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How to Interview Engineers

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Re: How to Interview Engineers

#261

Post by crdoconnor »

yetihehe wrote: post #232
bogomipz wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>"However for this company, I applied online, they sent me a InterviewStreet/HackerRank coding test, and only after I passed that did a recruiter call me" This is a huge red flag in my opinion and I would recommend people not agree to this. Why? Because it shows complete disregard for the candidate. "Pass a test and you can speak to an actual human being." Its demeaning. It also shows just how useless many recruiters…

And for me that was a perfect interview. First quick question by email to see if I was interested, then some simple test to see if I can really program, then quick interview to see if I have required domain knowledge (all questions were about knowledge required to program effectively, not abstract "how to move mount fuji"). For an introvert programmer like me it's a perfect interview schedule. Also it helps when you…

I gave up on those the last time I wasted 4 hours of my life on one of those tests and never even got a rejection email. It wasn't a hard test and I didn't do badly.

Nowadays I just point them at my github. If a body of open source isn't enough to get an interview I'm not interested in working there.

Re: How to Interview Engineers

#262

Post by csmattryder »

pavlakoos wrote: post #248
jk563 wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What type of questions do you mean?

Imagine a cottage with all 4 walls facing south. And there is a bear visiting it. What is the color of bear's fur?

The second you uttered that, I'd thank you for your time and walk out.

What on earth does that have to do with building (actually, in most cases, maintaining) a CRUD web app?

What does that have to do with n-tier web application architecture?

Re: How to Interview Engineers

#263

Post by crdoconnor »

_ptgt wrote: post #144
mattnewton wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is a crazy expectation. I last switched jobs while working at Apple last October. Having the BATNA of your current employment is crucial to the negotiation process and I can't imagine forgoing that- if you have no current income that's an insane bargaining handicap. Anyone with experience absolutely is not going to go for "quit your job, and maybe we'll give you a new one after a week, maybe it won't wor…

Why would it be a bargaining handicap unless you're running out of money (i.e. desperate)? If you're a strong enough candidate to land an offer at a top firm, it isn't worth it for them to low-ball you and risk spending more resources looking for strong candidates. Besides, if you can get an offer at Company X, you can probably get an offer at one of their competitors as well (which is your leverage).

>Why would it be a bargaining handicap unless you're running out of money (i.e. desperate)? If you're a strong enough candidate to land an offer at a top firm

The more specialized you are the fewer jobs there are out there that match your skill set. Not every job market is as liquid as that of, say, junior java developers.

Rejecting this job might mean waiting another month or two for another to come along.

Avoiding months of unemployment also isn't just about the hit to your savings it's also about the hole on your CV.

Re: How to Interview Engineers

#264

Post by bambax »

An alternative to an "interview" would be something more like an exam: have candidates try to solve a (relatively simple) problem in limited time, with or without external resources.

Candidates would be watched, would know they're being watched, but would not see themselves being watched, which would probably take a lot of stress out.

You could even test many candidates at the same time this way. And you could setup a system where each candidate could ask questions if needed, without being heard by other candidates (like in language learning classrooms).

This must have been tried? but I wonder why it's not even discussed in the post, as an alternative?

Re: How to Interview Engineers

#265

Post by kevhito »

symlinkk wrote: post #180
gilbetron wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

No. Here are possible carpenter equivalents, all of which I'd absolutely consider a minimum low bar...

> How many nails does it take to build a house? a) hundreds b) thousands c) millions d) billions

> How many rooms are in a house? a) tens b) hundreds c) thousands

> How thick is a house wall? a) inches b) feet c) miles

Re: How to Interview Engineers

#266

Post by kevhito »

symlinkk wrote: post #180
gilbetron wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

No. Here are possible carpenter equivalents, all of which I'd absolutely consider a minimum low bar...

> How many nails does it take to build a house? a) hundreds b) thousands c) millions d) billions

> How many rooms are in a house? a) tens b) hundreds c) thousands

> How thick is a house wall? a) inches b) feet c) miles

Re: How to Interview Engineers

#267

Post by overlordalex »

bambax wrote: post #264

An alternative to an "interview" would be something more like an exam: have candidates try to solve a (relatively simple) problem in limited time, with or without external resources. Candidates would be watched, would know they're being watched, but would not see themselves being watched, which would probably take a lot of stress out. You could even test many candidates at the same time this way. And you could setup…

There are a couple of web services that offer this - a quick google search around should return some company names, such as www.interviewzen.com

Personally, I feel just as much stress knowing that the interviewer can review all my typos and mistakes in minute detail, leaving me to write code in my local editor and simply copy-paste working sections into the provided editor.

Amazon made use of a service similar to what you've described at one point, however they required access to your machine to verify you weren't "cheating" in the interview. You can read one of the (many) threads here:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13076073

Re: How to Interview Engineers

#268

Post by Flenser »

aldarn wrote: post #93
pinot wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not a programmer but wouldn't if (endtime[1] > starttime[2]){status=conflict} work? Assuming time is encoded in epoch format.

This is close but you need to ensure the start time is before the other ends, and test for the second one starting before the first also. There's four cases: [appointment 1 start] [1 end] [appointment 2 start] [2 end] (case 1 - no overlap, appointment 1 first) [appointment 1 start] [appointment 2 start] [1 end] [2 end] (case 2 - overlap, appointment 1 first) [appointment 2 start] [appointment 1 start] [2 end] [1 end]…

  a = Appointment 1 start
  A = Appointment 1 end
  b = Appointment 2 start
  B = Appointment 2 end
The only predicates are: a The complete set of orderings are thus:

  aAbB - no overlap
  bBaA - no overlap
  abAB - partial overlap
  baBA - partial overlap
  abBA - complete overlap of one appointment inside the other
  baAB - complete overlap of one appointment inside the other

Re: How to Interview Engineers

#269

Post by danielbarla »

Steeeve wrote: post #215

I find it odd that so many comments here highlight the fact that people are giving interview questions that have little to nothing to do with day-to-day employment tasks. It seems to me like an enormous amount of time wasted for both interviewers and interviewees. When considering someone for a development/engineering role there are a few basic questions to figure out: 1. Does this person have competence within our t…

The question of relevance reminds me of an anecdote. (Before that though; I tend to agree with your points.)

A distant acquaintance interviewed for a secretary position. It didn't go well, because she was asked a general knowledge question (something along the lines of: "name some of the planets in the solar system"). She was furious with how irrelevant and unfair this was. It makes me wonder though, would I have hired her? I probably wouldn't have asked that question, but still. When someone is missing some really basic knowledge - even if it's irrelevant - it's not a good sign, per se.

Re: How to Interview Engineers

#270

Post by marcuslager »

venture_lol wrote: post #104
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…

If the candidate starts by drawing 2 lines, then marking start and end on the lines, you know you would be off to having a good chat

To have a good chat I would hope they drew a coordinate system, mapped both appointments in Euclidian space, and then did an intersect between vector A (first appointment) and vector B (second appointment) to see if there are any data points in common.
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