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How I Interview

rkoutnik.com

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Re: How I Interview

#91

Post by GregQuinn »

koevet wrote: post #62

I have decided that I will no longer take technical interviews. I have 25 years of software development under my belt, I published a book, spoke at various conferences in Europe, have a Github profile (admittedly not very lively), worked for well-established enterprises and have great references. Why shall I still prove myself? If I was a senior lawyer or an architect joining a new studio, I strongly doubt I would ha…

You grossly underestimate how conservative and risk averse most clients are.

As a consultant I have tried a variation on your approach. I've offered to work for a client for 2-3 weeks. At the end of which THEY get to decide how much I'm worth. I reserve the right not to carry on working for them but for those 2-3 weeks I will accept whatever they pay including nothing.

In over a decade not one client has accepted this deal.

Re: How I Interview

#92

Post by estefan »

koevet wrote: post #90
estefan wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure I'd go for that TBH. I've seen candidates who are good on paper (one former university lecturer springs to mind) who was incredibly difficult to understand and his experience was irrelevant. We typically need to hire quickly, and having to wait 2 weeks - and coach someone on all the different components, create accounts for them, etc. - is not "free" for us. If you're that good you should blaze through t…

Also, don't you think that the technical competence of a candidate is just a fraction of the elements required to work in a company? What if the guy is a complete toxic worker or dishonest etc. etc. It is not that difficult to pass a technical interview, after all. I think that two weeks are a good time-frame to evaluate a mutual "love" and would also help better understand the soft-skill and how well the candidate f…

Yeah there'll still be a probationary period in case someone's toxic. But being inadequately skilled is a deal-breaker and something you can go some way to filtering for before you offer someone a job.

Re: How I Interview

#93

Post by koevet »

GregQuinn wrote: post #91
koevet wrote: post #62

I have decided that I will no longer take technical interviews. I have 25 years of software development under my belt, I published a book, spoke at various conferences in Europe, have a Github profile (admittedly not very lively), worked for well-established enterprises and have great references. Why shall I still prove myself? If I was a senior lawyer or an architect joining a new studio, I strongly doubt I would ha…

You grossly underestimate how conservative and risk averse most clients are. As a consultant I have tried a variation on your approach. I've offered to work for a client for 2-3 weeks. At the end of which THEY get to decide how much I'm worth. I reserve the right not to carry on working for them but for those 2-3 weeks I will accept whatever they pay including nothing. In over a decade not one client has accepted thi…

I'm sorry, but I'm not sure I understand. Why do "they" decide how much you are worth? Don't you have a daily/hourly rate that you communicate up-front?

Re: How I Interview

#94

Post by V-2 »

s3nnyy wrote: post #65

I live in Switzerland and I used to code for a living. As an external, I hire engineers for different startups in Zurich. As I got deeper into IT-recruiting, I realised that candidate filtering at the top of the funnel is fundamentally broken. The market for software engineers is different from the market for - let's say - actors. Especially for senior developers there is way more demand than there is supply. This ha…

"I heard that meat bought in Switzerland is from Switzerland but meat bought in Germany is often from Poland or from somewhere else. In any case, meat in Switzerland is tastier than meat in Germany" - Polish meat less tasty? : ) I didn't get that one

Re: How I Interview

#95

Post by GregQuinn »

koevet wrote: post #93
GregQuinn wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You grossly underestimate how conservative and risk averse most clients are. As a consultant I have tried a variation on your approach. I've offered to work for a client for 2-3 weeks. At the end of which THEY get to decide how much I'm worth. I reserve the right not to carry on working for them but for those 2-3 weeks I will accept whatever they pay including nothing. In over a decade not one client has accepted thi…

I'm sorry, but I'm not sure I understand. Why do "they" decide how much you are worth? Don't you have a daily/hourly rate that you communicate up-front?

The whole purpose of the offer is to let the client decide how much you're worth to them. I provide no up-front rate or fee.

It's always the clients who claim to be 'innovative', 'game changing', 'disruptive' etc. that are the most risk averse. They seem completely blind to the cognitive dissonance.

Re: How I Interview

#96

Post by s3nnyy »

V-2 wrote: post #94
s3nnyy wrote: post #65

I live in Switzerland and I used to code for a living. As an external, I hire engineers for different startups in Zurich. As I got deeper into IT-recruiting, I realised that candidate filtering at the top of the funnel is fundamentally broken. The market for software engineers is different from the market for - let's say - actors. Especially for senior developers there is way more demand than there is supply. This ha…

"I heard that meat bought in Switzerland is from Switzerland but meat bought in Germany is often from Poland or from somewhere else. In any case, meat in Switzerland is tastier than meat in Germany" - Polish meat less tasty? : ) I didn't get that one

Mh, that is confusing. I corrected it - thanks.

Re: How I Interview

#97

Post by estefan »

GregQuinn wrote: post #95
koevet wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sorry, but I'm not sure I understand. Why do "they" decide how much you are worth? Don't you have a daily/hourly rate that you communicate up-front?

The whole purpose of the offer is to let the client decide how much you're worth to them. I provide no up-front rate or fee. It's always the clients who claim to be 'innovative', 'game changing', 'disruptive' etc. that are the most risk averse. They seem completely blind to the cognitive dissonance.

Maybe it'd require a trip to their (no doubt expensive) lawyers to make sure the arrangement doesn't sound too good to be true and open them up to legal action if you're not happy. Perhaps it's not worth the time/effort/cost for them?

Re: How I Interview

#98

Post by Kurtz79 »

"Finally, I assumed that most everyone played Minesweeper at one point and I wouldn't need to explain the rules."¨

I stopped making such assumptions since I started interviewing.

Warming up question: "How would you check that two strings are the anagram of each other ?"

"What's an anagram ?"

Re: How I Interview

#99

Post by rorykoehler »

madez wrote: post #86
s3nnyy wrote: post #65

I live in Switzerland and I used to code for a living. As an external, I hire engineers for different startups in Zurich. As I got deeper into IT-recruiting, I realised that candidate filtering at the top of the funnel is fundamentally broken. The market for software engineers is different from the market for - let's say - actors. Especially for senior developers there is way more demand than there is supply. This ha…

Don’t get me wrong, but your comment reads like an ad.

Native advertising ... in the comments.

Re: How I Interview

#100

Post by s3nnyy »

rorykoehler wrote: post #99
madez wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don’t get me wrong, but your comment reads like an ad.

Native advertising ... in the comments.

I sincerely believe that living and working in Switzerland is nicer than anywhere else in Europe.

With my comments I raise awareness for my side-income but primarily I try adding value to HN discussions.

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