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How to Interview Engineers

blog.triplebyte.com

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Re: How to Interview Engineers

#171

Post by deathanatos »

kafkaesq wrote: post #33
altharaz wrote: post #17

At my company our engineers defined the following process. First, we defined the skills we're looking for i.e. Programming / SysAdmin / Cybersecurity. Our process goes as follows: 1. We ask candidates to answer a quizz by phone, with questions in the 3 chosen fields. Duration = 1h. 2. We ask candidates to solve remotely with Google Docs 5 real-world problems asking for skills in Algorithmics, Data Modeling, Object-Or…

We ask candidates to solve remotely with Google Docs Google Docs are horrible coding environments. In fact, anything besides the candidate's native editing environment makes for an obtuse and off-putting experience, all around. I mean, yeah, the candidate can suck it up and make it work if they felt they "had" to. But on balance it's just unnecessary mental gymnastics -- and completely avoidable source of awkwardness…

> In fact, anything besides the candidate's native editing environment makes for an obtuse and off-putting experience, all around.

And how would I use that, as an interviewer, in a phone screen, realistically?

(I don't believe that I could — reliably — get them into a Google Hangout, for example.)

(We used https://coderpad.io/ ; it was alright, and certainly better than Google Docs.)

Re: How to Interview Engineers

#172

Post by ubernostrum »

jobu wrote: post #5

"15% dislike academic CS (and think that talking about CS is a sign that a candidate will not be productive)" That seems really weird. Academic CS isn't really necessary for most programming jobs, but I can't see how it would ever be a detriment.

Since people in this thread are trotting out the old "we have to FizzBuzz people to weed out the millions of fake coders" argument:

Remember that FizzBuzz was originally proposed as a response to the number of CS degree holders who allegedly could not code their way out of a paper bag.

I don't care if someone can derive the hierarchy of Turing degrees from first principles. I care if they can do the job I'm trying to hire for.

Re: How to Interview Engineers

#174

Post by ubernostrum »

Kpourdeilami wrote: post #20
jdp23 wrote: post #12

Looking at Triplebyte's "about us" page, it appears that their engineering team is 100% male. This should be a big red flag for any company trying to get diverse engineering team - why work with a company that doesn't hire women engineers?

Small startups often don't have access to a diverse talent pool to hire from since it is hard to convince anyone other than people you already to join the company. I don't think they deliberately refuse to hire women engineers judging by the diversity page[0] on their website 0: https://triplebyte.com/diversity

Until one person left recently (nothing acrimonious), the engineering team I'm on was 9 men, 8 women. At a startup.

The "pipeline problem" doesn't exist. The "we're too small to do that" problem doesn't exist.

You know what does help? Recruiting at places other than the Stanford CS job fair. Partnering with mentorship organizations. Sponsoring or hosting events that show off your company to people who aren't Stanford CS students. I could go on and on.

Re: How to Interview Engineers

#176

Post by rdtsc »

gilbetron wrote: post #168
pklausler wrote: post #73

The sad reality of programming interviews is that it's absolutely necessary to ask several near-trivial questions in order to flush out the candidates with awesome resumes and impressive degrees who simply have no idea how to analyze a simple problem and solve it using a computer. Lately, I've been asking "given the starting and ending times of two calendar appointments, determine whether or not they conflict." No lo…

A weeder question I've used: How many operations can a modern CPU perform per second: A) Thousands, B) Millions, C) Billions We'll accept C, and B with explanation. I'd say roughly 75% of the people I've asked (who have gotten through a phone interview) cannot answer it with any ability. People whine about the difficulty of interviews, but honestly, almost everyone we've ever hired have said the interview was pretty…

Used that on college graduates. I was surprised how many couldn't answer or reason through it. Even the ones from top CS schools.

I also realized how different schools emphasized computer architecture differently for CS graduates. I remember having to design a simplified PDP-11 in Computer Architecture. We had to take assembly language and such. But that was one specific college and I shouldn't assume all of them do that.

Eventually I moved away from such questions and took a more collaborative approach such as "let's solve a problem together". So I'd stand beside them at a whiteboard and we think through problems. I think that puts candidates at ease and it reveals more of the skill and personality traits that were relevant for us.

Re: How to Interview Engineers

#177

Post by zimzam »

lopatin wrote: post #166
kafkaesq wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps it's not as easy a question as you think it is in the heat of the moment during a stressful interview? This point cannot be underemphasized. "Thinking aloud", not just in front of another person but under a very stressful situation (for most people) that also basically almost never occurs otherwise in daily life -- is a specific metacognitive skill that for many people can only be (even adequately) learned by…

Being a professional programmer is not an entirely stress-free job. Often, time matters and you have to think on your feet. That's why I think rejecting a programmer for losing their core competencies like problem solving, i.e. freezing, under a medium amount of pressure is valid.

I've been a developer for years and worked for multiple companies: the most stressful professional situations I've ever have been in have been maybe a 4 out of 10 stress-wise, whereas interviews range from 7 to 9 out of 10.

Interviews aren't ordinary job situations: they are contrived situations where people are making life-changing decisions based on a very short interaction.

Re: How to Interview Engineers

#178

Post by keyboardhitter »

bogomipz wrote: post #122
padobson wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When did you last switch jobs? I recently went through a round of employment where I quit my job at the beginning. Between updating my resume/social networks, brushing up on academic CS, finding leads, scheduling interviews and follow-up interviews and managing/negotiating offers, it was absolutely a full-time job. I can't imagine finding a new programming job while still working at the old job.

>"Between updating my resume/social networks, brushing up on academic CS, finding leads, scheduling interviews and follow-up interviews and managing/negotiating offers, it was absolutely a full-time job." Can you break down how much time you spent on each of those tasks that they took up the equivalent of an entire 8 or 9 hour work day 5 days a week? I think you might be in the minority with your outlook. Most people…

IMO, it's not the literal time taken, but the mental bandwidth needed to do these things (and do them well) that can feel "full time"

to each their own of course

Re: How to Interview Engineers

#179

Post by bogomipz »

itsdrewmiller wrote: post #164
bogomipz wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>"... you are effectively doing the first round with Apple, Facebook, Dropbox, AND Stripe." Except that I am not. By doing the first rounds with Tripplebyte I have squandered an opportunity to learn about and form an opinion about the people and team I might be working with in the future. The more answers I can get to my questions the better informed I am. I guess I don't understand this whole "we will fast track you…

Assuming you don’t pass 100% of on site interviews or you don’t take the first offer immediately, triplebyte will save you some amount of time. Beyond the force multiplier for pre-onsite interviews, they also can predict which companies you will have a higher success rate with for your on site. It’s not a guaranteed slam dunk for every single person (and you still have to pass their process) but I think the value pro…

>"Assuming you don’t pass 100% of on site interviews or you don’t take the first offer immediately, triplebyte will save you some amount of time."

How exactly do they save me time? Can you elaborate?

>"Beyond the force multiplier for pre-onsite interviews, they also can predict which companies you will have a higher success rate with for your on site."

What is the "force multiplier" here?

Again this is a job where you will spend many hours of your life, should the only concern be the one whose interview I will have the highest success rate with?

>"... but I think the value proposition is pretty obvious to most people."

Again what is that? It's not obvious to me. I am asking sincerely.

Re: How to Interview Engineers

#180

Post by symlinkk »

gilbetron wrote: post #168
pklausler wrote: post #73

The sad reality of programming interviews is that it's absolutely necessary to ask several near-trivial questions in order to flush out the candidates with awesome resumes and impressive degrees who simply have no idea how to analyze a simple problem and solve it using a computer. Lately, I've been asking "given the starting and ending times of two calendar appointments, determine whether or not they conflict." No lo…

A weeder question I've used: How many operations can a modern CPU perform per second: A) Thousands, B) Millions, C) Billions We'll accept C, and B with explanation. I'd say roughly 75% of the people I've asked (who have gotten through a phone interview) cannot answer it with any ability. People whine about the difficulty of interviews, but honestly, almost everyone we've ever hired have said the interview was pretty…

When the hell would you ever need to know that? Do you ask carpenters how many times their screwdrivers spin per minute? It just seems like useless trivia.
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