Becoming a dungeon master for an interview
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Becoming a dungeon master for an interview
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Re: Becoming a dungeon master for an interview
#2> it feels like a very, very light version of the prep you do when designing a campaign as a DM
With todays chatgpts, that reads like a pretty decent prep for a campaign as a DM.
Re: Becoming a dungeon master for an interview
#3> Interviews should be as close as possible to the work that the candidate would do if they join.
Interviews should give information to both parties about what it would be like if the person joined.
Simulating a typical work task, as this article describes, might give you some of that. Though important to remember that's far from all that's relevant to either party.
A recently fashionable Leetcode hazing, on the other hand, is mostly "anti-pattern". It tells the company whether or not the individual has studied for that ritual specifically, and was willing to submit to it for the approval of this company (or is using this company as practice for the gameable ritual). And it tells the individual nothing except that the company thinks this is a good way to do interviews.
Re: Becoming a dungeon master for an interview
#4On average, I enjoy these kinds of interviews much more than leetcode. The quality of the prep work and the ad libbing makes a huge difference to the quality of the interview though. One particularly memorable interview involved verbally debugging intermittent crashes the interviewer had recently seen. Unfortunately, they had no information about the software stack, unique symptoms, or access to status registers so it ended up like:
"Is this bit of information available?"
"No"
Repeated for 30 minutes.
Re: Becoming a dungeon master for an interview
#5Love this approach! We used this method for awhile when conducting interviews, usually with a couple problems escalating in difficulty. Found it to be way more helpful to watch how someone troubleshoots than to test their aptitude with specific skills
Re: Becoming a dungeon master for an interview
#6I think one issue with this is that some candidates who might be great at the actual job could, for whatever reason, be bad at this verbal type of simulation. Perhaps they work by staring at the problem on their screen a lot, perhaps they struggle to think at the same time as roleplaying. Just saying that this roleplaying aspect is somewhat tested for and doesnt align with the job exactly.
Re: Becoming a dungeon master for an interview
#7I think one issue with this is that some candidates who might be great at the actual job could, for whatever reason, be bad at this verbal type of simulation. Perhaps they work by staring at the problem on their screen a lot, perhaps they struggle to think at the same time as roleplaying. Just saying that this roleplaying aspect is somewhat tested for and doesnt align with the job exactly.
Yes precisely. Make sure that you’re actually selecting for what you mean to be selecting for.
Re: Becoming a dungeon master for an interview
#8> Interviews should be as close as possible to the work that the candidate would do if they join. Interviews should give information to both parties about what it would be like if the person joined. Simulating a typical work task, as this article describes, might give you some of that. Though important to remember that's far from all that's relevant to either party. A recently fashionable Leetcode hazing, on the othe…
> Interviews should give information to both parties about what it would be like if the person joined.
I have participated in interview processes where, at the last interview, the employer tries to talk the candidate out of taking the job. Discuss the problems, the warts, the intractable issues, and other things that are downsides of this job. Every organization has these.
I love this, because the employee is going to find all of the issues out anyway, and it's better for both parties if they part before employment begins if the issues are too much.
Re: Becoming a dungeon master for an interview
#9> Interviews should be as close as possible to the work that the candidate would do if they join. Interviews should give information to both parties about what it would be like if the person joined. Simulating a typical work task, as this article describes, might give you some of that. Though important to remember that's far from all that's relevant to either party. A recently fashionable Leetcode hazing, on the othe…
> was willing to submit to it for the approval of this company
I abstain, myself. I have too much real work that I'd like to push forward to be able justify spending weeks of free time on fake work.
Re: Becoming a dungeon master for an interview
#10That's called an in-basket test.[1]
For a really unusual interview process, see how Jane Street, the trading firm, does it. They expect people to do well at this.[2]
Their actual interview process starts each candidate with a stack of poker chips. In each interview, candidates get to make bets on various things that look like financial trades. If they run out of chips, they're out.