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Technical interview methods pale in comparison to playing Factorio with someone

erikmcclure.com

331–340 of 358 posts

Re: Technical interview methods pale in comparison to playing Factorio with someone

#331
post #83
post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Saying satisfactory is a nicer factorio is ignoring everything that makes factorio a good game.

As someone who has played a bunch of Factorio but only heard about Satisfactory: Can you elaborate on that?

I play both. Satisfactory has more game in the sense of doing things besides designing a factory. Factorio is close to pure factory building, whereas it's like 70% in saisfactory.

Satisfactory has more elements of a traditional open-world action game (that just happens to borrow factorio's factory system).

Re: Technical interview methods pale in comparison to playing Factorio with someone

#332

Please don't. Better, I'll remove the please and go JUST DONT FUCKING DO IT. Hiring is broken because most people hiring aren't good at it and the people working in tech are pretty much idiots (I'm focusing more on SV-startup, 5hour discussion about aeropress, put people down because they chose vim or emacs - people kinds). From 'cultural' fit interviews (who the fuck cares if you are a sikh or an atheist, whiskey dr…

I understand your frustration, but I somehow need to figure out who to hire and who not to even if it can't be done reliably. I need to ask some technical questions and I need to give simple coding exercise on a coderpad. You would be surprised how many people can smooth talk themselves through any non technical person but can't do shit when faced with an actual IDE and a small problem to solve. The real broken part…

I don't know man, I don't think the coderpad thing should be your litmus test. Would looking at their github and talking over something they've written suffice? Why not? I get too nervous to code in front of someone on coderpad. It sucks, my mind goes blank. But otherwise I'm a pretty goddamn productive programmer. I've interviewed with a lot of places and the only place I could get traction with agreed to forgo the coderpad and just look my github projects over. Everyone else loved me from talking to me but were dumbfounded when the coderpad shit came up. I feel like I'm kind of fucked in this field I've worked incredibly hard for the past decade in.

Re: Technical interview methods pale in comparison to playing Factorio with someone

#333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a responsibility not to violate the law or vandalize the roads, but I don't think I have a responsibility to drive extra carefully or patch up potholes as I see them. To me, this seems like a very cynical scheme. We tell "normal people" that they, personally, ought to BUY AMERICAN to prevent jobs from moving abroad. When they eventually do, we can tell them they should've done more and that it was their fault.…

>I don't think I have a responsibility to drive extra carefully or patch up potholes as I see them. We agree. We also agree that businesses do not have the responsibility of fixing society. However, they do have the responsibility not to degrade it.

When you add in "responsibility" like that, it becomes very vague. What does it mean for a company to have morally transgressed? Does it mean that it has violated its conscience, or does it just mean that it's an unfortunate behavior we would do best to punish?

Companies are inert objects. They do not have consciences. I can't say that a company does an evil thing, any more than I can blame a rock someone else threw for hitting my head. It hurts, but I can't very well blame the rock for it. Companies are just like driftwood in the ocean; their motion is defined solely by the forces acting upon them.

What is left, then, is to suggest that society should go after the companies that don't do what we want. But this can never be done by individuals. It has to be done by unions, governments, or something of the sort. It cannot be done by the companies themselves, and it cannot be done by individuals.

When you suggest that companies are doing something wrong, and not the government for failing to regulate them, this is tantamount to suggesting that the responsibility for punishing them actually lay on the individual. But to do so makes the primary victim into the perpetrator of the aggression against him. It is a terrible thing to do.

Re: Technical interview methods pale in comparison to playing Factorio with someone

#334

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand your frustration, but I somehow need to figure out who to hire and who not to even if it can't be done reliably. I need to ask some technical questions and I need to give simple coding exercise on a coderpad. You would be surprised how many people can smooth talk themselves through any non technical person but can't do shit when faced with an actual IDE and a small problem to solve. The real broken part…

I don't know man, I don't think the coderpad thing should be your litmus test. Would looking at their github and talking over something they've written suffice? Why not? I get too nervous to code in front of someone on coderpad. It sucks, my mind goes blank. But otherwise I'm a pretty goddamn productive programmer. I've interviewed with a lot of places and the only place I could get traction with agreed to forgo the…

> Would looking at their github and talking over something they've written suffice? Why not?

For a simple reason. I don't want to select only people that have github projects. I think it is wrong.

If interviewers grade candidates based on github projects then I can bet there will be market for people to fake their projects. It is just reality.

What about creating incentive for people to work entire days, at work as well as on a private project? Is that ok?

You landed your job based on github project? Good for you.

Re: Technical interview methods pale in comparison to playing Factorio with someone

#335
post #328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> hire quickly and fire quickly This kind of mentality is not conducive to a well-functioning nation with people who have dependents and need stability.

Why? COBRA covers 3months of health insurance; ACA covers more, and unemployment insurance and severance pay gives you months to look for another. The only major problem would be relocation, so I'd suggest working a few months at a new job before relocating for it.

You have to pay the employer's share for COBRA, which is usually thousands of dollars per person per month. Right when you've lost income from the job.

Re: Technical interview methods pale in comparison to playing Factorio with someone

#336

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In France your jobseeker's allowance is 80% of the average salary of your last 12 working months. Whether your last employer was for 10 years or 10 days. It starts slowly ramping down after the second year of searching I think

French unemployment has been well above US unemployment since the 70s. This isn’t a free lunch. If the state makes employing people more expensive employers will employ fewer people.

Given sufficiently generous unemployment benefits (ie. mincome), I fail to see how that's a bad thing.

Re: Technical interview methods pale in comparison to playing Factorio with someone

#337

Earlier quoted context omitted.

French unemployment has been well above US unemployment since the 70s. This isn’t a free lunch. If the state makes employing people more expensive employers will employ fewer people.

Given sufficiently generous unemployment benefits (ie. mincome), I fail to see how that's a bad thing.

Because most people who do work are being productive, doing useful things, serving their fellows. And being unemployed if you’re of working age and without some other productive role is awful.

Unemployment is bad for society generally and for the unemployed. Maybe one day we’ll get to fully automated luxury gay space communism but France is not there. Those extra unemployed people are having their talents and productivity wasted by economic mismanagement.

Re: Technical interview methods pale in comparison to playing Factorio with someone

#338

Earlier quoted context omitted.

n=1. In addition, that individual is likely wasting mental resources gaming performance reviews, or their manager has identified their struggle and is protecting them from the ceremony. Systematically, Netflix is not equipped to deal with them.

Everyone either wastes mental resources gaming performance reviews or ignores them as a sideshow to actually doing a good job. The better the performance review the closer these two approaches are. Unless you have experience of Netflix’s culture and management you are less qualified to opine on whether Netflix is equipped to deal with autistic employees than someone who knows an autistic Netflix employee who is succe…

[deleted]

Re: Technical interview methods pale in comparison to playing Factorio with someone

#339

Earlier quoted context omitted.

n=1. In addition, that individual is likely wasting mental resources gaming performance reviews, or their manager has identified their struggle and is protecting them from the ceremony. Systematically, Netflix is not equipped to deal with them.

Everyone either wastes mental resources gaming performance reviews or ignores them as a sideshow to actually doing a good job. The better the performance review the closer these two approaches are. Unless you have experience of Netflix’s culture and management you are less qualified to opine on whether Netflix is equipped to deal with autistic employees than someone who knows an autistic Netflix employee who is succe…

[deleted]

Re: Technical interview methods pale in comparison to playing Factorio with someone

#340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would reverse it. The nation is not conducive to business if it can't provide healthcare and safety nets for those without work or in between jobs. In the US we are held hostage with healthcare based on our employers - if you're even lucky enough to have a stable job with benefits.

"Hire quickly and fire quickly" has other issues than healthcare and safety nets though, moving across a country and spending weeks trying to find a place to live (possibly losing money on rent because you can't find anything to buy yet) only to have to do it again in a few weeks' time is difficult. Less of an issue if you're full remote, or you provide good accommodations, I guess.

Not to mention that most apartments have mininum lease durations, and penalties for breaking said leases. So if you move for a new job, sign a one year lease (because that's all that's available, or you can't afford to pay extra for shorter terms), and then a month later you're handed a box and a security escort...
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