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Open The Beers And Wait To Be Showered With Job Applications

seatgeek.com

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Re: Open The Beers And Wait To Be Showered With Job Applications

#31

Post by kessler »

maukdaddy wrote: post #30
fshaun wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand the outrage. Some completed this in 7-8 minutes . That's quite a difference from spending hours without a result. Add a few of these problems up (which I hope are representative of actual skills) and you're looking at minutes vs. days. Sure, the aside on resources comes off a bit flippant -- but it doesn't mean it's untrue.

1. Time to complete the task is a terrible metric for white-collar, knowledge work. There are myriad factors to explain the time discrepancies, especially since there wasn't first-hand observation. If this was a job for building a widget on a factory line, then time might be a reasonable metric. 2. Using time alone as a selection criteria borders on discrimination given that some users might have sight or other physi…

To clarify - time it took to complete the challenge was never factored into the application process. We simply pulled this data because we thought it would make for an interesting metric to display in the post.

Re: Open The Beers And Wait To Be Showered With Job Applications

#32

Post by [deleted] »

pig wrote: post #24
raganwald wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could it be that the issue here is not whether they used a test to filter applicants, but the tone in which they describe their satisfaction with the result?

Did you notice that you framed your statement as a question and thereby made it more persuasive?

[deleted]

Re: Open The Beers And Wait To Be Showered With Job Applications

#33

Post by space-monkey »

kls wrote: post #11

Here's the thing though, none of the test proved anything about a person's creativity. In my opinion, the most important part of being a developer. Proper technique can be taught creativity is an instinct. I look for creative people that have creative ideas over technical challenge. Because in the end, I want to train them to work in the way that my team works anyway. I understand the need to filter out the passionle…

This test wasn't the only metric they used, it was just the initial filter. A good developer needs to be able to come up with creative solutions, but also to just get down in the dirt and analytically solve a problem. Someone that is good at both makes the best developer.

Also, you apply your cheapest/most scalable filter when your volume is the highest. If you're worried about false negatives, you open it up a little wider and deal with the false positives at a later stage.

Re: Open The Beers And Wait To Be Showered With Job Applications

#34

Post by morganpyne »

When this posting was originally made here on HN, I noted that it really reminded me of a site I loved years ago that basically taught you web security by getting you to hack your way through various levels. The site (quiz.ngsec.com) is now defunct, but for those of you who enjoy this kind of challenge I have found several copycat sites which started around the same time and still exist.

One of the more fun ones which is still around is http://www.try2hack.nl/ so if you enjoyed the job application process you'll probably have fun with this.

There's a bunch of other sites too if you're into this stuff; Here's a starting list http://www.governmentsecurity.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=... and Google will find you plenty more.

Re: Open The Beers And Wait To Be Showered With Job Applications

#35

Post by zach »

pig wrote: post #24
raganwald wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could it be that the issue here is not whether they used a test to filter applicants, but the tone in which they describe their satisfaction with the result?

Did you notice that you framed your statement as a question and thereby made it more persuasive?

It turns out that it's more effective if you do.

Re: Open The Beers And Wait To Be Showered With Job Applications

#36

Post by jack7890 »

I apologize to anyone who thought our post was callous; definitely not what we intended. Let me try to better articulate what we were trying to convey...

If you post a developer job on Monster, you're likely to get over 500 resumes. Over 95% of them (I'm using that number literally, not figuratively) are from people who shouldn't have applied if they'd read the job description carefully.

Reading through those resumes takes a vast amount of time. It makes it harder to identify the qualified applicants because they're more likely to get lost in the shuffle. It isn't fair to them. We have only three full-time developers at SeatGeek. There's a finite number of hours per week we can dedicate to reading resumes.

It isn't that I think people incapable of passing our test are "worthless", as samd says below, that's a gross mis-characterization. But we want to focus our hiring efforts on folks who are highly capable applicants, and if we read the resume of everyone who responded to a typical Monster post, then we wouldn't have the resources to do that.

Re: Open The Beers And Wait To Be Showered With Job Applications

#38

Post by borism »

3pt14159 wrote: post #22
edw519 wrote: post #2

Next challenge: trying to figure out which country goes with which color on your pie chart. Use this to screen for the designer you need.

I don't understand why people use pie charts. They are confusing, misleading, and don't fit nicely into square divs.

because that's what's often offered as default by chart drawing software? people with money love it ("the pie is getting larger!!!"), so it must be default.
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