Don’t do interviews, do discussions • Hacker News Board

Re: Don’t do interviews, do discussions

#101

Post by baal80spam » Sun, Nov 07, 2021, 10:25 PM UTC

airpoint wrote: post #76

> Use "We" instead of "you" because it feels more inclusive and it is. For example, ask a question as "Suppose we have this problem to solve. How would we go about doing that?" Oh god how much I hate this! It’s misused by (some) managers so much these days, it’s infuriating. For me it has the very opposite effect than the intended inclusivity.

On a tangent - to this day I can't stomach when Windows talks about itself in plural ("We are setting things up"). It started around Windows 10 and I hate it.

Ugh...

Re: Don’t do interviews, do discussions

#102

Post by akomtu » Sun, Nov 07, 2021, 10:26 PM UTC

xyzelement wrote: post #74

CalRobert wrote: post #26

I've finally reached a point in my career where I have a great paying job and like it well enough, and really don't give a shit what interviewers think. Paradoxically, I think I interview a lot better. I can steer conversation towards stuff I care about, and if they insist on being annoying, just thank them for their time and leave. Though this might just be a result of being pickier about who I interview with. If no…

>> "honestly I'm really happy where I am, but every man has his price, what can you offer?" does wonders. I would be very surprised if you say literally this and get results. No self-respecting company or manager is going to invest in talking to you if you describe yourself so overtly mercenary. Obviously, when you're happy where you are, money is part of the equation to get you to move, but making it seem like the o…

Companies don't have self-respect and competent managers are necesserarily hypocritical, but your point is right for another reason: someone who speaks truth to power like that won't fit a typical team of hypocrites. A hiring manager would think: "if this dude disrespects my authority now, why is he going to respect it later? better to hire that less stellar candidate who at least will be manageable."

Re: Don’t do interviews, do discussions

#103

Post by cema » Sun, Nov 07, 2021, 10:27 PM UTC

metters wrote: post #5

Not the main topic of the article, but in my opinion an interview/discussion also is supposed to answer another (third) question: Does the company fulfill the expectations of the potential employee? Not only the candidate has to sell their own service/skill during the interview/discussion, the company is being evaluated, too.

One of the business for interviewers our company has is to leave a good impression even on a weak candidate. This makes for an overall better experience and, should the candidate become a better fit in the future, we do not want to lose them.

Re: Don’t do interviews, do discussions

#104

Post by b20000 » Sun, Nov 07, 2021, 10:29 PM UTC

kube-system wrote: post #57

austincheney wrote: post #45

The biggest challenge with software interviews is that you don’t know when to lie. The process is maximally biased and so you have maximum incentive to lie. The only reason to not lie is reputation damage in the highly unlikely case you are caught. In the end you are either hired for more money or you are just wasting your time as a candidate. Most of us really want to be as honest as possible, not just because we ar…

Maybe this works in big companies, but many small companies that I’ve worked at, you’d be caught, even lying on silly little things. The people reading your resume are the same ones you’re going to be working beside, and they’ll absolutely ask you about things you said you knew. And once they find out that you lied about your volunteering experience at your local little league team, your whole resume goes under the m…

what is it with lying on resumes? is that a thing? i went through some interviews a while ago. everyone assumed i lied on my resume without any basis to do so.

Re: Don’t do interviews, do discussions

#105

Post by midasuni » Sun, Nov 07, 2021, 10:29 PM UTC

jstx1 wrote: post #15

"Discussion interviews" can suck because they're a lie. You're still being examined, and now you have to pretend that you aren't being examined in addition to performing well. Some of my best interviewing experiences have been when as part of the interview I ended up having a discussion about something. But the interview didn't explicitly start with that format in mind. Some of the worst interviewing interviewing exp…

You’re being examined at an interview, but you’re also examining the person you may choose to work for. If you don’t need to take the job you’re in a much more powerful position and you can have an honest discussion to come to a mutually beneficial arrangement.

Re: Don’t do interviews, do discussions

#106

Post by brailsafe » Sun, Nov 07, 2021, 10:32 PM UTC

01100011 wrote: post #75

neeleshs wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm honestly curious to know. Can you say more about what your current work entails?

HPC programming library. It has to be fast, correct, secure and has strong compatibility guarantees so design decisions can have never ending repercussions. Previous to this job I laughed at the goofy CS questions asked in interviews. "I've been doing this 30 years and never needed A* or a graph algorithm." I have to retract that statement now. Not that the modern coding interview isn't a little overdone, but there i…

How did you transition between the previous state you describe and when you found success getting into your current role, in terms of prepping to do that sort of testing, as well as motivation?

I'm very close to 30 now, and have been burnt out enough times that it's a struggle to imagine how I could care about tech enough to attempt to re-transition into almost only caring about sort of climbing that ladder.

Re: Don’t do interviews, do discussions

#107

Post by isbvhodnvemrwvn » Sun, Nov 07, 2021, 10:34 PM UTC

sillysaurusx wrote: post #46

SkyPuncher wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The flip side is it will often get you dropped out of most interview funnels since you're likely to be a waste of time.

Quite the opposite. Companies fight that much harder to get a candidate they know is valuable.

That's true, if you have something to show for your value. You do sometimes get candidates who are very full of themselves but whose record track is not impressive, trying to use their confidence to skip past the interviews.

Re: Don’t do interviews, do discussions

#108

Post by dtoms » Sun, Nov 07, 2021, 10:34 PM UTC

flyinglizard wrote: post #90

jstx1 wrote: post #15

"Discussion interviews" can suck because they're a lie. You're still being examined, and now you have to pretend that you aren't being examined in addition to performing well. Some of my best interviewing experiences have been when as part of the interview I ended up having a discussion about something. But the interview didn't explicitly start with that format in mind. Some of the worst interviewing interviewing exp…

I interview quite a bit of people. I always do it in a laid back, conversational style. When I ask technical questions, somewhere towards the middle or end of the session, I do it because I just want to know that the person I talked with understands some fundamentals (it's never a tricky question; just something basic like creating some threads, etc). I talk with them about their previous work, stuff they're proud of…

threading is your basic question at the end of an interview?

Re: Don’t do interviews, do discussions

#109

Post by isoos » Sun, Nov 07, 2021, 10:35 PM UTC

geoduck14 wrote: post #91

CalRobert wrote: post #26

I've finally reached a point in my career where I have a great paying job and like it well enough, and really don't give a shit what interviewers think. Paradoxically, I think I interview a lot better. I can steer conversation towards stuff I care about, and if they insist on being annoying, just thank them for their time and leave. Though this might just be a result of being pickier about who I interview with. If no…

>I've finally reached a point in my career where I have a great paying job and like it well enough, and really don't give a shit what interviewers think. I've interviewed people who have resched this point. It makes for a chill interview. In some cases, the interviewee is overly "chill" and is bored with the challenges described in the job. I prefer to hire people who are EXCITED about the challenges they will face i…

It is much better to face boring challenges with interesting people than interesting challenges with boring people. Maybe focusing on the team would excite these kind of persons.

Re: Don’t do interviews, do discussions

#110

Post by akomtu » Sun, Nov 07, 2021, 10:37 PM UTC

tchalla wrote: post #49

In the attempt of bias removal, interviewers now want to ask the same question to everyone and leave the effort to the interviewer. Take for example, the standard behavioural question which is expected to answer in a STAR format [0]. The question will go as "Tell me about a time you did .... ". Now, it all sounds fine and dandy but you are basically offloading everything to the poor interviewee. You want them to (1)…

Don't experienced candidates know that behavioral questions is bs and just make things up on the fly? You ask them about a conflict in past, they invent a story about a small disagreement with coworkers that got resolved in a model textbook way, leaving everyone better and wiser? It's not a deposition under oath, after all.