Paying people to do demo work is revolutionary, I love this idea. I can't tell you how many hundreds of hours I had to put in over the last 25 years doing these "evaluation tasks" where essentially the company is getting me to put in 20 hours of work for $0. Then there's the places that use puzzles from CS courses to exclude anyone who hasn't been through CS school. Practical experience is often treated as worthless by our industry. They don't make a lawyer who has been practicing law for 25 years take some bullshit test to get a project. but in our industry the more experienced you are the more the industry diisrespects you.
A Method I’ve Used to Eliminate Bad Tech Hires
151–160 of 517 posts
Re: A Method I’ve Used to Eliminate Bad Tech Hires
#152One important thing to realize with paying people for code they write as applicants excludes a large number of potential hires. People on work visas are not allowed to moonlight. I wouldn't risk ending up on the wrong side of ICE just for an interview.
Well then those people can refuse the pay and still take the interview.
Re: A Method I’ve Used to Eliminate Bad Tech Hires
#153[deleted]
Re: A Method I’ve Used to Eliminate Bad Tech Hires
#154This is literally the only way I've gotten job offers. I'm a very competent programmer, but when I'm asked to solve some silly puzzle with someone staring over my shoulder, I freeze under pressure and can not think at all. Luckily not everyone thinks solving leetcode problems is a good way to hire.
I've been in situations together with clients deploying a product, them presenting it for their managers, orpreparing for a big demonstration, and something goes wrong due to some unforeseen environmental factor you couldn't have imagined or predicted, and breaks in a way you don't expect, despite the weeks of testing you've done. You've got your main client staring over your shoulder, arms crossed saying fix it, and…
In consulting you get in similar situations. In those cases it is not a "be able to code under pressure..." thing. Rather, a "know your code well" one. I have also been in a few demos where everything fails. As the manager sitting next to the client with your arms crossed, you have to know how to defuse the situation without having someone sweating their soul on a keyboard. Been on both sides.
Re: A Method I’ve Used to Eliminate Bad Tech Hires
#155This. 100% this. As many others are saying, I find that this is the most comfortable way for me as an interviewee to demonstrate that I do in fact know what I'm talking about. Put me in front of a room full of people and a whiteboard and throw something at me, and I'll freeze. Freezing in that situation and being a bad engineer are wholly separate things. Anecdotally, when I get one of these problems, I spent 20 minu…
This isn't a viable approach for much of the hiring pool, as a majority of working engineers have contracts which explicitly forbid work for contract for other employers. As such, if you hire any of those, you're hiring somebody with a proven willingness to ignore their contract, which is a strong anti-pattern.
On top of this, many candidates have visa-related restrictions that would prevent them from doing this legally.
Re: A Method I’ve Used to Eliminate Bad Tech Hires
#156This. 100% this. As many others are saying, I find that this is the most comfortable way for me as an interviewee to demonstrate that I do in fact know what I'm talking about. Put me in front of a room full of people and a whiteboard and throw something at me, and I'll freeze. Freezing in that situation and being a bad engineer are wholly separate things. Anecdotally, when I get one of these problems, I spent 20 minu…
This isn't a viable approach for much of the hiring pool, as a majority of working engineers have contracts which explicitly forbid work for contract for other employers. As such, if you hire any of those, you're hiring somebody with a proven willingness to ignore their contract, which is a strong anti-pattern.
I don't agree that it's a string anti-pattern whatsoever. It's a clear signal that the person can interpret the meaning of a rule and adhere to it in a way that makes sense for the person who made the rule as well as the contractor.
Re: A Method I’ve Used to Eliminate Bad Tech Hires
#157Earlier quoted context omitted.
Exactly my case. My startup is ending and I'm looking for work. Wonder if there's a way to look up companies that hire by giving assignments.
Your next startup could be a job board that specializes in this. I'd subscribe
This article is written by (and marketing for) someone who created that job board.
Re: A Method I’ve Used to Eliminate Bad Tech Hires
#158Earlier quoted context omitted.
This isn't a viable approach for much of the hiring pool, as a majority of working engineers have contracts which explicitly forbid work for contract for other employers. As such, if you hire any of those, you're hiring somebody with a proven willingness to ignore their contract, which is a strong anti-pattern.
IANAL but I took business law 101, which taught me that courts almost universally lean strongly towards the employee when considering restraint clauses. Moreover, if you have a current employer that is sufficiently disrespectful of their employees that they'd even consider enforcing an anti-moonlighting clause in this circumstance, with the preposterous assertion that it qualifies as employment - run away now. The la…
It is a requirement of my country's regulators that I ask for my employer's approval before I do any other work for compensation.
Re: A Method I’ve Used to Eliminate Bad Tech Hires
#159Earlier quoted context omitted.
This isn't a viable approach for much of the hiring pool, as a majority of working engineers have contracts which explicitly forbid work for contract for other employers. As such, if you hire any of those, you're hiring somebody with a proven willingness to ignore their contract, which is a strong anti-pattern.
IANAL but I took business law 101, which taught me that courts almost universally lean strongly towards the employee when considering restraint clauses. Moreover, if you have a current employer that is sufficiently disrespectful of their employees that they'd even consider enforcing an anti-moonlighting clause in this circumstance, with the preposterous assertion that it qualifies as employment - run away now. The la…
[deleted]
Re: A Method I’ve Used to Eliminate Bad Tech Hires
#160Earlier quoted context omitted.
I can't code with people staring at me, talking to me, asking me questions. If you can more power to you, but if that reflects the nature of the job then they can take that one and shove it. It simply doesn't reflect reality.
How about when you're alone, it's 3am, you haven't slept much in the past three days, and you have a 10am deadline to meet?
You almost certainly tell the project manager that they have dramatically failed at their job. You go to bed and come back when you aren't going to make stupid errors.