Great job. One should always do the best work possible. If this means someone else rejects your efforts, it'll still be a tangible satisfactory memory that, like this specific example, could turn into something more.
I turned my interview task for Google into a startup
11–20 of 615 posts
Re: I turned my interview task for Google into a startup
#12Awesome to read about you turning this into your own startup.
One thing I came to think about regarding the "4-5 hours" and throwing 5 working days on it, is that, maybe as an interviewer it is quite obvious that you put more than 4-5 hours into it and what they were "really" after were the trade-offs you would have made if you put 4-5 hours into it. Just a thought.
Re: I turned my interview task for Google into a startup
#13> You have ‘4–6 hours’ to design a slick product, with a memorable brand and cohesive working method. No one acknowledges the fact that in reality, you’re about to dedicate up to 5 working days on this task, with the potential for them to ghost you straight afterwards. To make this more fair, why not let the designer work at the company's office, so the interviewer can actually see how much time it took, and the inte…
>> advised that we should spend no more that 3–5 hours on the task I have to wonder if they didn't get the position because they spent more than the advised time for the task.
No one could do what they ask in 3-5 hours. At this point they are not testing your ability, they are testing your commitment.
Re: I turned my interview task for Google into a startup
#14Awesome to read about you turning this into your own startup. One thing I came to think about regarding the "4-5 hours" and throwing 5 working days on it, is that, maybe as an interviewer it is quite obvious that you put more than 4-5 hours into it and what they were "really" after were the trade-offs you would have made if you put 4-5 hours into it. Just a thought.
Not Google, but similar company and can confirm. If you spend 5x the amount of time we suggest, it’s obvious and the expectations scale a lot, lot higher than if you just spent 5 hours.
Re: I turned my interview task for Google into a startup
#15> You have ‘4–6 hours’ to design a slick product, with a memorable brand and cohesive working method. No one acknowledges the fact that in reality, you’re about to dedicate up to 5 working days on this task, with the potential for them to ghost you straight afterwards. To make this more fair, why not let the designer work at the company's office, so the interviewer can actually see how much time it took, and the inte…
These tests are being used as a pre-filter to avoid the expense of bringing someone into the office.
Re: I turned my interview task for Google into a startup
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's what's I thought too. At one of the companies I interviewed at, we had a programming task that could take max 4 hours. The interview was at the company itself. Less convenient for people who have a different job at the same time though.
I won't spend half a day in your building without being paid. At home, I can split the task. Beside, 4 hours task is a bad joke. I interview at a lot of different companies. I have no time for this.
I can offer different perspective here: what about a task which also has some value for you? I rarely give tasks to candidates and only in cases where otherwise good candidate is not familiar with our technology stack. The task in that case is to build a proof of concept on that stack and requires fast learning and general understanding of software architecture. I always give detailed feedback on completed solutions. Even if the candidate was not selected, they still can take something from it and won’t consider it wasted time.
Re: I turned my interview task for Google into a startup
#17Are you sure you didn't sign any NDA, preventing you from working on ideas you might get during interview? Google used to have pretty water-tight policy on outflow of ideas (but inflow was encouraged) during interviews.
Re: I turned my interview task for Google into a startup
#18> You have ‘4–6 hours’... No one acknowledges the fact that in reality, you’re about to dedicate up to 5 working days on this task
I fixed that problem for my candidates then turned it into a startup:
Re: I turned my interview task for Google into a startup
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
I won't spend half a day in your building without being paid. At home, I can split the task. Beside, 4 hours task is a bad joke. I interview at a lot of different companies. I have no time for this.
I can offer different perspective here: what about a task which also has some value for you? I rarely give tasks to candidates and only in cases where otherwise good candidate is not familiar with our technology stack. The task in that case is to build a proof of concept on that stack and requires fast learning and general understanding of software architecture. I always give detailed feedback on completed solutions.…
I would never spend 4 hours on a task after hours for a company I'm interviewing for, that is my time and I value my work life balance. It is my humble opinion that a serious interview should take max 1 hour.
Re: I turned my interview task for Google into a startup
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's what's I thought too. At one of the companies I interviewed at, we had a programming task that could take max 4 hours. The interview was at the company itself. Less convenient for people who have a different job at the same time though.
They are not selecting for individuals with an ability to do the job, punch out at the right time, and then live their lives. Corporations love obsessive-compulsive workers who feel thankful to have the job, are willing to sacrifice personal time towards their business goals and would never dream to unionize or otherwise engage in collective bargaining. They want solitary and competitive workaholics, that's the whole…
You are selecting for people who make it impossible to realistically plan deadlines.