Ask HN: Should we change the way we do software interviews? What's stopping us?

Post by milesvp » Sun, Mar 25, 2018, 7:05 PM UTC

chrisseaton wrote: post #33

rootusrootus wrote: post #14

I would fail utterly at a real coding interview. I've been out of school too long for that crap. And also, my tolerance for it has dropped as well. But, I'm now a dev manager so I get to sit on the other side. I've been doing interviews in the last week for a dev position and I don't subject candidates to coding. I talk with them about what they work on, one of my senior devs sits in and goes even deeper -- learning…

I encounter people who can make pleasant conversation about programming all day... but literally can’t seem to actually program in practice. Do you see that? How does your interview check for that?

Post by slap_shot » Sun, Mar 25, 2018, 7:08 PM UTC

walshemj wrote: post #26

slap_shot wrote: post #7

We absolutely should. Here's what I'm doing to help change it: I'm launching a new venture that will try to help connect great engineers with great companies. Companies with great teams, competitive benefits, and the belief that engineers shouldn't have to go through bullshit interview practices and shouldn't have to study 150 hours for a round of interviews. The flow is pretty simple: a quick Skype/Hang out call to…

So this is just minor tweaks (not that anonymity is not a bad idea per say) to the already despised status quo. How is this going to broaden the application pool to include neurodiverse candidates and not just pander to the credentialist notion that rote leaning to get a piece of paper makes you the best candidate.

Post by klausa » Sun, Mar 25, 2018, 7:09 PM UTC

DanielBMarkham wrote: post #37

rootusrootus wrote: post #14

I would fail utterly at a real coding interview. I've been out of school too long for that crap. And also, my tolerance for it has dropped as well. But, I'm now a dev manager so I get to sit on the other side. I've been doing interviews in the last week for a dev position and I don't subject candidates to coding. I talk with them about what they work on, one of my senior devs sits in and goes even deeper -- learning…

Honest? Smart? Positive attitude? Fun to work with? Willing to learn new stuff? Learn new stuff on your own because you like coding? Ok. We're done. Now check references. We'll follow that up with an audition, show up on a Saturday and pair up with team members for some random hacking, see how you handle working closely with people on a problem.

Post by slap_shot » Sun, Mar 25, 2018, 7:11 PM UTC

arenaninja wrote: post #35

slap_shot wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We're still new to this, but we have tried a few interviews where we pay the candidate $80 an hour (~$160k salary annualized). On average, good candidates complete the projects in about 3.3 hours, so that's a ~$270 expense to us, which we've been fine with. Candidates who did the unpaid version saw the clear value: they invest 3-5 hours once, and potentially cut out 20+ hours of first round interviews, or even all th…

I really like that you compensate candidates for their time. I can't think of anyone else who follows that model presently, so thank you for keeping in mind being fair to prospective hires. Are you all SF-only?

Post by d0paware » Sun, Mar 25, 2018, 7:13 PM UTC

avip wrote: post #52

chrisseaton wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just because it’s a link to a blog? That’s the whole point of HN to like to blogs and other content. Which guideline is it breaking?

That was never "the whole point" of Ask HN posts. The standard is, and had been for years, to just post your question in the submission. That being said - I don't see anything in the guidelines addressing that.