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I turned my interview task for Google into a startup

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

#601

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My same question. If we make terribly biased decisions, why would something with those biases baked in make any better decisions? Maybe because they're faster?

You train the AI based on outcomes, not based on humans' judgments of what they expect outcomes to be.

But if your training data is based on previous decisions made using human bias, you're in trouble.

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

#602
post #41

This reminds me of a take home software engineering interview I was once given via email. Same deal, I was told about 5 hours. I’m an iOS developer, so I was expecting a pretty simple app. I opened the PDF to find not one, but three separate tasks. Completion of all three was expected, with an estimate of about two hours each. One of the tasks was to replicate Apple’s ‘Reminders’ app in its entirety, backend sync fun…

Apple's Reminders app is so glitchy that your interview task probably would've been vastly superior to the actual consumer product.

Not Reminders, but Apple's calendar system torpedoed my Apple interview. Didn't properly account for the fact that my interviewer was in China and I wasn't. It got the time of day right, but he called me a day before my interview time while I was in class because it was tomorrow in China.

He let me reschedule for later that day but seemed hostile and grumpy throughout the whole thing. Didn't get the next round.

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

#603

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We did this at my company. A developer at the level that that developer was applying for would do a task that took them 2-4 hours. We then gave the interviewee four days to complete the task with a recommended time of 2 days. We also always made sure to include the weekend in the time they had to complete the task as we know during the week time is precious.

A two day take-home coding test is absurd regardless of whether it's the weekend

These days they don't give you pass even if you ace the take home test.

Apparently its got something to do with the whole team getting together and publicly code reviewing your assignment. And if they feel like the code doesn't fit even to the exact size per their liking, its a reject.

I have had a similar experience, where a perfectly done assignment with unit and functional tests, documentation and all the bells and whistles, It took me two full sleepless nights to get it done. But apparently they rejected, for me not using a specific design pattern which one reviewer likes.

It's absurd to the point of disbelief.

Trust me the take home assignment is a sham. People inside get their friends and alumni hired with no hassles. They only give you these tests because they need reasons to reject you.

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

#604
post #589

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course not - but plenty did.

And now he's very, very, dead, earlier than he would have been naturally. On top of that, history will not remember him fondly. Hardly a success story, in my opinion.

well he was the leader for 24 years and outlasted pretty much all democratic leaders from in his time. I'm not saying I recommend doing what he did and you are right history will definitely not remember him fondly along with many other cruel leaders. But his tactic was effective and I'd say you could argue that he would have been the leader much longer if he hadn't pissed the west off in 91 and if 9/11 hadn't happened.

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

#605
post #395

Earlier quoted context omitted.

how many of them did you exercise in the last 6 months/5 years I'm 5/7 out of 22, +2 if I go back a decade or two

6 months seems too short, but in 5 years the only ones I haven't done are plan an invasion (how many people out of billions have?), butcher a hog specifically (fish though), design a whole building (designed and built a.. room.. for purposes.. no small or simple task), written a sonnet specifically (other creative writing), set a bone, pitch manure (bagged it, also bailed hay, grew food, etc.), fight physically, or d…

> (I count 21 total not 22)

lol tyop , I also count 21

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

#606
post #395

Earlier quoted context omitted.

6 months seems too short, but in 5 years the only ones I haven't done are plan an invasion (how many people out of billions have?), butcher a hog specifically (fish though), design a whole building (designed and built a.. room.. for purposes.. no small or simple task), written a sonnet specifically (other creative writing), set a bone, pitch manure (bagged it, also bailed hay, grew food, etc.), fight physically, or d…

Anyone who's played a strategy game has planned an invasion.

Oh sweet child, no. Maybe: planned an offsite

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

#607

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be useful for discriminating between competent candidates, a challenge has to either be hard to complete (pass based on completion) or hard to complete to a high standard of quality (pass based on completion+quality). In other words, it has to be at the limits of what's possible for people you expect to apply for the job. If you give me a 2 hour challenge with a timer so I can't possibly take more than 2 hours, I'…

> To be useful for discriminating between competent candidates, I helped redesign the code challenge at one of the companies I worked for. We (the people across the different technical disciplines we hired for) put a lot of effort into ensuring that: * the challenge could be completed in 4 hours * the challenge resembled the sort of work people would do on the job * the goal of the challenge was to inform a follow up…

Are you at liberty to elaborate what the discarded longer challenge was?

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

#608
This sentences stuck with me and clearly illustrates how screwed, unhuman, and selfish hiring is in this business

"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."

I was ghosted by AirBNB once, and I'm fine with not being good enough, but no feedback and never a response was pretty freaking rude. You ask me to do a task, i put part of myself into do it, and then no response, ever. I'm glad they never responded, i don't want to work for a soulless company such as that.

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

#609
post #584

I love take-home assignments. Especially reasonably scoped ones. They allow me to show off my skills. However, my opinion is that it should be paid labor. Give me a day of work and pay me to do it. This values my time, it actually doesn't add all the much more to the hiring expense (all that engineer interview time, resume review time, etc is expensive!), and it makes sure you are screening out early and often and no…

I don't like takehome assignments because my current employer's moonlighting policies mean I can't do them. Ideally that wouldn't be a legal policy for my company to enforce, but that's the reality for me right now.

interesting, didn't think about that.

From a practical perspective, I'm not sure that spending 20 hours+ working on something for free is any more/less likely to make you less productive at work than doing it for pay, but I see where the letter of the law comes in.

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

#610
post #594

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah I don’t understand the question either :( I’m very interested to here the full problem and solution

Personally, I'd like to see a careful statement of the full problem but not the solution :-).

From the engineer:

"The current statement of the problem is that you have n participants, with 6 slots (1 loaded) in their revolver, each firing to the person on the right."

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