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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?

#701

Post by satvikpendem »

mvdtnz wrote: post #74
danielbln wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, the challenge involves using a python LLM framework to build a simple RAG system for recipes. It's not a hidden requirement per se to use LLM assistance, but the candidate should have a good answer ready why they didn't use an LLM to solve the challenge.

Ah so you expect mind readers who can divine something from your brain that goes against 99.99% of interviewers' practices and would get them instantly disqualified from an overwhelming majority of interviews. Nice work good luck finding candidates.

Indeed, looks like it is just an unspoken rule and an interview trick after all. I would not want to interview with this person, much less work with them.

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

#702

Post by satvikpendem »

gopher_space wrote: post #57
satvikpendem wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you have an effective and well designed open ended interview that's more collaborative, you get a lot more signal to filter the wheat from the chaff. I understood their point but my point is a direct opposition to theirs, that at some point with AI advances this will essentially become impossible. You can make it as open ended as you want but if AI continues to improve, the human interviewee can simply act as a…

> at some point with AI advances this will essentially become impossible. In-person interviews, second round comes with a plane ticket. This used to be the norm.

Yes, that's eventually what will happen, but it becomes quite expensive, especially for smaller companies, and well, they might not even have an office to conduct the interview in if they're a remote company. It's simply best to hire slow and fire fast, you save more money that way over bringing in every viable candidate to an in-person interview.

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

#703

Post by Stratoscope »

michaelt wrote: post #625
danesparza wrote: post #610

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rehearsing how to teach something is not a bad thing. And I'm sure you're going to get different questions about different aspects of the things you're trying to teach from different interviewers. The wonderful thing about this is that it models trying to teach a concept to a fellow coworker. How you handle the questions during the teaching time says a lot about the candidate.

But would this train people to teach well? Or would it train people to choose topics very carefully, such that a little teaching skill goes a long way? It's not like the interviewer getting a lesson in tuning a harmonica is going to bust out a harmonica and start putting his newfound knowledge to work, or revisit the subject in 6 months to see if he's retained the knowledge, or bring in a panel of harmonica tuning ex…

I forgot to include something important in my initial comment. In my introductory email, I explained that the "teach me" segment is completely optional.

If someone didn't want to do it, that's fine and wouldn't be held against them. In practice, I think one person out of 20 chose not to do it.

And if they weren't a great teacher, that was fine too!

The purpose of the segment is to give the candidate a chance, if they want, to shine at something they are interested in, and help put them at ease by letting them start out being the expert.

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

#704

Post by Stratoscope »

meigwilym wrote: post #685
neilv wrote: post #558

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If this became popular, wouldn't people start rehearsing for it like they do Leetcode interviews, and it would be become another performance that people focus on and optimize for, rather than on the skills for the job?

I think the point is to remove the adversarial aspect and therefore see how they react when not under pressure. I wouldn't be surprised if OP does warn their candidates about it.

You have it exactly right. I always told the candidate in my introductory email that the segment is optional and I like to learn all varieties of new things and they should feel free to pick any topic they want.

And then when they were teaching me, I made sure to pay attention, ask questions about anything I didn't understand - not to judge their teaching skills but to show I was interested and listening.

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

#705

Post by Stratoscope »

chipsrafferty wrote: post #678
Stratoscope wrote: post #435

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

I am! But I am now on the other side of the virtual table.

IBM conducted a mass layoff a few months ago, and as our little team lost our only customer at the time (this is public information), many of us were let go. Ah well.

One door closes, another opens.

If anyone out there is curious about "who is this guy with the strange and interesting ideas about interviewing", you can find my LinkedIn and other contact info in my HN profile.

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

#706

Post by Stratoscope »

DrNosferatu wrote: post #549
Stratoscope wrote: post #435

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Really nice! I wish more bosses were like you.

Well thank you! I wasn't the boss, just a team member who helped out with interviews.

I am grateful that so many people in this thread found the ideas useful.

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

#707

Post by Stratoscope »

rrrx3 wrote: post #662
Stratoscope wrote: post #435

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I love this. I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to steal it for when I am back in the saddle interviewing folks. We need much more of this and a lot less of the adversarial BS.

Please do! If you ever want to talk about some of the details, you know where to find me.

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

#708

Post by Stratoscope »

another2another wrote: post #533
Stratoscope wrote: post #527

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seriously? I can assure you with 100% certainty that the most important point - "teach me something" - was entirely my own innovation. I am tempted to take some offense at your comment. But I have to assume that you mean well. You are correct that I don't work for IBM any more. What does that have to do with anything?

I'm surprised at the negativity your approach seems to have sparked in a few, but I found it really great, probably very effective as well and will probably start to use it at some point. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you! And please do feel free to use the idea, or change it and make it your own. The great thing is that it starts the interview with the candidate being the expert at something, and I am their student.

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

#709

Post by Stratoscope »

thakoppno wrote: post #621
biztos wrote: post #463

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What, what? Harmonicas are tunable? TIL...

Isn’t every physical thing tunable since its materials have a resonant frequency?

Probably so. Or in some cases, multiple resonant frequencies all at once, like a bell. I asked my friend Miss Chatty (ChatGPT) about this and she had some interesting insights:

https://chatgpt.com/share/67a2aade-5870-8012-b211-1bd749a2d7...

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

#710

Post by Stratoscope »

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.

Somehow this reminds me of my old physics professor, who often had simplistic, almost boring explanations of things, like jiggling atoms making friends with each other, or how a train stays on the track.

His name was Richard Feynman.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYg6jzotiAc

(Highly recommended video.)

I should also note that "teach me something" was intended to give the candidate a chance to be the expert at the beginning the interview.

It wasn't something they would be judged on, it was an ice-breaker. And a fun one, based on the feedback I got from candidates.

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