I'll make the obvious point that these interviews were not good predictors of success at the companies. In general, I've found in 15 years of interviews that interviews are not highly correlated with the work at any given company. I wish we would move beyond cargo cult interview styles and base interviews (and screening, for that matter) on the actual work and culture of each company.
My friends who cheated in interviews are getting promoted (2022)
51–60 of 748 posts
Re: My friends who cheated in interviews are getting promoted (2022)
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
Technically, it would be better if everybody had internet access. BUT, it means that Amazon creating a selection pressure for people who cheat. Long term this will be corrosive to the organizational fiber of the corporation as idiotic unrealistic leetcode questions are to the technical fiber. Amazon has become way buggier for me over the last few years and so has Google. I think this is intimately connected to their…
I wouldn’t blame the devs for their quality issues. Try ownership.
Re: My friends who cheated in interviews are getting promoted (2022)
#53TBF I don't think this is bad. The "cheating" involved seems a closer match to the actual real world conditions of the doing the job than the artificial "no internet allowed" assessment. If the candidates can get stuff done but need the internet as a reference, that's still getting stuff done. Not surprising that they are now getting promoted given they can not only get stuff done, but were resourceful enough to find…
The goal of interviews and assignments is not to achieve an outcome but to assess someone’s abilities. Henceforth, cheating cannot be justified.
In short, the interview process worked as intended.
Re: My friends who cheated in interviews are getting promoted (2022)
#54when i took my quantum mechanics qualifier, i studied for a month, i was honest, i worked so hard. The exam was so tough (I passed), but as I was walking out I saw a student who had all the old exam questions with solutions printed out on his "table of integrals". Sure, maybe I "learned" some quantum mechanics more than that guy. But it's a topic I have never used (I do geophysics and machine learning) so I don't thi…
Re: My friends who cheated in interviews are getting promoted (2022)
#55Yes, it's fundamentally unfair to those interviewees who don't cheat. And the process is broken. However, the conclusion this person reaches - we must conduct these broken interviews in person so the cheaters can't cheat - is the wrong one. Look at it from the point of view of the hiring company now, not the interviewer. They got a person who was good enough (based on the merits of their actual work, not interview pe…
Isn't there an alternative interpretation, that the internal evaluation process is just as broken as the hiring process?
Re: My friends who cheated in interviews are getting promoted (2022)
#56Re: My friends who cheated in interviews are getting promoted (2022)
#57I'll make the obvious point that these interviews were not good predictors of success at the companies. In general, I've found in 15 years of interviews that interviews are not highly correlated with the work at any given company. I wish we would move beyond cargo cult interview styles and base interviews (and screening, for that matter) on the actual work and culture of each company.
Due to the downsides, I guess it is easier for companies to rely on standardised tests. Even just for the reason that those are easy for anyone in the company to lead the interview. But likewise it is easy for anyone to game the system.
Re: My friends who cheated in interviews are getting promoted (2022)
#58another way solution is to install what is effectively malware on candidates' computer to ensure honesty. however techies complain about privacy.
yet another is to make it so interviews are in person, and to begin to end remote work, as it is obviously easier to cheat and do things like be overemployed when you're remote. again, not acceptable.
so of course this kind of things happens. it is what it is
Re: My friends who cheated in interviews are getting promoted (2022)
#59I don't hold a firm ethical view on whether this justifies cheating in interviews. However, as noted on Blind, people do succeed in their roles after cheating. Some could even make the argument that those who deliver business value fulfil the primary expectation an employer has of them, and whatever happens at the interview might be almost irrelevant.
From my experience leading teams, people with gumption, perseverance, and great learning skills almost always outperform others long-term, making entry-level skills a worse indicator of future performance in comparison. I've never regretted hiring someone with these values.
When entering tech, I performed poorly on some technical interviews, which I'm ashamed of. Still, I received competitive offers based on potential. Some companies even skip technical panels/whiteboards for candidates with poor initial performance in technical tests but good growth potential. While unconventional and you should not expect that a company will do this for you, this approach seems more sensible than crazy to me.
Re: My friends who cheated in interviews are getting promoted (2022)
#60One thing the interview process does is to weed out totally incompetent candidates. Even one such candidate, once inside, can be extremely harmful to the morale of a team.