Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Interviews in the Age of AI: Ditch Leetcode – Try Code Reviews Instead

chrlschn.dev

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

181–190 of 286 posts

Re: Interviews in the Age of AI: Ditch Leetcode – Try Code Reviews Instead

#181

Post by TheLoafOfBread »

lotsoweiners wrote: post #92
indymike wrote: post #69

We use this process, and it has helped us hire some great developers without having to use third party staffing and headhunters: 1. Post well written job post on major job boards. 2. Immediately reply via text to every applicant (yes, we have opt in on the application) 3. Initial screening including several knock-out questions via text. Immediately let candidate know if they are not selected and why. 4. 30 minute can…

> 7. Background checks start in parallel with on-boarding. First week is spent with business unit teams to learn what the company actually, really does. Yikes!!! I’ve never heard of a potential employer giving offers before background check. Do you tell candidates this before they quit their current jobs?

On one hand it sounds off putting, on other hand it can be very awkward that you have hired a mole from competition who is there to understand your secret sauce and get out or that you have hired somebody who was in prison for computer crimes.

Re: Interviews in the Age of AI: Ditch Leetcode – Try Code Reviews Instead

#182

Post by Apocryphon »

Jensson wrote: post #166
Apocryphon wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But it still feels wrong if progression is measured by an arbitrary measure orthogonal to what one actually does in one's career, no?

Leetcode isn't progression, it is changing to a better track. Progress on that track doesn't require leetcode, just entering it.

In the context of this conversation we are discussing Leetcode as the status quo primary means of passing interviews for new, higher-paying jobs at FAANG-equivalent companies, as career advancement.

Re: Interviews in the Age of AI: Ditch Leetcode – Try Code Reviews Instead

#183

Post by bojo »

flashgordon wrote: post #162
indymike wrote: post #69

We use this process, and it has helped us hire some great developers without having to use third party staffing and headhunters: 1. Post well written job post on major job boards. 2. Immediately reply via text to every applicant (yes, we have opt in on the application) 3. Initial screening including several knock-out questions via text. Immediately let candidate know if they are not selected and why. 4. 30 minute can…

Here is a dark side of side projects (pun unintended). I went to an interview which was a nodejs shop. I was excited as they wanted to see a side project. Most of mine are just things I do for fun. Anyway it was in golang (with lots of control plane like features for a "fun" saas offering). Cto wasnt happy that I had chosen go and wanted to know why I hadn't chosen Node instead. (Never mind my Fe was in typescript).…

Yeesh, sounds like you dodged a huge bullet. What an insanely narrow minded individual.

I want to see good engineering practices, I might be curious about your language decision, but I'd never tear you apart for your choice.

Re: Interviews in the Age of AI: Ditch Leetcode – Try Code Reviews Instead

#184

Post by kweingar »

mjohn wrote: post #74
kweingar wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could candidates opt out of using ChatGPT? I don’t think I’d be comfortable using it in an interview.

Sure, why not, I'm just thinking out loud to be honest and am probably biased towards feeling quite comfortable using something like ChatGPT. I don't ask ChatGPT to write code for me but regularly use it to explore, a bit like a rubber duck that talks back. Just curious - why would you not feel comfortable using it in an interview? Interesting to hear a different POV.

It’s a little overwhelming given the time constraints. I don’t know how I would fare trying to juggle a conversation with the interviewer, a conversation with ChatGPT, and typing into a code editor all at the same time, especially when ChatGPT usage involves vetting the output for hallucinations or misunderstandings. A search engine would be much quicker and easier for me to use.

Re: Interviews in the Age of AI: Ditch Leetcode – Try Code Reviews Instead

#185

Post by indymike »

lotsoweiners wrote: post #92
indymike wrote: post #69

We use this process, and it has helped us hire some great developers without having to use third party staffing and headhunters: 1. Post well written job post on major job boards. 2. Immediately reply via text to every applicant (yes, we have opt in on the application) 3. Initial screening including several knock-out questions via text. Immediately let candidate know if they are not selected and why. 4. 30 minute can…

> 7. Background checks start in parallel with on-boarding. First week is spent with business unit teams to learn what the company actually, really does. Yikes!!! I’ve never heard of a potential employer giving offers before background check. Do you tell candidates this before they quit their current jobs?

Yes we disclose. We have to. Incentive is on the candidate to be honest.

Re: Interviews in the Age of AI: Ditch Leetcode – Try Code Reviews Instead

#186

Post by reidjs »

adastra22 wrote: post #160
voiceblue wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. A lot can unexpectedly go wrong during a background check, some companies ask employees for (very old) W2's they may not have, etc. There was a time when I worked at and a new co-worker suddenly disappeared without a trace, and I was told in confidence by a VP they "were not who they said they were" which I presume means they failed a background check. This was during growing pains, they were probably doing…

…why would you need an old W2?

People lie about job history

Re: Interviews in the Age of AI: Ditch Leetcode – Try Code Reviews Instead

#187

Post by pedrosorio »

wishpishh wrote: post #143
harryquach wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair grinding Leetcode to the point of proficiency takes longer than a week. With that said I agree on your other point, putting in the work and sacrificing time, even months, will pay dividends long-term with a salary that allows someone to retire early.

If you are willing to spend your younger, healthier years grinding just to (potentially, there are so many things that are outside of your control that can go wrong no matter your work ethic) get a few more years of retirement at the end of your life - then sure. Grind away.

These interviews are not designed to require "spending your younger, healthier years grinding". They require grokking a fairly small set of concepts and being comfortable using them to problem solve under time pressure. That's it.

Hearing some people, you'd think they ask you to memorize chess openings or something.

Re: Interviews in the Age of AI: Ditch Leetcode – Try Code Reviews Instead

#188

Post by indymike »

gambiting wrote: post #101
lmarcos wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone not familiarized with background checks, why is it weird to do bg checks after handing the offer? If the employer does the bg check before handing the offer, that means the candidate hasn't resigned yet from their current job. So wouldn't the bg check expose the candidate? (E.g., my boss would know I'm thinking about leaving)

Doing the background check after the offer is fine, it's insane that they do it after the candidate already starts the new job. So what, I leave my current job to come work for you, and in the first week you tell me "sorry you failed our background check" and let me go? Who the F would ever agree to this kind of risk? >>8. End of first week, we occasionally have to let someone go on background issues Yeah, that's bon…

This is normal for non-tech employers. It is novel in tech, but not something that is bonkers in other sectors. We're able to have developers on the payroll three-four weeks before offers are out by competitors.

Re: Interviews in the Age of AI: Ditch Leetcode – Try Code Reviews Instead

#189

Post by pedrosorio »

postalrat wrote: post #178
pedrosorio wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In a "have you memorized the code to solve this problem" interview? Probably. In a "can you solve this new leetcode problem that just came out and is not in the training data"? Awful.

There are probably about 30 or so leetcode problems and then endless variations made for those 30 problems. The best people on leetcode practice and memorize. If you want to see an example of a new problem check out https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37910297 . You'd think if leetcode makes you good at solving problems then it should be doable any higher ranking leetcode programmer.

> There are probably about 30 or so leetcode problems and then endless variations made for those 30 problems. The best people on leetcode practice and memorize.

The comment I replied to claimed that "LLMs would do pretty well at leetcode interviews". OpenAIs own report [0] shows how GPT-4 fails miserably at medium/hard leetcode problems that are not in the training data.

[0] https://cdn.openai.com/papers/gpt-4.pdf

Re: Interviews in the Age of AI: Ditch Leetcode – Try Code Reviews Instead

#190

Post by gedy »

pedrosorio wrote: post #176
gedy wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually 137 if test was accurate, I still don't do well with leet code whiteboarding though, shrugs.

Maybe you just need to find something you enjoy doing, programming might not be "it"? Or do you do well solving the problems on your own and just have trouble when being interviewed?

The latter, take home projects I do well on (projects, not HackerRank quizzes)
Post reply on HN