There are some pretty good interview practice sites. Read glass door. It's a hoop you have to jump through.
Another programming interview I blew
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Re: Another programming interview I blew
#32Bullshit interviews are part of the system now. The only way to beat it is with interview-er accountability. In interviews today, the expectation is that the candidate should be perfect, do this, that, don't forget to do this. But the interviewer has no such requirement. The interviewer can reject you because "They had a bad day".....seriously, this is what companies say. Look at some answers here: https://www.quora.…
I believe this is why Starfighters was being made; because the system is broken. Too bad it didn't work out(not the CTF or stock game; the idea). I wish there was a site where, in my own time, I can do some tasks to prove that I can actually do what I've been doing for the past 15 years. As in, "here I reversed a string and this is proof. now can we please discuss something relevant to the role or am I being hired to…
But then the interviewer trots out the old adage "but we're not testing your ability to reverse strings. I want to see how you approach solving problems." And yet, a wrong answer is an almost guaranteed no hire. I can't tell if these people believe their own bullshit or if I'm being lied to my face.
Re: Another programming interview I blew
#33I should have been a dentist I would have gotten more respect and maybe more love I have had similar thoughts.
I shudder at the thought of being a dentist. Imagine your first day on the job, looking into people's mouths all day... then going home and thinking that this is what you will do every working day for the next 40 years. Dentists, I heard, have high rates of substance abuse, depression and suicide. These are very talented people (they have to be to gain admission to dentistry), who have to spend their life... doing de…
Not just looking into people's mouths, but half of your clients are terrified of you (far more than any other profession) and you have to cajole them. You will also be causing pain to people in the course of your job (can get minimal, but there will always be some), which some clients really can't handle. I imagine you get used to the smell of drill-burnt rotten teeth eventually, but the terrified people... I don't know how they do it.
Re: Another programming interview I blew
#34Get out and meet people at software meetups, etc. This is and always will be the best way to get a job. If you are finding resistance down the path of interviewing, go down a different path to find a job. Big companies like Google will pretend it is the only way to get in, but that is a lie anyway. Smaller companies are easier. If you find that you are struggling in that venue, ask for help. Developing emotional intelligence is something you can do easier in your older years, and some companies really value that.
Re: Another programming interview I blew
#35Tough but not unusual. For the record, I'm 33 and I have had a similar experience. I am not sure it has anything to do with your age but ageism is very real and I am trying to prepare for it because 40, assuming I'll make it, is just around the corner. I did 3 interviews so far this month and even though I didn't get any rejections, I still don't have any offers. Things around here do move slow(Australia) but I am no…
You could also plan for another life (style) (because approaching 40 for which we started planning early 30s) which is what my wife and myself did. We prepared a few years to make sure (we invested money and time in that) we had remote gigs all over the world set up and then moved to a much cheaper country and to the cheapest part of that country. Not only did we find, after a while, that life is actually nicer, we don't miss anything we had before and we literally need a tiny fraction of the money we needed in the popular city. Obviously you need to be a certain kind of person to do this, but many of my friends now did / are doing it and feeling the same experience. Most of them come from high paying IT jobs which means they have enough money in the bank (especially after selling their house) to provide additions to their pension or even live out their entire life without needing income in a much cheaper place.
Edit; now planning for 50 by removing dependency on doing development gigs
Re: Another programming interview I blew
#36Bullshit interviews are part of the system now. The only way to beat it is with interview-er accountability. In interviews today, the expectation is that the candidate should be perfect, do this, that, don't forget to do this. But the interviewer has no such requirement. The interviewer can reject you because "They had a bad day".....seriously, this is what companies say. Look at some answers here: https://www.quora.…
As someone seeking a job, yes, it's unfortunate. But from an employer's perspective, false negatives are safer than false positives.
>> As someone seeking a job, yes, it's unfortunate. But from an employer's perspective, false negatives are safer than false positives.
- Are you an employer complaining there is a shortage of good developers?
- How many candidates have you rejected in the past?
- How many of those were because of a bullshit interview question? (Eg: Find the maximum subarray of an input array in O(n)...cannot be brute force....within 20 mins)
- If you have faced a shortage of developers, have you considered calling back the people you rejected for bullshit questions?
- If you don't have a problem finding engineers who can solve bullshit problems, your technique succeeded right? How many of those successful bullshitters have you fired or been disappointed by their performance at work? If the answer is zero..great. Don't ever fire them. Else, review your interview process.
Thanks
Re: Another programming interview I blew
#37Bullshit interviews are part of the system now. The only way to beat it is with interview-er accountability. In interviews today, the expectation is that the candidate should be perfect, do this, that, don't forget to do this. But the interviewer has no such requirement. The interviewer can reject you because "They had a bad day".....seriously, this is what companies say. Look at some answers here: https://www.quora.…
I had a bad experience, this was some local server hosting company and I walk in there, granted I'm not wearing slacks/dress shirt so perhaps I'm not better but both the people I interviewed with (owner and an employee) were wearing sloppy clothes like basketball shorts, stretched out t-shirt, etc... and I read some reviews from former employees at this company on Glassdoor, I did not get a good vibe due to the mostly-negative reviews. I didn't get the job but what I didn't like the most is they never called me back or anything, they didn't say something like "We're sorry, we reviewed your application, you're not a good fit." I'm probably not the most social person anyway, I have a look on my face like "I'm miserable/tired" but I talked with a low tone/calm. I don't know, at least I have a day-time job and have some clients.
Re: Another programming interview I blew
#38show me your Github profile or your learning blog, you need to build a personal brand as a developer... :)
To the OP: 5x developer here so I must be in the software afterlife, keep it up there are places...
To the whole Github thing, just had this happen.
Got a call from a recruiter from an company I interviewed with a year ago. We couldn't make things work then, but in the words of the recruiter, "Everyone loved you and we have new spot that you fit perfect".
Fortunately for them I open right now so I say I'll be glad to talk to them, and he says he'll get right back.
Next day I get an email from someone at the company, saying before they move to the phone screen he has a couple of questions. What's my Stackoverflow presence, my Github, and what Coursera course have I taken.
Never heard back in over a week since I replied negatively about those items.
Going to call the recruiter tomorrow to let him know he has at least one person now that doesn't love me.
Re: Another programming interview I blew
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
I believe this is why Starfighters was being made; because the system is broken. Too bad it didn't work out(not the CTF or stock game; the idea). I wish there was a site where, in my own time, I can do some tasks to prove that I can actually do what I've been doing for the past 15 years. As in, "here I reversed a string and this is proof. now can we please discuss something relevant to the role or am I being hired to…
But then the interviewer trots out the old adage "but we're not testing your ability to reverse strings. I want to see how you approach solving problems." And yet, a wrong answer is an almost guaranteed no hire. I can't tell if these people believe their own bullshit or if I'm being lied to my face.
I don't know many of these interviewers (I myself interview but I would never ask people to do these silly tests) but I spoken to one of them from Boston a while ago at a party and he said he just has this list of questions and they need to be answered correct; he himself would not even be able to recognise if the person was attacking the problem right or wrong but he says 'I want to see how you approach solving problems' as that is what he has been taught. So in my 1 point empirical research I would say you are being lied to.
Re: Another programming interview I blew
#40Bullshit interviews are part of the system now. The only way to beat it is with interview-er accountability. In interviews today, the expectation is that the candidate should be perfect, do this, that, don't forget to do this. But the interviewer has no such requirement. The interviewer can reject you because "They had a bad day".....seriously, this is what companies say. Look at some answers here: https://www.quora.…
That Quora post is exactly what I am going through now. Answered all tech questions. Interviewer said he was impressed. A week later, I got a rejection letter saying I was slow. WTF! The interview lasted 1 hour. I solved 3 tech questions without knowing it's timed interview.