due to timing constraints I had to most recently end my search at google's host-matching stage, I do wish the process didn't feel so one-sided. oh well, perhaps next time.
Tech Interview Torture Chamber
71–80 of 232 posts
Re: Tech Interview Torture Chamber
#72My experience with initial stage of recruitment to Amazon, Google, and other "we can afford false negatives" jokers. Write O(n) algorithm for bus ticket allocation. Use yellow unbalanced binary tree, you have 40 minutes. Then we will run it against exhaustive tests our engineers have been working on for the last couple of weeks. Uhhhh... what's that?... your algorithm melted down... We wish you good luck in your job…
During the part where I get to ask them questions I always ask about their current project and whats it built in. Even at the big guys they always reply with the same frameworks everyone else uses etc. Then I say something like oh so your project is using framework x so you're not coding your own libraries from scratch using graphs etc.
One interviewer took it personal and hung up on me haha.
Re: Tech Interview Torture Chamber
#73I would say that the alternative to that crappy process is something like "gradual hiring" (sorry, I'm the guy whose accent can be spread on bread) - you just start working with a guy, giving him basic isolated tasks, and as he successfully progresses with his work, task are getting more and more complicated (salary, permissions as well). After few months of such freelance-ish work you can know for sure that this dud…
That's an unacceptable offer for a lot of higher-tier developers. Literally un-acceptable - I'd never get poached by a contract-to-hire, especially one with no benefits. And even if I was forced to accept such a situation, I'd continue to send out resumes and take interviews while on contract-to-hire.
Re: Tech Interview Torture Chamber
#74The one I love is when they ask questions that are completely unrelated to what the position is for. e.g. I applied to a startup company that sold used cars online for a senior web dev position. Their junior dev asked me about a maze solving algorithm. I knew the VP of engineering through one of my contacts and sent him an email asking him how a maze solving algorithm relates to web development. To his credit the VP…
We need to start an image macro meme of these things.
"Asks brutal tree sorting question"
"Fixes Docker image configurations all day"
Re: Tech Interview Torture Chamber
#75I would say that the alternative to that crappy process is something like "gradual hiring" (sorry, I'm the guy whose accent can be spread on bread) - you just start working with a guy, giving him basic isolated tasks, and as he successfully progresses with his work, task are getting more and more complicated (salary, permissions as well). After few months of such freelance-ish work you can know for sure that this dud…
That's an unacceptable offer for a lot of higher-tier developers. Literally un-acceptable - I'd never get poached by a contract-to-hire, especially one with no benefits. And even if I was forced to accept such a situation, I'd continue to send out resumes and take interviews while on contract-to-hire.
Agree, I wouldn't do that either. For those russian guys it's bit different though, as they are already hired, with decent salaries and benefits (for Russia). Moving to HQ is just a big (and questionable?) bonus.
Re: Tech Interview Torture Chamber
#76> Mildly ill; interminably coughs, sniffs, or sneezes YES! One of my pet peeves. The worst, doing a phone screen/interview with someone who sniffs constantly while you're trying to problem solve. There is a strong correlation between self awareness and intelligence, (I'd google for the white papers for those who will no doubt disagree). Anyone who chronically sniffs is not very smart and not someone I want to work cl…
This:
> There is a strong correlation between self awareness and intelligence
Does not support this:
> Anyone who chronically sniffs is not very smart
Chronic sniffing isn't necessarily (or even likely) a sign of a lack of self-awareness.
Re: Tech Interview Torture Chamber
#77I would say that the alternative to that crappy process is something like "gradual hiring" (sorry, I'm the guy whose accent can be spread on bread) - you just start working with a guy, giving him basic isolated tasks, and as he successfully progresses with his work, task are getting more and more complicated (salary, permissions as well). After few months of such freelance-ish work you can know for sure that this dud…
'gradual hire' sounds great in theory, but it is going to be a pretty unattractive option for a lot of developers. One problem is the lack of certainty - why would I get 'gradually' hired somewhere if I have other options where I can get a permanent job right away? The bigger problem is the lack of benefits, which presumably includes health care. In the US, at least, this would make it pretty difficult - buying insurance on your own can be very expensive and going without it is risky/costly, so it would be a pretty big problem for a lot of people, especially those with health problems or a family.
I think this method would highly select candidates that didn't have better options. The reason it works in your first example is that the person being gradually hired is employed by another firm that offers them stability and benefits in the meantime.
Re: Tech Interview Torture Chamber
#78Heh I've been applying to some gigs recently and those job application pages! They can be infuriatinggggg. Oh, upload the resume that you just spent 2 hours tweaking and feel great about? Simple enough you think. No, a parser tries to extract all of the relevant information from the PDF and place it in the appropriate fields with about a -50% success rate. Now it looks like you've had 5 jobs in the past 5 years. Want…
> The worst part is having to create a new account for each of these career "portals".
Oh it gets way better than that. How about when you are applying to XXX company through a portal and YYY company also uses the same portal? And how about when it won't allow you to use the same email address, as if that is some highly suspicious activity that should be disallowed?
Re: Tech Interview Torture Chamber
#79Tech interview threads appear constantly on HN and Reddit.
Re: Tech Interview Torture Chamber
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you're working with a recruiter, those pre-interview references are also business leads for that recruiter. Source: I'm a former recruiter
I got mad props when I wrote a simple scraper for one of the resume sites we were using that pulled reference info off resumes (oil and gas engineers like to put who they know on their resume) and stuck it into a spreadsheet. Happily, solving problems in that manner made me realize I love programming and led to me switching careers from that nightmare :)
Welcome to the darkside!