The technical interview is an ego trip • Hacker News Board

Re: The technical interview is an ego trip

#31

Post by zamfi » Fri, Sep 11, 2020, 9:37 PM UTC

kowsheek wrote: post #19

TheCapn wrote: post #10

This was my take on interviewing with Amazon at one point a long while ago. The initial interview itself was pretty straight forward, but it seemed like every answer I gave was "wrong" because the interviewer was looking for key phrases instead of understanding of the concepts. We talked about hashing, and when he asked if I knew what hashing was I said sure, its a one-way function to create a unique identifier. He a…

I'm sorry you had to experience that, I know how you might feel :( That data structures and algorithm book and course is the root of so much distasteful smugness in the tech world, it's really bizarre. [Edit]: It's almost like it was the first course we found very difficult so we should that imprint of challenge on everyone else.

The word I think you’re looking for is “hazing”

Re: The technical interview is an ego trip

#32

Post by globular-toast » Fri, Sep 11, 2020, 9:38 PM UTC

paxys wrote: post #4

Is it already that time of the week again?

Does this mean it's also time for another "you don't have to program as a hobby" post again?

Re: The technical interview is an ego trip

#33

Post by hanoz » Fri, Sep 11, 2020, 9:38 PM UTC

So I've always wondered about these leetcode interviews, having never suffered one myself, if you're given one you've seen before, are you still supposed to pretend you're working it out from first principles?

Re: The technical interview is an ego trip

#34

Post by ng12 » Fri, Sep 11, 2020, 9:38 PM UTC

TheCapn wrote: post #10

This was my take on interviewing with Amazon at one point a long while ago. The initial interview itself was pretty straight forward, but it seemed like every answer I gave was "wrong" because the interviewer was looking for key phrases instead of understanding of the concepts. We talked about hashing, and when he asked if I knew what hashing was I said sure, its a one-way function to create a unique identifier. He a…

I had a similar experience with Amazon many years ago but my takeaway was "don't work at Amazon" not "don't do technical interviews". I've had great technical interviews (Google, Square) and terrible ones (Amazon, Stripe). Companies you want to work for are cognizant of this and spend time developing their process and training their interviewers to make sure their experience is one of the good ones.

Re: The technical interview is an ego trip

#35

Post by umvi » Fri, Sep 11, 2020, 9:39 PM UTC

TheCapn wrote: post #10

This was my take on interviewing with Amazon at one point a long while ago. The initial interview itself was pretty straight forward, but it seemed like every answer I gave was "wrong" because the interviewer was looking for key phrases instead of understanding of the concepts. We talked about hashing, and when he asked if I knew what hashing was I said sure, its a one-way function to create a unique identifier. He a…

I don't take crap like this from interviewers.

One time an interviewer asked me "how would you go about counting the ridges of a US quarter?"

I rattled off some ideas about counting the ridges in an arc and then multiplying to get total ridges but the interviewer kept prodding and eventually ended the question and said he was looking for me to say "google it" (I didn't realize it was a known, fixed number).

I just rolled my eyes and laughed and said "Huh, good one, but how would you go about counting the ridges of a foreign coin assuming it's freshly minted and the number of ridges is unknown?" The interviewer shifted uncomfortably and just said "yeah, I'd probably do something like what you said - count the ridges in an arc and multiply..."

(i.e. "if you are going to give me bogus lateral thinking puzzles to test my competence I'm going to fire them back to see how you handle them")

Re: The technical interview is an ego trip

#36

Post by minimaxir » Fri, Sep 11, 2020, 9:39 PM UTC

aphextron wrote: post #9

paxys wrote: post #4

Is it already that time of the week again?

We should just have a template to fill out for these posts

Following the other comments, I gave GPT-3 the prompt:

A post titled "The Technical Interview Is an Ego Trip" was submitted to tech forum Hacker News.

Here are the comments on that submission:

Here are the unedited/uncurated results:

---

"The interview process is really more of an ego trip for the interviewer, and the interviewee is just the means of satisfying that need."

"The most common reason I see people getting technical interviews is to satisfy the ego of the interviewer."

"I have been on both sides of the table and I can honestly say that the interview process is mostly about the ego of the interviewer. And that is a shame."

"I have done many interviews, and can say that, with a few exceptions, the vast majority of them are ego trips."

"The technical interview is a big ego trip for the interviewer."

"I am not sure how many times I have heard a manager say that he likes the technical interview process because it gives him a chance to meet technical people."

"While the 'ego trip' comment might be a bit of an overstatement, interviewing is a skill and a process that, like any other, should be improved over time."

"I have never really gotten the feeling that a technical interview is done for the benefit of the candidate."

"Once you realize that you're not actually interviewing for a job, you'll find the process a lot less stressful."

"I don't think the 'ego trip' term is a fair description. First of all, I am not interviewing for my ego."

---

Re: The technical interview is an ego trip

#37

Post by mwfunk » Fri, Sep 11, 2020, 9:39 PM UTC

ng12 wrote: post #16

Articles like this always underestimate how many bullshit artists there are out there. The technical interview is not perfect but it is still far more meritocratic than many fields.

It is utterly shocking how many bullshitters show up for interviews. I'm sure it varies by company and industry, but a fair chunk of interviewing is weeding out bullshitters.

Re: The technical interview is an ego trip

#38

Post by 2bitencryption » Fri, Sep 11, 2020, 9:39 PM UTC

syspec wrote: post #24

ng12 wrote: post #16

Articles like this always underestimate how many bullshit artists there are out there. The technical interview is not perfect but it is still far more meritocratic than many fields.

This, so much this! If it sounds crazy, it is because you're not a BS artist yourself, so it is hard to put yourself in that mindset. I have friends who fall into this category, and they would be the first to admit they bullshited their way into FANG

that just sounds like imposter syndrome with a different face on it.

Re: The technical interview is an ego trip

#39

Post by davidhyde » Fri, Sep 11, 2020, 9:40 PM UTC

> “Often, I will give them a scenario where the processes are failing the team to find what they would do to tackle inefficiencies and if they would be willing to speak up.“

While the intention here is good you are unlikely to get an accurate answer from the candidate using this method because the candidate “should” tell you what you want to hear rather than what they would do in reality. You basically want to find out how the developer delivers criticism. Do they bruise egos or are they tactful or do they simply stay silent.

A better approach is allowing a candidate to demonstrate how they offer criticism. Give them a codebase to read and make sense of and ask them to explain it to you. Ask them to to point out parts that could be better designed. You can gather a lot of information this way. 1. Can the candidate read a foreign codebase and make sense of it. 2. Can the candidate pick up business logic from the code. 3. Does the candidate offer criticism that is likely to make another developer defensive or are they more guarded with their communication and offer higher level design alternatives.

Re: The technical interview is an ego trip

#40

Post by phnofive » Fri, Sep 11, 2020, 9:40 PM UTC

globular-toast wrote: post #29

I had the strangest technical interview recently. I didn't get an offer, but in every case where that's happened before it's been obvious to me where my deficiencies lie (which I then use to improve in that area). This time I learnt nothing. It was six individual one-to-one interviews, back to back. The first five were an ego trip for me . I was able to do everything perfectly it seems: read code, write code, talk ab…

If the whole thing was coordinated, that’s messed up; I wonder if it was a coincidence and #6 was testing your mettle, or even just genuinely disagreed.

What did you do when he said no?