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Interview advice that got me offers

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Re: Interview advice that got me offers

#291

Post by valenterry »

mdorazio wrote: post #168
saagarjha wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It limits your options down . If you say you're looking for $100/hour, and the recruiter was planning on giving you $150/hour…guess what offer you're going to get?

It also saves you huge amounts of time dealing with bullshit recruiters and companies. And if your ask is off by 50% then you did a shit job of understanding your actual market value in the first place and will hopefully do a better job in the future.

As if there would be an "actual market value". There isn't one number. Maybe there is a company out there that you perfectly match with and which is ready to pay you twice of what other would pay you.

Re: Interview advice that got me offers

#292

Post by siva7 »

aidenn0 wrote: post #231
valarauko wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is surprising to me, but more pertinently, how often is this the case? Even if expectations don't match, how often do you actually undercut the recruiter's expectations? I would think most people would have a reasonable ballpark idea of what the recruiter has in mind - so just overshoot and then get negotiated down from there. The suggested tactic only really makes sense to me if you frequently expect to be unde…

Young engineers often undercut their value by a lot. That's part of why they are popular

True. juniors dont know their market value and that makes it easy to get them stuck in low-paying jobs

Re: Interview advice that got me offers

#293

Post by scoot_718 »

rkachowski wrote: post #36
klenwell wrote: post #16

One additional tip on recruiters: have a cheat sheet ready (web page or public Google doc) that answers the basic questions they'll have for you and makes clear your expectations. Here's the info I ask them to provide: - Job Title and Salary - Job Description - Company Overview and Location - Steps in Hiring Process Whenever I'm emailed by a recruiter, I politely thank them for reaching out, paste the link to the che…

Do you find that recruiters will typically give you a salary range beyond "competitive" before you've started the interview process?

If all they say is "competitive" then they're refusing to compete on salary.

Re: Interview advice that got me offers

#294

Post by AYBABTME »

Answerawake wrote: post #244
908B64B197 wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The serious ones do. There are a lot of recruiters on the market. But it's really no different than the market for lawyers; the median lawyer is a very poor man but the average lawyer is rich. If they can't put a number on the table, they are probably one of those that tries to run a volume game, which I think is a bad approach for engineering. Basically spamming and not giving any info until they get their quotas. T…

How do you end up with a network of the good ones? I have gotten my last job through a recruiter but the process sucked. He took me and my boss for a ride financially. This was in part me not getting many callbacks from any decent companies(Im in the NJ/NYC area) so I was desperate to accept and part my current manager not knowing what he should be paying for this and that type of developer. While I love my job and m…

You can reach out to companies that interest you directly, using their career page, finding people who work there and contacting them (LinkedIn, or via Twitter but preferably through an introduction), or some combination of both. You'll usually get a message back if your online presence shows some sort of proof of skills.

Re: Interview advice that got me offers

#295

Post by blub »

dcolkitt wrote: post #159
MattGaiser wrote: post #28

> Keeping those skills sharp even when you’re not job hunting. Can I just add "Leetcoder" as a part time job on my resume? It is amusing how in this industry, your ability to interview will not at all be improved by spending time doing your job unless it is algo heavy. It is a separate job entirely.

The reality is that industrial psychology has consistently found that fluid intelligence is the best predictor of job performance. Even more so than experience.[0] Whiteboard interviews are used, not because they have a lot of relevance to the job, but because they're a hard-to-fake indicator of high intelligence. Somebody who shows a lot of mental fluidity with complex data structures, almost assuredly can quickly m…

"Whiteboard interviews are used, not because they have a lot of relevance to the job, but because they're a hard-to-fake indicator of high intelligence."

By now it mostly correlates with effort spent preparing. There's dozens of web-sites, companies, consultants and message boards where one can train for those interviews. Whiteboarding is a skill like any other, it can be trained, faked, etc.

"But almost all of those qualities are easy to fake and hard to assess in a 30 minute conversation."

Perhaps it's not possible to assess somebody's future job performance in a 30m conversation.

Re: Interview advice that got me offers

#296

Post by blub »

CobrastanJorji wrote: post #262
chrisseaton wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why bother interviewing if you aren’t learning anything about the person but only about how bad your interviews are?

Interviewing should normally have two results: the candidate was able to demonstrate the appropriate skills, or the candidate was not. Not being able to demonstrate the right skills in the interview does not mean that the candidate is a bad programmer or even a bad fit for the job. It just means that I was not able to verify their bona fides in that hour. That's the difference between "that interview didn't go well"…

Why do you think that whenever we discuss interviews on HN, there's several highly upvoted comments complaining about how many incompetent people show up for interviews and how this basically makes coding interviews necessary?

I think it's because most interviewers consider people that failed their interview bad programmers.

Re: Interview advice that got me offers

#297

Post by unishark »

mdorazio wrote: post #167
kerng wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Never give a recruiter a number - there is 0 value you get out of it and it gives the company you interview for the power and you'll leave money on the table. Let them tell you. I always just say stuff like "I assume that the compensation at amazing company xyz will be competitive enough to consider"

This is terrible, outdated advice for anyone with more than a couple years experience. The value you get out of it is not wasting everyone's time when the salary available isn't even close to high enough. Decide what your minimum compensation requirement is, increase this by some percentage that would make you happy, and give that to recruiters. You will get far more out of avoiding bullshit than you will potentially…

> Additionally, remember that most independent recruiters work on some form of commission. It's in their best interest to get you more money because then they also get more money.

They may get more money total, but less money per unit time spent. Their ideal scenario is getting their commission instantly, even if it leaves some money on the table.

Re: Interview advice that got me offers

#298

Post by saberdancer »

munchbunny wrote: post #210
saberdancer wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly I tried this every time I was interviewed. Never could get them to give the first number. I probably should have been firmer but usually the pressure of the situation led to me giving a number I would be happy with.

I’m surprised that’s happening to you. I’ve never gotten pushback when I ask them to give the first number. Usually that comes with the offer letter, or comes with the numbers that the recruiter reads to you before the offer letter.

Usually they ask me first. I give them the answer of wanting to know more about the position and the company. They push back and I throw in a number I am comfortable with.

But this is usually much before offer letter.

Re: Interview advice that got me offers

#299

Post by saberdancer »

interviewer0000 wrote: post #212
saberdancer wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly I tried this every time I was interviewed. Never could get them to give the first number. I probably should have been firmer but usually the pressure of the situation led to me giving a number I would be happy with.

> I tried this every time I was interviewed. Never could get them to give the first number. "I've actually done a few of these calls at this point and i know what the best practice / right move / way to play this is, so instead of me telling you what i'm looking for i'd like you to tell me the range on your hiring document:)" and just be totally silent. Worked twice for me now.

Sounds like a total power move. I'll try to do this next time.

Re: Interview advice that got me offers

#300

Post by vmception »

> (I wanted to learn the answer for future interviews!).

This is the only advice that has ever helped me.

Technical interviewers are unoriginal and looked up and use the top google result on "programming questions for X", especially for niche roles that the company is now just hiring for.

Nowadays leetcode platforms can provide a more randomized set of problems for companies, but many many many teams and individuals will still just recycle.

I recycle answers, which is ironically closer to what I would be expected to do for the company on a day to day basis than an original answer to any academic problems.

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