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Ask HN: What is interviewing like now with everyone using AI?

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Re: Ask HN: What is interviewing like now with everyone using AI?

#671

Post by sweca »

Aachen wrote: post #375
sweca wrote: post #142

My company actually encourages the use of AI. My interview process was one relatively complex take home, an explanation of my solutions and thinking, then a live "onsite" (via zoom) where I had to code in front of a senior engineer while thinking aloud. If I was incompetent, I could've shoved the problem into o1 on ChatGPT and probably solved the problems, but I wouldn't have been able to provide insight into why I m…

What does onsite mean if it was a video call?

It just means a virtual onsite type interview process. Real time interviews for both skill and cultural fit.

Re: Ask HN: What is interviewing like now with everyone using AI?

#672

Post by apercu »

znpy wrote: post #544
Stratoscope wrote: post #524

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I gave candidates the option to teach me something, if they wanted to. As you can see from the examples I gave, what they taught me was completely up to them. It was just a fun exercise that I and every candidate enjoyed. Forgive me, but I just don't see the problem here. If you did decide to teach you something about the Quran, that would be great! I don't know enough about these holy books, and I always welcome a c…

> Forgive me, but I just don't see the problem here. There is no problem. But some people will create problems out of thin air, when there is none.

100% true.

Completely unrelated, but I find that other people will create problems by making an off-colour statement, something mildly offensive, or disrespectful and then when they get a reaction they say "why are you making a problem where none exists".

DARVO/gaslighting behaviour, and I wish it was rarer than it is.

Re: Ask HN: What is interviewing like now with everyone using AI?

#673

Post by datavirtue »

bdangubic wrote: post #177
datavirtue wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No it's because AI shifted power over to the applicant.

this is very strange statement. in what world did AI possibly shift power to the applicant?? applicants have almost never been in shittier position than they are now and things are getting much, much worse by the day

The applicant can use AI to build CVs, tailor them and submit more, faster. Negating a lot of the automated algorithms that were being used to filter (torture) applicants.

Re: Ask HN: What is interviewing like now with everyone using AI?

#674

Post by apercu »

ddingus wrote: post #661
biztos wrote: post #470

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or, you can choose to not live in fear.

This is the way. Secondly, share that place by example. Radiating non fear can do wonders for the people around us, as can honest and frank conversation. When all members of a team, or even small companies come to understand not all environments are about blame and shame, magic happens!

People who are poor managers or in positions of power, but not emotionally regulated or unwilling to get therapy, find blaming others easier than self awareness and doing the work of bettering themselves. Couple that with financial success and why should they when all our society values is how big your bank account balance is.

Re: Ask HN: What is interviewing like now with everyone using AI?

#675

Post by apercu »

jkaplowitz wrote: post #474
fhd2 wrote: post #416

The last time I've used a leet code style interview was in 2012, and it resulted in a bad hire (who just happened to have trained on the questions we used). I've hired something like 150 developers so far, and what I ended up with after a few years of trial and error: 1. Use recruiters and network: Wading through the sheer volume of applications was even nasty before COVID, I don't even want to imagine what it's like…

How does that process handle people who have been out of work for a few years and can pass a take-home technical challenge (without a LLM) but cannot remember a convincing level of detail on the specifics of their past work? I’ve been experiencing your style of interview a lot and running up against this obstacle, even though I genuinely did the work I’m claiming to have done. Especially people with ADHD don’t rememb…

Just a suggestion, but I have done 3-5 projects a year for a long, long time, and as an executive (for almost a decade) had dozens of projects annually I was overseeing and/or contributing to. I am not a fan of LinkedIn, but I did eventually start logging at least some of the projects I do in their "projects" section. That helps me remember and revisit some of the projects, and when you go back 10 years later it's sort of joyful walk down memory lane sometimes.

Re: Ask HN: What is interviewing like now with everyone using AI?

#676

Post by redsaz »

roenxi wrote: post #669
sbarre wrote: post #551

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That person can teach OP something about code then? They said it doesn't have to be work-related, but it can be. I don't know that many programmer/developer jobs where you can just put your headphones on and code without ever talking to another person. Being able to explain/teach your work is part of "doing the job well" for a developer (IMO).

Sure, they can do that. Then the average interviewer is going to recommend hiring the person who was the best at spinning a good story rather than the person who has the clearest explanation (which might easily come across as boring or simplistic). The problem here isn't getting through the interview; it is what the interviewer does next in the hiring pipeline.

How should you conduct the interview, then, if:

... Classic interviewing techniques of "explain how X algo works" or "write code to solve Y" will unfairly bias against interviewees that don't test well under pressure, but would otherwise be a good coworker.

... "Teach me something interesting to you" or "tell me stories about past experiences" will unfairly bias against interviewees that are shy, soft spoken, or are mildly socially awkward, but would otherwise be a good coworker.

Given the above awareness of where bias can emerge, how should the interview be done in order to get a candidate that knows what they're doing, and works well with the rest of the team?

Other comments mention relying more on recruiters and referrals, but that isn't always an option.

Re: Ask HN: What is interviewing like now with everyone using AI?

#677

Post by roenxi »

redsaz wrote: post #676
roenxi wrote: post #669

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, they can do that. Then the average interviewer is going to recommend hiring the person who was the best at spinning a good story rather than the person who has the clearest explanation (which might easily come across as boring or simplistic). The problem here isn't getting through the interview; it is what the interviewer does next in the hiring pipeline.

How should you conduct the interview, then, if: ... Classic interviewing techniques of "explain how X algo works" or "write code to solve Y" will unfairly bias against interviewees that don't test well under pressure, but would otherwise be a good coworker. ... "Teach me something interesting to you" or "tell me stories about past experiences" will unfairly bias against interviewees that are shy, soft spoken, or are…

I don't see what useful signals are supposed to come out of an interview. If referrals and recruiters aren't an option I'd probably try to skip the interview altogether and go with a long probation period (3-6 months). Or possibly have a short 20 minute free-form interview talking about their last day job and expectations of the new one with a very short list of major red flags ("doesn't want the job", "unable to form sentences") then block candidates who raise them.

Re: Ask HN: What is interviewing like now with everyone using AI?

#678

Post by chipsrafferty »

Stratoscope wrote: post #435
fhd2 wrote: post #416

The last time I've used a leet code style interview was in 2012, and it resulted in a bad hire (who just happened to have trained on the questions we used). I've hired something like 150 developers so far, and what I ended up with after a few years of trial and error: 1. Use recruiters and network: Wading through the sheer volume of applications was even nasty before COVID, I don't even want to imagine what it's like…

When I was interviewing candidates at IBM, I came up with a process I was really happy with. It started with a coding challenge involving several public APIs, in fact the same coding challenge that was given to me when I interviewed there. What I added: 1. Instead of asking "do you have any questions for me?" at the very end, we started with that general discussion. 2. A few days ahead, I emailed the candidate the pr…

Are you still interviewing?

Re: Ask HN: What is interviewing like now with everyone using AI?

#679

Post by twoparachute45 »

bikezen wrote: post #364
twoparachute45 wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dunno why there is always the assumption in these threads that leetcode is being used. My company has never used leetcode-style questions, and likely never will. I work in security, and our questions are pretty basic stuff. "What is cross-site scripting, and how would you protect against it?", "You're tasked with parsing a log file to return the IP addresses that appear at least 10 times, how would you approach thi…

> "You're tasked with parsing a log file to return the IP addresses that appear at least 10 times, how would you approach this?" Out of curiosity, did anyone just reply with `awk ... | sort | count ... | awk`? Its certainly what I would do rather than writing out an actual script.

Nobody has yet, but if they did I'd probably be ecstatic! We specifically tell candidates they can use any language they want. A combination of awk/sort/sed/count/etc is just as effective as a Python script!

Re: Ask HN: What is interviewing like now with everyone using AI?

#680

Post by ninetyninenine »

dahart wrote: post #640
ninetyninenine wrote: post #601

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don’t understand reality. If all companies have 1000 candidates your only approach is scattershot. The only time the bespoke approach works is if you have like 30 candidates only. But then there are still issues here because the candidate is still one in thirty so if he does a bespoke approach 30 times it takes an inordinate amount of time.

That’s not reality. Not all companies have 1000 candidates. Not all companies have even 30 candidates.

This is the reality nowadays. There's an abundance of candidates thanks to bootcamps.
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