71–80 of 120 posts
Sometimes the best value to the team bring a person who doesn’t know algorithms but can e.g. foresee problems or ask “stupid” questions which lead others to think differently.
My first interview was at a marketing company in Boulder, CO. They stuck me on one side of a long table with all the other developers in the other side. They proceeded to grill me on obscure gotchas and had me white board fucking solves for shit like palindromes. At one point one of the developers stood up and said “look, it’s so easy!” And proceeded to write out his obviously premeditated/optimized one liner on the…
Developers hate them because coding tests have devolved into multi-hour, unpaid assignments from which no feedback is given. It's especially bad if they are unwilling (as some seem to be) to have a short phone conversation prior to the coding test to tell you about the project.
> It's especially bad if they are unwilling (as some seem to be) to have a short phone conversation prior to the coding test to tell you about the project. I'm sympathetic. But the last time I put out a job ad I got over 100 applications for a single opening. How should companies try to narrow that to a manageable number? Just look at the CV and throw it out based on that? What do you look for on the CV that cuts out…
There's not a talent shortage in our industry nearly so much as there is a sane-hiring-practice shortage.
Maybe we should start quizzing would-be managers on these basic hiring skills before putting them in positions where they are responsible for hiring people.
I am happy for people who has energy, free time, and will to prove their abilities. I don't have the will, or energy for that. I have been working in the area like for the approx. last 2 decades. If anyone wants to validate if I can really code, can put 1 hour of their time and go over my github/gitlab profiles instead of asking 1 hour of my free time to redo what I was doing professionally. This will be counted agai…
I have over 100,000 LoC in the public domain, in over 30 repos (the ones I'm highlighting). I have architected, deployed and shepherded large-scale hybrid systems that are currently in use daily by thousands of people around the world. I have a decade of checkins and mineable Git data. I have solved every single problem that I've ever encountered; whether technical or human (I was a manager for a long time). I have c…
Developers hate them because coding tests have devolved into multi-hour, unpaid assignments from which no feedback is given. It's especially bad if they are unwilling (as some seem to be) to have a short phone conversation prior to the coding test to tell you about the project.
> It's especially bad if they are unwilling (as some seem to be) to have a short phone conversation prior to the coding test to tell you about the project. I'm sympathetic. But the last time I put out a job ad I got over 100 applications for a single opening. How should companies try to narrow that to a manageable number? Just look at the CV and throw it out based on that? What do you look for on the CV that cuts out…
The argument that you wouldn't hire a magician without asking them to do tricks is laughable. Magicians are hired on their reputation. Like all professionals - doctor, lawyer, even plumber. You don't say "Doc, treat my bunion first, then I'll see if I want you to work on my cancer". Its preposterous. Except coders get asked. One fool writes this idea down in a blog somewhere, and we're all saddled with it for a gener…
Was that not Google? I mean I have never seen it in reality; like you, I would not entertain that kind of nonsense and no-one has ever asked me, but did this happen at scale before Google became famous for it?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't know about the US but here in the UK paying someone for a coding test is actually not as simple as it sounds. If you employ someone, even just for a half day test, you have to do a "Right to work" assessment ( https://www.gov.uk/check-job-applicant-right-to-work ) which can take up a lot of time. It's a pain in the *&^%. At my company we give candidates something to cover any expenses they've had to pay to at…
You know what else takes a lot of time and it’s a pain? Doing the dumb tests and assignments.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have over 100,000 LoC in the public domain, in over 30 repos (the ones I'm highlighting). I have architected, deployed and shepherded large-scale hybrid systems that are currently in use daily by thousands of people around the world. I have a decade of checkins and mineable Git data. I have solved every single problem that I've ever encountered; whether technical or human (I was a manager for a long time). I have c…
I'm hiring a lot at the moment, I have multiple interviews every day, we had 100s of candidates, but not a single one had more than a getting-started project on their GitHub profile. I'd take open source code any day over our coding exercise, but I cannot hire people without seeing some code first.
Also don't you have an onsite technical interview process that you use to assess the candidates abilities which invalidates any need for online coding tests?
If you can't answer yes to these questions. Unfortunately you are part of the problem.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
While I completely agree (and sympathize) with this frustration, there are two things I want to point out. 1. If you can do all these things, then it really won't take that long to freshen up your your white board skills so that you can solve a variety of algorithmic problems easily in code on a whiteboard. If you really want to work for at a FAANG-style place, then just divert your energy for a bit into practicing w…
The takeaway here isn't for people looking for these jobs (yes you can bite the bullet and conform to any stupid process) but rather for hiring managers that if you actually want what you say you want (diversity, hiring for ability to do the work, etc) then you should not be hiring in this stupid broken way that we all know doesn't work and doesn't give you those things.
They don't; what they say they want is pure PR aimed at creating an image of both fit to the perceived culture of the developer community and compliance with the law.
> then you should not be hiring in this stupid broken way that we all know doesn't work and doesn't give you those things
Of course. The fact that they continue to do despite the fact that it is well-known not to produce what their PR says they want is pretty compelling evidence that their PR is nothing more than that. But as long as enough people are willing to both play the game and believe the PR, there's no incentive to change.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The problem with this approach is that interview nerves don't just stop you from writing complicated algorithms, they often cause people to forget or stutter over trivial/simplistic stuff like syntax or popular APIs. For example, recently I did a simple algorithmic coding test in JavaScript. The overall logic I wrote was completely correct, but there were two issues: (1) I accidentally missed a function call (which I…
Do more interviews. It’s the only way to get used to it.