Tech Interview Torture Chamber • Hacker News Board

Re: Tech Interview Torture Chamber

#31

Post by Cakez0r » Tue, Mar 07, 2017, 9:51 PM UTC

georgemcbay wrote: post #23

Don't forget to treat everyone the same on the technical questions, whether they are a new grad with no professional experience or a 20 year veteran with a proven (and easily verifiable via references) track record of success. Make sure they all run the gauntlet! Bonus points for grilling open source developers who wrote some critically important tool your company depends upon, and/or are the person who literally "wr…

> Don't forget to treat everyone the same on the technical questions, whether they are a new grad with no professional experience or a 20 year veteran with a proven (and easily verifiable via references) track record of success.

Don't know if you're being sarcastic here, but this is actually true. I've interviewed people who have worked in senior coding positions for years who have struggled to finish fizzbuzz style coding competency checks.

Re: Tech Interview Torture Chamber

#32

Post by joezydeco » Tue, Mar 07, 2017, 9:51 PM UTC

Wow, what slick organized company is this where each onsite interviewer has read the resume ahead of time and has a copy in-hand?

I'd add

"Hide the fact you just grabbed this resume off the printer. Make sure to take the first 5-10 minutes reading the resume silently in front of the candidate, then asking the same questions the previous 3 interviewers did about your school and work history"

Re: Tech Interview Torture Chamber

#33

Post by lj3 » Tue, Mar 07, 2017, 9:52 PM UTC

zzzcpan wrote: post #25

polishTar wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do we though? What if the current system is the least bad option out of a set of much worse alternatives?

Before oversupply of programmers simply talking to people for a few minutes was good enough to determine their competence.

I don't know why you're being downvoted. This is essentially what I suggest for an interview process and I'm not the only one.

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

Re: Tech Interview Torture Chamber

#34

Post by joezydeco » Tue, Mar 07, 2017, 9:54 PM UTC

amattn wrote: post #13

0xdada wrote: post #4

> Everyone that interacts with the candidate must offer a beverage or a trip to the bathroom as many times as possible throughout the day. Bladder manipulation is a powerful interrogation tactic. I used to do this, I guess it's time to stop

Don't stop this. It's essentially harmless and in the case of certain people, welcome. You want your interviewers to think have empathy for your candidates. Interviewing is already stressful and a full bladder or dry throat makes it worse.

I like the bathroom break.

I've been in a number of offices where the equipment on the desks is shiny, but the bathrooms look like they haven't been maintained or even received a coat of paint in a decade. Tells me a lot more about what goes on under the surface than people want to let on in an interview.

Re: Tech Interview Torture Chamber

#35

Post by fnordsensei » Tue, Mar 07, 2017, 9:56 PM UTC

If I found out that my recruitment agency had been treating my candidates this way, I would take them to task and then fire them. That's my reputation they are squandering.

Re: Tech Interview Torture Chamber

#36

Post by d--b » Tue, Mar 07, 2017, 9:58 PM UTC

This is starting to be a bit annoying... I think we read enough about painful interviews. If anyone has a better way, please share... But it'd be nice to skip the ranting...

I personally have been the evil interviewer for some time. I'm giving paper coding tests that make sense to me, and I'm generally very happy with my recruiting. I have never met anyone who slammed the door screaming "I'm too good to take your stupid test". I've passed people who completely screwed the test. I've failed people who nailed it in 5 minutes.

I've taken interviews where I was asked brain teasers, fibonacci things, pointer swapping, class hierarchy things. I've been accepted to some jobs where I failed the tests, I've been thanked to some jobs where I passed the test.

The point is it is NOT about the test.

When I read someone saying "I've taken countless interviews, and I don't get a job", I'm thinking: well, either he's been very unlucky (which happens), or there is something wrong with the guy's attitude.

Re: Tech Interview Torture Chamber

#37

Post by mfrisbie » Tue, Mar 07, 2017, 9:59 PM UTC

Author here. I'm both pleased and dismayed to see this is as relevant as it was when I wrote it a year ago.

Obviously, this piece is satire. When giving interviews, I do whatever I can to make the candidate walk out of there with a smile whether they did well or not. I stand by the idea that it should be possible to entirely assess someone's ability without ripping their guts out or making them sweat.

Re: Tech Interview Torture Chamber

#38

Post by watwut » Tue, Mar 07, 2017, 10:00 PM UTC

zzzcpan wrote: post #25

polishTar wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do we though? What if the current system is the least bad option out of a set of much worse alternatives?

Before oversupply of programmers simply talking to people for a few minutes was good enough to determine their competence.

That favours people with high charizma and pleasant personality (not same as pleasant to work with) regardless of skills or work ethics. Compared to those, whiteboard or live coding is improvement.

Re: Tech Interview Torture Chamber

#39

Post by zachsnow » Tue, Mar 07, 2017, 10:02 PM UTC

CriticalSection wrote: post #11

Surprised I don't see my main pet peeve - early reference check. Before I even talk to anyone I'm asked to provide three phone numbers of three former managers. So I have to call them up, make sure the number is still working, and ask for the favor that they can give me a reference in case anyone reads my application. All of these other things are on me. References I have to call two or three (or at one company, six)…

> go after normal business hours

Realistically you will be asked to work after normal business hours now and then (and, in our industry, many times a year), so you'd think they wouldn't mind scheduling the one interview you'll do with them whenever the hell you can fit it in!

Re: Tech Interview Torture Chamber

#40

Post by peferron » Tue, Mar 07, 2017, 10:02 PM UTC

king_magic wrote: post #27

I read through maybe 10 paragraphs, but the author's toxic style was just too much for me. Spoiler alert: this person sounds like someone I would never hire on attitude alone, which reeks of "entitled, sarcastic brat".

Are you also making a joke here? I'm genuinely unsure.