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Interview advice that got me offers

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Re: Interview advice that got me offers

#321

Post by scsilver »

deckard1 wrote: post #219
st1x7 wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They are a nice way to filter people who are not willing to spend a lot of time studying challenges to have job interviews though. They filter for general problem solving skills. Whether you acquired those skills through a degree, self-study, a week of leetcode or 3 months of leetcode will be up to your individual background and aptitude. It's a hiring process - filtering for something is the whole point. Personall…

They filter for memorization. Most leetcode problems you will not be able to solve in the allotted time without first being familiar with the problem or one very similar to it. Because most of those problems (and many CS algorithms) hinge on a certain "trick" to solving them. The way to pass a leetcode interview is to know exactly what the interviewer is asking and then pretend like you've never seen this problem bef…

Or they are just seeing how well your pattern recognition and subsequent application of an efficient solution. The problem is our industry is full of people who put their whole self worth on intelligence and then pick learned skills to judge anyone too harshly that hasn't worked through algo and data structures. You miss alot of smart and great engineers who don't have that skill set. But for hiring, its about reducing false positives. So you might as well ignore those who dont atleast have that algo/ds toolkit.

Re: Interview advice that got me offers

#323

Post by pbrb »

xyzelement wrote: post #197
hnrodey wrote: post #131

Has anyone here pivoted from software engineer to software engineering recruiter? Curious or yours (or anyones for that matter) thoughts on this topic. It's a move I've considered just to keep my career interesting.

Closest I have come is managing a lot of recruiting (but still from the engineering side) and I know a few very senior folks who started their own headhunting firms - it's an obvious move given their vast network. I don't know for sure but I suspect most recruiters make a LOT less than the roles they are recruiting for, since generally the skills to make a good recruiter are easier available than those that make an e…

I personally know an engineer who started his own recruiting firm and is making much, much more money than he did as an IC engineer. He also has built a business that he can sell one day.

Re: Interview advice that got me offers

#324

Post by dbcurtis »

chestervonwinch wrote: post #190
caffeine wrote: post #142

I think the most valuable thing to know about interviewing is: go in to interviews already holding a job offer. So to be clear I'm saying: interview at companies you don't like until you get an offer. THEN rush the recruiters at companies you do like to get you scheduled quickly, because you are holding an offer and they don't want to miss out. This lights recruiters and hiring managers on fire. It makes sure you hav…

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like there would a substantial amount of luck involved in getting schedules and offers to line up just right like this.

IMO as a practical matter the way to manage this is to have an a active pipeline and manage your callendar to pull the B-grade opportunities earlier and push out the A-grade opportunities. Telling a recruiter “I am actively talking to a couple other companies” is usually an accelerant and seeds FOMO.

So, I agree with you that it takes some luck. But good strategy makes you ready for whatever luck happens. Play backgammon, not chess.

Re: Interview advice that got me offers

#325

Post by Leherenn »

mgh2 wrote: post #315
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.

Read the article: it mentions to ask back the recruiter with the same question. Now I ask back with “what is the total compensation for this position/role?”. I almost always get an answer, often above my expectations. I used to give my range (mistake)

I assume this is something which is going to be very region/industry dependant. I have done the exact same thing multiple times, never had an answer.

When they answer "no, we want you to give a number first", I'm at loss about what to do, so I usually give them a number. Answering "no, you" feels kinda puerile.

I assume you have to be the first to do the power play?

Re: Interview advice that got me offers

#326

Post by uh_uh »

RogerL wrote: post #230
uh_uh wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doing well on whiteboard interviews can be a sign of high intelligence (a true positive result). But what signal does doing poorly on them give? Did you measure the candidate's intelligence (true negative), or preparedness maybe anxiety levels (false negative)? I guess the answer is that it does not matter as long as you have a large enough true positive candidate pool. And FAANG has this.

Sure it matters. Who doesn't do well due to stress? I think you'll find women, minorities and basically a lot of people outside of the cultural norm/majority do poorly. That's not an argument that you can eliminate test anxiety, but certainly if we can reduce it without destructively eliminating the high value candidate pool we should do so.

What you are saying is an ethical/moral consideration and it is a valid one. When I said it doesn't matter, I meant that FAANG is commercially not incentivised to account for the anxiety factor. Even if they miss out on good candidates due to their anxiety, they can still choose from plenty of good candidates who don't suffer from anxiety. Given how many people are aspiring to join FAANG, I'd assume it's a buyer's market for these companies.

Re: Interview advice that got me offers

#327

Post by deeeeplearning »

chollida1 wrote: post #226
doggosphere wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Defensibly anecdotally. Perhaps you have seen a classroom full of engineering students?

I am an engineer, have an engineering degree. Fully disagree with your assertion. I'll fall back on my anecdotal evidence of the monthly keg parties that the engineering department threw to counter your example. Again the statement that most engineers are introverted is in no way defensible and its insulting to try and group us all together like that.

>Again the statement that most engineers are introverted is in no way defensible and its insulting to try and group us all together like that.

Of course its defensible. From the abstract: "Engineers scored higher on Tough-Mindedness and Intrinsic Motivation; but lower on Assertiveness, Conscientiousness, Customer Service Orientation, Emotional Stability, Extraversion, Image Management, Optimism, Visionary Style, and Work Drive."

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S09234...

Re: Interview advice that got me offers

#328

Post by mlthoughts2018 »

sgerenser wrote: post #306
mlthoughts2018 wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The best paying tech jobs I’ve had did not ask leetcode style hazing questions. I earn more and feel more valued at a mid size e-commerce company than I ever did previously working for FAANG or quant finance forms. I think the high wage allure of those companies only applies to very junior engineers. Once you have 4 years of experience, if you’re good, lots of places will pay FAANG levels of total comp, and most won’…

Are you in the US? There’s not many companies outside of FAANG (and the FAANG-alike like Uber and Snapchat) that pay software devs with 5-10 years of experience over $300k/year. Perhaps financial companies in NYC?

I am in the US. Most midrange ecommerce companies will meet that total comp. I’ve had total comp north of that working for not-name-brand stock photography companies, education tech companies, payment processors and online shop / storefront companies.

Re: Interview advice that got me offers

#329

Post by ipnon »

xyzelement wrote: post #192
deedubaya wrote: post #189

I wonder how many, if any, great software engineers simply let their careers stall out because they don't want to deal with the ceremony around tech hiring.

Same kind of person who never finds a partner because of the "ceremony around" dating, I guess? In both situations, it's not like you're adding a commodity product to your Amazon shopping card. The matching is non-trivial and both parties have to recognize and commit to the effort-full process. To abstract your comment all the way out - how many people live well below their potential because they are too lazy or afra…

I like this analogy because it highlight the importance of so called soft skills in landing a job.

Walk into a first date confident but polite and full of charm and you'll have a good time. Same with job interviews, even the technical ones.

So much of getting a job is a firm handshake and speaking loud and clear.

Re: Interview advice that got me offers

#330

Post by mynameishere »

MeinBlutIstBlau wrote: post #313
dcolkitt wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

That infantryman comment is blatantly false. The literal bare minimum entry level job in the military is infantry. Like if you pass the ASVAB with the lowest score possible, you are infantry without a say in the matter. The army wants dumb people to get hit with bullets first. Then the laborer types, then the admins. Thats why those "better" jobs are harder to get.

That "lowest score possible" for the Army is a 31 percentile on the AFQT, which is a proxy for an IQ score. That means about 100 million Americans are too stupid to carry a rifle. My understanding is that the real score is actually higher than the advertised minimum.
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