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An invisible desktop application that will help you pass technical interviews

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Re: An invisible desktop application that will help you pass technical interviews

#71

Post by thaumasiotes »

jasode wrote: post #23

Just in case this repo isn't a joke and some job seekers are seriously thinking of this tactic... Companies already know about cheat methods like this and candidates still have to demonstrate skills in-person on a whiteboard in a 2nd round of tech interviews. A high-paying FAANG job isn't going to hire candidates based on just one remote Zoom tech interview. That still may not deter some folks and they'll try to cont…

> A high-paying FAANG job isn't going to hire candidates based on just one remote Zoom tech interview.

What do you think they do? One round of interviews was enough for my Google recruiter to congratulate me on getting a job there.

Did I get the job? No. But the process didn't include any other interviews. There's only one round.

Re: An invisible desktop application that will help you pass technical interviews

#72

Post by krisgenre »

pavlov wrote: post #16

Why bother with this style of interview where the candidate is under extreme time pressure and isn’t allowed to use any of the research tools they would normally use in their job? What is this controlling for? It barely made sense when these were conducted in person, and it’s completely inane over video meeting. Instead of grilling people, talk to them. Give them meaningful take-home exercises that you can discuss to…

I let candidates use the Internet (except AI tools) during coding interviews. All I care is if given a problem can they do the necessary research to solve it. It usually involves making them use a library which they are not already familiar with. This is more than enough for most of the programming jobs.

Re: An invisible desktop application that will help you pass technical interviews

#73

Post by bix6 »

pavlov wrote: post #61
CastFX wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree but a big problem remains. How do you make it scale for 100k applications?

Employing someone is renting their labor. How do you find an apartment rental in a large city with thousands of options? You can’t expect to visit them all. And you certainly can’t come up with increasingly bizarre torture tests for landlords to pass (“I might rent from you if you can answer enough trick questions about tenant law within 15 minutes”). To find the apartment, you probably sample enough of the options t…

Except landlords have almost all the power, just like the job gatekeepers. A landlord gets to choose who rents their property so they aren’t under any obligation to answer your questions, they’ll just find a renter who doesn’t ask questions. When you have all the power it inevitably gets abused which is exactly what we’ve been seeing in rental with things like real page.

Re: An invisible desktop application that will help you pass technical interviews

#74

Post by turdprincess »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #70
gzer0 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The core issue here is the sheer volume of applicants. Microsoft opened 30 new-grad software engineering positions. Care to guess how many applications they got within 24 hours? 1,000? 10,000? Nope. 100,000 applications. In under a single day. With that kind of applicant pool, I’m honestly not sure what the best approach is—even though, in a perfect world, your suggestion would be the more appropriate route. The real…

> With that kind of applicant pool, I’m honestly not sure what the best approach is You should see the number of people that apply to college.

At least in the USA one major piece of the college application is a standardized test - a concept very similar to a Leetcode interview.

Re: An invisible desktop application that will help you pass technical interviews

#75

Post by 05 »

sangeeth96 wrote: post #56

Someone beat my lazy ass to it XD Had something in the works when I first got to know about multimodal GPT and electron made it super simple to prototype something. Refined it a bit to even do the invisible window thing after feedback from my peers. Didn’t have the ahem courage to do it. Also recently noticed there are actual companies around this space who are marketing this off as “interview assistance”. Two of the…

> 2. Force install spyware/vanguard like crap to scan your whole personal computer before doing the interview

People who professionally cheat on online exams just use an HDMI splitter/capture card to inject whatever image they need using a second computer. It’s a lost game.

For offline interviews there are hidden earpieces etc.

Re: An invisible desktop application that will help you pass technical interviews

#76

Post by stego-tech »

davedx wrote: post #6

Feels like in some sections of the US like big tech, the talent vetting process has evolved into some adversarial battle of attrition where the idea is to grind down the pool of candidates until only a few are left rather than find some potential new colleagues. Tools like this have emerged as a direct response to that process. What a bizarre way to begin a working relationship.

Sadly, these sorts of “practical interviews” aren’t just limited to Big Tech. There’s been an arms race for thirty years now between applicants and employers, the latter creating new hurdles to overcome and the former finding new ways to bypass unnecessary hurdles.

Employers demanded applications instead of resumes, so candidates used copy machines. Then they wanted block lettering, so candidates used type writers. ATS systems could search for keywords, so candidates flooded their resumes with them. Then employers allowed online applications, and the floodgates opened proper - applications from all over the world, desperate for good employment. So they made you create an account, and applicants wrote or used bots to automate it - which became site features like “Quick Apply” on LinkedIn and Indeed. Practical interviews used to be a single round for only the most senior roles, but then employers wanted everyone to be as qualified as those roles but not pay them that much, which started the cheating arms race.

Ultimately, the problem remains a glut of qualified talent demanding salaries to pay the bills, and employers who want to pay as little as possible. The two sides are adversaries by default, and few companies do the work of mending the relationship into something more cooperative.

Re: An invisible desktop application that will help you pass technical interviews

#77

Post by jasode »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #71
jasode wrote: post #23

Just in case this repo isn't a joke and some job seekers are seriously thinking of this tactic... Companies already know about cheat methods like this and candidates still have to demonstrate skills in-person on a whiteboard in a 2nd round of tech interviews. A high-paying FAANG job isn't going to hire candidates based on just one remote Zoom tech interview. That still may not deter some folks and they'll try to cont…

> A high-paying FAANG job isn't going to hire candidates based on just one remote Zoom tech interview. What do you think they do? One round of interviews was enough for my Google recruiter to congratulate me on getting a job there. Did I get the job? No. But the process didn't include any other interviews. There's only one round.

>What do you think they do? One round of interviews was enough for my Google recruiter to congratulate me on getting a job there.

Your Google interview process might be different because you've previously said you were ex-FAANG from 2000s so your work history and street credibility puts you in the "experienced senior hire" bucket. The interview process may be different for that type of candidate.

My recent college grad friend's process went like this (2022 so post-COVID):

- an offsite remote interview over Google Meet using Google Docs as coding canvas. 45-minutes long

- 5 onsite interviews on same day: 4 technical and 1 behavioral

Re: An invisible desktop application that will help you pass technical interviews

#78

Post by ttyprintk »

wojciechpolak wrote: post #50

How often do doctors have to prove they can still recall every obscure medical fact when changing hospitals? When a lawyer moves to a new firm, do they have to retake the bar or answer weird hypothetical cases all over again? Aren't their credentials, past cases, and reputation usually enough? Why do we in tech keep forcing experienced professionals to jump through these puzzle-like hoops instead of trusting their tr…

New doctors, conventional engineers, and lawyers only come with analytical status, though. That hiring process focuses on what you’re like to work with as a person. I recommend that formula because those domains know how to layout a firm which can avoid malpractice. Those firms compete on problem solving, where 10x skill or availability might eventually mean 10x salary.

Firms which associate disruption with profit are altogether different. No such thing as malpractice; and if there was, they’d prefer to hire the “risk taker”.

Re: An invisible desktop application that will help you pass technical interviews

#79

Post by karaterobot »

bilvar wrote: post #60
wojciechpolak wrote: post #50

How often do doctors have to prove they can still recall every obscure medical fact when changing hospitals? When a lawyer moves to a new firm, do they have to retake the bar or answer weird hypothetical cases all over again? Aren't their credentials, past cases, and reputation usually enough? Why do we in tech keep forcing experienced professionals to jump through these puzzle-like hoops instead of trusting their tr…

Because it's much easier to get-by faking it as a software engineer compared to a lawyer or doctor. We've all have had these colleagues - and I've seen them jumping to other companies easily.

I don't know if that's true. I'm not saying software engineers don't fake it, but I think many doctors and lawyers are faking it, too, if we're defining faking it as looking up information, or even assisting with your core job responsibilities. I don't consider that faking it, but I think that's what we're talking about, isn't it?

One time I asked my optometrist what he was doing when he left me in the examination room for 15 minutes. He said he was looking up the details of the medicine he was going to prescribe me. I don't consider that incompetence, and it sounds a lot like what I do when I need to know about some technical issue. Everybody in my industry knows that Googling stuff is a huge part of the job, but you're not allowed to acknowledge that in an interview.

I think it is actually an interesting and relevant question: why don't past performance or job references play more of a role in hiring, compared to technical screens many people hate and think are pointless? Checking references and former calling employers—if it's done at all—is often a pro forma final step, rather than the first step, which might plausibly be a more effective way to screen candidates.

Re: An invisible desktop application that will help you pass technical interviews

#80

Post by pixelsort »

kstenerud wrote: post #35
thesaintlives wrote: post #3

So cheat to get a job then get fired when they see you are useless? Genius..

It's starting to feel more like "cheat the job interview because the cat-and-mouse game has pushed everything to the point where you can't legitimately get an offer for a job you're actually fully qualified for anymore" That's not quite where things are now, but the initial phases are beginning to show.

Perception on the degree of severity seems to depend largely upon the size and structure of your social networks. In the post-GPT4 tech economy, your work friends are also the only worthwhile recruiters.
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