I turned my interview task for Google into a startup • Hacker News Board

Re: I turned my interview task for Google into a startup

#431

Post by shrimp_emoji » Thu, May 16, 2019, 5:07 PM UTC

amelius wrote: post #271

amondal wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This happened to me too. A company reached out to me on Angel with their coding "challenge" - create a facebook timeline clone with an API, enzyme + selenium tests, documentation, and deploy everything to AWS. fortunately i have enough experience to say no to this kind of thing, but I do feel that some more junior folks are being exploited into thinking this sort of project is normal for an interview

Perhaps this is why (sadly) junior devs are much more likely to get hired at tech companies than older devs?

>Once one agent learns how to become more competitive by sacrificing a common value, all its competitors must also sacrifice that value or be outcompeted and replaced by the less scrupulous. Therefore, the system is likely to end up with everyone once again equally competitive, but the sacrificed value is gone forever. From a god’s-eye-view, the competitors know they will all be worse off if they defect, but from within the system, given insufficient coordination it’s impossible to avoid.[0]

0: https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/07/30/meditations-on-moloch/

Re: I turned my interview task for Google into a startup

#432

Post by EForEndeavour » Thu, May 16, 2019, 5:07 PM UTC

astura wrote: post #382

thoreauway wrote: post #305

I interviewed at Uber before they launched. Their "take home" was to create... Uber. Here's the exact challenge: UberCab Coder Challenge 1) Write a program that determines the wait time, trip time, rating, and fare for a black car trip in San Francisco, given that the customer's pickup location and destination is randomly placed anywhere in San Francisco proper, and given that there are X number of cars all placed ra…

>Write a "Hello World" app on the iPhone that for a certain driver logging in shows all of his trips taken in the last simulation, the average rating that he got, and the total fares he collected during those trips. That's not "Hello World" app, a "Hello World" app prints "Hello World." The purpose of a "Hello World" app is to demonstrate you've setup the environment correctly, nothing more. Words and terms have mean…

If I didn't know better, I'd interpret the question as a (pretty good) joke.

Re: I turned my interview task for Google into a startup

#433

Post by xiphias2 » Thu, May 16, 2019, 5:13 PM UTC

busterarm wrote: post #398

thoreauway wrote: post #305

I interviewed at Uber before they launched. Their "take home" was to create... Uber. Here's the exact challenge: UberCab Coder Challenge 1) Write a program that determines the wait time, trip time, rating, and fare for a black car trip in San Francisco, given that the customer's pickup location and destination is randomly placed anywhere in San Francisco proper, and given that there are X number of cars all placed ra…

I remember my Uber interview. My interviewer was sitting in a room full of people when they called me, asked me questions and then proceeded to have conversations with the other people in the room without listening to me and would ask me to repeat my answers. And do it again. 15 minutes of this and I hung up on them. This was about 4 years ago and the equity that I have in the company I joined instead is on an upward…

I'm sure they were acting against the policy of the company. It wasn't Uber, just an asshole guy. Every company has that.

Re: I turned my interview task for Google into a startup

#434

Post by kbenson » Thu, May 16, 2019, 5:14 PM UTC

whatshisface wrote: post #347

rimliu wrote: post #321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder what makes you think AI/ML is better.

ML can be used as an unbiased random number generator, unlike humans.

If it's a random number generator, it's not ML. If it's unbiased, it's also not ML. ML is always biased based on the data you train it with, just as any student is biased based on the information they are educated with.

Re: I turned my interview task for Google into a startup

#435

Post by Afton » Thu, May 16, 2019, 5:15 PM UTC

zymhan wrote: post #283

DoofusOfDeath wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a neat idea for the interview, but it could have caused problems, at least in the U.S., regarding labor law: Suppose the interviewee had answered, "I would work towards a proper implementation of Sharia law." or "I would start by building Christian churches and state-sponsored public preaching." or "I would start by replacing all mosques with science-and-technology museums." At that point any candidate who wasn'…

Ehh, only if there was a demonstrable pattern. You can't just sue an employer for not getting a job because you mentioned your religion as the basis for something. I mean in the US you can sue for whatever you want, but the likelihood of it happening or being an issue is quite small in this scenario.

Reminder that you want to avoid the suing not just for the risk of actual loss, but for the cost of defense.

Re: I turned my interview task for Google into a startup

#436

Post by Loughla » Thu, May 16, 2019, 5:15 PM UTC

HillRat wrote: post #239

Loughla wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is that even remotely related to the job at hand? Why would you sabotage possible good candidates just so you can get your needless debate rocks off?

It would actually be a pretty good way to see if a candidate can be persuasive, logical, able to acknowledge opposing points of view, and capable of divorcing argument from emotion on heated topics. Pretty crucial skills in the workplace!

But the problem is, that's not how it's presented. The OP stated that it was because they enjoyed having spirited debates and wanted to make sure the interviewee can hold their own (my words, not OP).

If the purpose is to do what you say, then you have to say that. If in an interview you find yourself trying to trick the people interviewing, for any reason whatsoever, you're not clever, you're a dick and your company, by extension, is a bag of dicks.

Re: I turned my interview task for Google into a startup

#437

Post by barkingcat » Thu, May 16, 2019, 5:16 PM UTC

xiphias2 wrote: post #433

busterarm wrote: post #398

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember my Uber interview. My interviewer was sitting in a room full of people when they called me, asked me questions and then proceeded to have conversations with the other people in the room without listening to me and would ask me to repeat my answers. And do it again. 15 minutes of this and I hung up on them. This was about 4 years ago and the equity that I have in the company I joined instead is on an upward…

I'm sure they were acting against the policy of the company. It wasn't Uber, just an asshole guy. Every company has that.

But that no one shut down the asshole, and that this was allowed to continue happening in an interview situation means that in addition to an asshole guy, there are also a bunch of asshole employees who don't care enough to speak up, or would rather have side conversations with the main asshole guy.

Especially when in a new hire/interview situation, HR is absolutely involved. So the HR department is also full of assholes who won't enforce the policies of the company.

Re: I turned my interview task for Google into a startup

#438

Post by andrei_says_ » Thu, May 16, 2019, 5:16 PM UTC

thoreauway wrote: post #305

I interviewed at Uber before they launched. Their "take home" was to create... Uber. Here's the exact challenge: UberCab Coder Challenge 1) Write a program that determines the wait time, trip time, rating, and fare for a black car trip in San Francisco, given that the customer's pickup location and destination is randomly placed anywhere in San Francisco proper, and given that there are X number of cars all placed ra…

A company which has no problem pushing beyond any conceivably reasonable bounds of exploitation.

A vision to push anyone who works with/for them to the maximum possible win/lose ratio. Including drivers and riders.

Re: I turned my interview task for Google into a startup

#439

Post by watfly » Thu, May 16, 2019, 5:16 PM UTC

thoreauway wrote: post #305

I interviewed at Uber before they launched. Their "take home" was to create... Uber. Here's the exact challenge: UberCab Coder Challenge 1) Write a program that determines the wait time, trip time, rating, and fare for a black car trip in San Francisco, given that the customer's pickup location and destination is randomly placed anywhere in San Francisco proper, and given that there are X number of cars all placed ra…

Did you complete this? To me this sounds like they were not looking to hire but would hire someone exceptional who goes through this task and does better than their own team did.

Re: I turned my interview task for Google into a startup

#440

Post by ldoughty » Thu, May 16, 2019, 5:16 PM UTC

distances wrote: post #335

thoreauway wrote: post #305

I interviewed at Uber before they launched. Their "take home" was to create... Uber. Here's the exact challenge: UberCab Coder Challenge 1) Write a program that determines the wait time, trip time, rating, and fare for a black car trip in San Francisco, given that the customer's pickup location and destination is randomly placed anywhere in San Francisco proper, and given that there are X number of cars all placed ra…

Having never worked in SV, are these home assignments common there? I know several engineers who would refuse to do any homework at all as a matter of principle, so a task of this magnitude without compensation sounds laughable on the face of it.

I'm on the other coast, not even in a major tech hub, and we do a take home assignment now to screen applicants.

They choose from 2 languages,and an experienced coder is done in 5-15 minutes. A fresh grad maybe 45 minutes.

The tasks have no practical work application, and are just code samples.

If they pass this and a phone screening, there is a live challenge as well -- the take home version we give people 48 hours (their choice of weekday or weekend). In person is time boxed and part of the interview, but is the very last stage and usually simple functions to rule out people that needed help to get to that point or simply had someone else do all the work (which we've already had come through our small 10 person te team)