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Ask HN: What are the best practices for hiring software engineers?

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Re: Ask HN: What are the best practices for hiring software engineers?

#11

Post by probinso »

jerven wrote: post #4

Our process is a bit different from what is common in the rest of industry. We do 3 things of which the first 2 are standard. * CV screen * Phone screen, asking what, why, what is missing on CV * Interview -> starting by a presentation done by the candidate, then classic discussion/interview The 3rd step is what is uncommon, we always ask a potential candidate to present a bit of code. Their own if possible, open sou…

I've had about five interviews in my life where I needed to give a presentation spanning from 10 minutes to an hour of time. These interviews were my favorite. I felt at the very least that I got honest and complete feedback and had a high degree of confidence that the team interviewing me you understood what my strengths and weaknesses were.

I wish that more companies would do this.

The only real problem occurs when the audience attending is not interested in the interview process. I have had it be the case where I felt like my entire presentation was dismissed. It takes a lot of time to write a good presentation and I think that it's worth it to invest that time as long as the audience is willing to participate.

Re: Ask HN: What are the best practices for hiring software engineers?

#12

Post by z3t4 »

probinso wrote: post #10
z3t4 wrote: post #8

Take your candidate to a computer, ask the programmer what he/she is working on. Have the candidate sit down and continue the work for ten minutes. If it works, hire him/her.

Have you tried this? Do you feel that personal projects correctly reflect production releases? Is it necessary that they do?

I mean; ask the programmer who is currently working on that computer, what he/she is working on. Then see if the candidate can pick up the work from there, with some hints from the programmer.

Re: Ask HN: What are the best practices for hiring software engineers?

#13

Post by clbecker »

z3t4 wrote: post #12
probinso wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you tried this? Do you feel that personal projects correctly reflect production releases? Is it necessary that they do?

I mean; ask the programmer who is currently working on that computer, what he/she is working on. Then see if the candidate can pick up the work from there, with some hints from the programmer.

The engineers working on a team might spend hours in sprint planning meetings, doing research, and working out an approach with their team before they start coding anything. How would you expect to get a fair assessment of someone by dropping them in the middle of someone else's code work, and putting them on the spot?

Re: Ask HN: What are the best practices for hiring software engineers?

#14

Post by geebee »

imsofuture wrote: post #7
mywittyname wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Curious, how often does this work for your company? Anytime I'm given non-trivial homework for a job interview, I decline because there are a dozen other companies that can determine my competence in a few hours of interviews. I understand that hiring is risky for startups, but this approach seems excessive for what it is supposed to determine. It seems like you could get nearly all the same principal information abo…

I've had really great experience hiring technical roles with 'homework'. Both product engineering + technical support. Each time, I've made sure that anyone completing the assignment is compensated with a $50 or $100 Amazon gift card (depending on the task). I don't think I've had anyone choose to not participate. I'm also happy to compensate people that make a solid effort and realize they are in over their head and…

I refused to do a take-home interview exam for the first time a couple of months ago. I don't think a $100 gift certificate would have made much of a difference. The opportunity was a decent one but I've just had very bad experiences with take-homes in the past (spent a lot of time, didn't hear back for a month, got a one-sentence rejection from a recruiter, never talked to a developer). I might consider doing it later in the process, when I have a stronger sense that the exam will be taken seriously and given proper consideration. I'm just not willing to put this kind of time into what may simply be "screening".

I think Gayle Laakman McDowell's comments on this subject were good:

http://www.gayle.com/blog/2013/09/18/companies-who-give-cand...

The problem here is that take homes allow companies to externalize the inefficiencies of the interview process - they may demand many hours of a candidate's time while dismissing that candidate in five minutes. The $100 gift card may make this a bit better, but it's still a bargain for the company (I'm certainly not surprised you consider the information easily worth $100).

Re: Ask HN: What are the best practices for hiring software engineers?

#15

Post by btdiehr »

z3t4 wrote: post #8

Take your candidate to a computer, ask the programmer what he/she is working on. Have the candidate sit down and continue the work for ten minutes. If it works, hire him/her.

This is absurd. Most companies don't have code bases that one can get an understanding of within a day. This is more of a test of the candidates luck on what the person is working on.

Re: Ask HN: What are the best practices for hiring software engineers?

#16

Post by probinso »

z3t4 wrote: post #12
probinso wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you tried this? Do you feel that personal projects correctly reflect production releases? Is it necessary that they do?

I mean; ask the programmer who is currently working on that computer, what he/she is working on. Then see if the candidate can pick up the work from there, with some hints from the programmer.

I understand.

Have you done this during interviews with applicants? Have you received feedback from applicants?

Re: Ask HN: What are the best practices for hiring software engineers?

#17

Post by bitshepherd »

One former employer tested prospective hires by handing them a print-out of a script, nothing too fancy, just some shell script, and ask them to explain what the script did and if there were any errors.

If one can read the language, and know what it does, the errors are pretty obvious. If the prospect doesn't know it, they're not able to talk to it, and the bullshit meter goes off pretty quick if they try faking it.

Re: Ask HN: What are the best practices for hiring software engineers?

#18

Post by lsiebert »

Small companies don't have to filter thousands of candidates, and can innovate around how they hire. They have to be like moneyball.

Big companies whiteboard because that's how it started, everyone who works there knows how to whiteboard, and you can argue that it's correlated with skills used in development. They don't have time to pair program. They can afford to throw away people who could be good based on their arbitrary metrics.

Startups can make innovating around hiring a selling point to candidates. They can talk to candidates about what sort of process would best demonstrate their skills and be in their comfort zone. They can look at non traditional candidates based on github accounts or OS contributions. They want people who can deliver.

Google's hiring innovations are more likely to be small steps. By being agile, startups can get ahead of them.

As to what best practices are, behavioral interviews that ask people what they would do in a particular situation are correlated with job skills. So is actual work, so paying someone to work for you, or perhaps even volunteering to help them with something by pairing, may give you insight into them.

Re: Ask HN: What are the best practices for hiring software engineers?

#19

Post by s3b »

zer00eyz wrote: post #2

A) Give them a "take away" project... or bring them into the office to DO a project. Make it simple. Have them write "login". Don't be specific, tell them the exercise meant to be vague. Tell them that there are some things they may want to "hint at" or be a skeleton. If they are back end, you want just the api... front end just the UI (they can create static json for responses). Do they encrypt, did they leave hooks…

You really shouldn't fire someone after just 90 days. Maybe you should try moving the person into a different role/team before firing. Or at least give them some more time. 90 days is way too little time to pick up new skills and domain knowledge.

Re: Ask HN: What are the best practices for hiring software engineers?

#20

Post by jerven »

probinso wrote: post #11
jerven wrote: post #4

Our process is a bit different from what is common in the rest of industry. We do 3 things of which the first 2 are standard. * CV screen * Phone screen, asking what, why, what is missing on CV * Interview -> starting by a presentation done by the candidate, then classic discussion/interview The 3rd step is what is uncommon, we always ask a potential candidate to present a bit of code. Their own if possible, open sou…

I've had about five interviews in my life where I needed to give a presentation spanning from 10 minutes to an hour of time. These interviews were my favorite. I felt at the very least that I got honest and complete feedback and had a high degree of confidence that the team interviewing me you understood what my strengths and weaknesses were. I wish that more companies would do this. The only real problem occurs when…

The not interested does not happen with us because we hire so rarely.

But I also think that a team not interested in your presentation is rarely a team you want to work with.

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