This is so painful to read after having recently gone through the gauntlet of Bay Area tech interviews myself. It seems like all the companies follow this exact same pattern of how interviews are conducted and few stray from the standard, not realizing how intimidating the entire process can be for the uninitiated. It's easy to say "the interview process is broken", but how do we fix it?
Tech Interview Torture Chamber
111–120 of 232 posts
Re: Tech Interview Torture Chamber
#112Earlier 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.
When was this? It hasn't been the case for the decade plus before I entered the industry and it was recognized as a problem well before that.
Re: Tech Interview Torture Chamber
#113I 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…
> 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 dude is compatible with the team, able to solve problems, able to learn. And only then he becomes an employee with offer, benefits and SO.
Careful not to presume or disseminate the idea that all candidates/hires are men.
Re: Tech Interview Torture Chamber
#114As a senior engineer who already has a good job, here's how I've adapted to the stupid tech interview and plan on doing for future jobs: - Stay at my job longer and push for more raises/promotions. So far this has worked well. I may not get more in raw $ amount vs job hopping, but when risk adjusted (the risks of any new job such as bad manager, etc.) it's worked out ok so far. I think some job hopping is still good…
I like your first point, though your 2nd and 3rd points tell me you haven't applied for a while :) They've all adopted the google model, small or big companies it doesn't matter. You start with a 45 minute technical phone screen (algorithm/data structures), sometimes a second tech phone screen, an onsite of at least 5 hours with at least 3 to 4 45-minute technical screens (algo/data structures) as if it wasn't enough…
That sounds pretty awful.
I've been programming for half my life and I'd fall over on that stuff.
Re: Tech Interview Torture Chamber
#115You can actually waterboard me during the interview, while asking to describe an implementation of recursive quicksort in the newest CSS framework du jour - and as long as at the other end there's a personal office with doors that close waiting for me, I'll send my resume in a heartbeat.
Re: Tech Interview Torture Chamber
#116> Always start off by asking the candidate, "Is this still a good time?" Is there a better way to ask this? It would be relatively awkward for the candidate to bring up on their own, so it seems like a good idea to make sure nothing unexpected has occurred since the call was planned. > Alright, that's enough chit chat. Curtly prod them to submit to the interrogation. Assuming it's still good to have the call, why wou…
> Always start off by asking the candidate, "Is this still a good time?" I prefer when the interviewer reschedules the interview two or three times, calls 15 minutes late, and then asks "Is this still a good time?"
My favorite is if you then ask them a question you have to repeat yourself because obviously they are doing something else while talking to you.
Re: Tech Interview Torture Chamber
#117It is on everyone who is not in a desperate job seeking situation to push back on any practice you deem wrong. Expect a respectful and fair treatment throughout and when you're being manipulated, take the initiative. If you can tell the interview isn't going well, why not leave on your terms? "My experience and expertise is in A and B, and it seems the job is more about C and D, maybe this isn't a good fit? Ok thanks…
I regret not doing this the few times lines were crossed (on one interview someone ridiculed me for not being able to answer a ridiculous math question because I went to a top CS program).
Re: Tech Interview Torture Chamber
#118Heh 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…
I've actually gotten to the point where I just skip applying to jobs when I'm redirected to one of those portals. Fuck 'em. The only exception is when I think it's a company I really, really want to work for, and there aren't many of those any more.
If you really [think that you] want to work somewhere, and this is what I've done in the past, you can just look up their recruiters on linkedin or something and cold call them - most recruiters or HR departments are overjoyed at this kind of personal attention, and can even get you some perks and recognition along the way. Plus you just send a nice email (your cover letter essentially, but not as forced) and attach a resume formatted as you please.
Might not be anywhere near 100% overall but when it works it makes for a really lovely experience.
Re: Tech Interview Torture Chamber
#119It is on everyone who is not in a desperate job seeking situation to push back on any practice you deem wrong. Expect a respectful and fair treatment throughout and when you're being manipulated, take the initiative. If you can tell the interview isn't going well, why not leave on your terms? "My experience and expertise is in A and B, and it seems the job is more about C and D, maybe this isn't a good fit? Ok thanks…
If you do that you'll end-up jobless. It is not a candidate's market right now :)
Re: Tech Interview Torture Chamber
#120Tech interview threads appear constantly on HN and Reddit.
It's a symptom of a process that is completely broken. I have given up entirely on interviewing for SV companies, and work 100% remote now.
If there was a better process, companies would adopt it, as it would give them a major competitive advantage. They're not complete fools.