but I did pretty good. Shockingly, I did not get that job.

Re: Ask HN: Tell me about how you bombed a technical interview

#37

Post by stingraycharles »

emehex wrote: post #16

I found myself interviewing with a hedge fund last year because they liked some of my open source stuff (and approach to API design)... I had about six conversations with a bunch of the team and a conversation with the CEO to sell me on the position. The last step was a seventh “conversation” with the Chief Data Officer to figure out if this was something I really wanted. The CDO had different ideas… he joined the Zo…

That’s not bombing the interview in my book, that’s just being thrown in front of a bus. Seems like they have terrible hiring practices.

Re: Ask HN: Tell me about how you bombed a technical interview

#38

Post by poulsbohemian »

ikiris wrote: post #25

If you've bombed an interview in a skillset that you've done productive work in, the fault is with the design of the interview. This doesn't mean that you won't be expected to skill up in the different set to pass those interviews, but don't take it personally either way. As an example, almost no bit of coding work is done in an environment with no reference material, no autocompletion, no compiler feedback, and no d…

That's exactly why so many of us get so frustrated with the state of technical interviews / technical hiring / HR at tech firms in general. The interviews seem designed as some kind of frat-like hazing gauntlet rather than a legitimate discussion / demonstration of how this professional could contribute to and benefit the organization.

Re: Ask HN: Tell me about how you bombed a technical interview

#39

Post by dangwhy »

thih9 wrote: post #26
dangwhy wrote: post #10

manager at netflix told me that i used an older java version in my take home which indicated that i am not someone who keeps up with latest tech. Some dude at airbnb asked me if had gone to IIT ( indian institute of tech) and ended the interview early when i told him i didn't. This was after they flew me into sfo.

This is not an example of bombing an interview, if they wanted a recent java version they should have stated that. Unless you chose a java version old enough to have a driving license, in which case I could understand that response.

it was java 7 when the latest release was java 8.

Re: Ask HN: Tell me about how you bombed a technical interview

#40

Post by poulsbohemian »

5555624 wrote: post #34

"How would you deal with a problem employee?" Without missing a beat, I asked, "Does he have a weapon?"

oooofff... I had to fire someone once with a serious anger management problem. This was legitimately one of the scenarios we considered in how to best let them go and not have anyone get hurt.
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