An invisible desktop application that will help you pass technical interviews • Hacker News Board

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

#81

Post by ttyprintk » Sat, Dec 07, 2024, 2:23 PM UTC

rvz wrote: post #59

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…

> If you are a tech leader/senior engineer with influence on these matters, I HOPE , that this is not the path you take. On-site interviews should be the standard path to take to detect the frauds and cheaters before they become potential bad hires. Online technical assessments now have little added value given that AI tools like finalround.ai, etc just make it easy for frauds to cheat the technical interview. This i…

The fair compensation to fly someone internationally for a face-to-face might make sense if they stay on for 15 years.

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

#82

Post by treyd » Sat, Dec 07, 2024, 2:24 PM UTC

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.

I have a theory that job search sights have an incentive to make the application/recruiting process so much of a slog due to (1) the hundreds of applications many people have to send out and (2) the hundreds of applications that companies have to sort through, as a way to justify their own existence.

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

#83

Post by pclmulqdq » Sat, Dec 07, 2024, 2:24 PM UTC

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.

Doctors and lawyers build up immense amounts of "open-source" work that proves their skill. Almost everything a lawyer writes becomes public at some point. Doctors have patient results and billing records that can be checked on a reference call. Software engineers comparatively work in the dark and rely on softly-defined metrics.

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

#84

Post by turdprincess » Sat, Dec 07, 2024, 2:27 PM UTC

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…

FAANG jobs absolutely hire engineers over zoom. It’s not just one interview, but the whole process is done remotely over video. It typically includes somewhere between 5 to 10 sessions covering coding, architecture and behavioral.

Source - work at a FANG which engineers exclusively via remote video call.

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

#85

Post by motohagiography » Sat, Dec 07, 2024, 2:28 PM UTC

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.

key insight. the factors influencing this are a couple I can think of. the first is just the sheer volume of applicants made possible by the internet and the mobility of workers, where you get hundreds of profiles to sort through for any job and use a coarse technical funnel to sort them. the second is we can't just pick good colleagues because the regulatory and litigation environment imposes selection criteria where we have to evaluate all these applicants equally.

these aren't justifications for the confrontational interview filter, but some upstream factors that are worth picking at to see if something better could become a solution to them.

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

#86

Post by antihero » Sat, Dec 07, 2024, 2:31 PM UTC

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…

Well yeah, it is really bad, which is why I have no qualms with this project.

If a company wants me to do some leetcode crap I decline the job.

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

#87

Post by sotix » Sat, Dec 07, 2024, 2:39 PM UTC

turdprincess wrote: post #74

thaumasiotes wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

A standardized test is considerably more standardized than a leetcode interview though. Not to mention you take it once and then provide the scores to everyone. My process with taking the cpa exam a single time was a much better experience than random leetcode problems every time.

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

#88

Post by dweekly » Sat, Dec 07, 2024, 2:40 PM UTC

The long term "solution" here for candidates will devolve to a second device that uses a camera and microphone to monitor the device from which they are being tested and presents feedback on a second monitor visible to the applicant but not interviewer.

For interviewers, the solution will be proctored testing centers with metal detectors and all devices required to be in a locker outside the test area. (This is how the FAA conducts its written exams.)

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

#89

Post by ttyprintk » Sat, Dec 07, 2024, 2:41 PM UTC

qwer1234321 wrote: post #40

andai wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Obligatory "I don't agree with this and think it seems like a pretty depressing way to live", but: A colleague yesterday was telling me about how much he and all his friends lied to get their jobs, and he suggested I do the same, because if I don't, I'm competing against people who do, and said that's unfair (for me). It wasn't even an office job, but I've seen the same thing there too. (Also at university...)

I'm not under pressure so it's easy to say this, but I'd rather not get a job than lie during interview.

I encourage anyone to stand their ground on this. Competing with liars is an enormous soft-skill challenge. But it doesn’t exercise critical thinking. Structuring a personal plan that builds those soft skills is really annoying. Especially if you just want to solve complex problems all day.

That said,

- the interviewer likely embellished or lied to get his job. Be careful.

- a lot of this thread is about avoiding a bad hire. In engineering, someone technical who can detect deception is too valuable to put in the interviewer role. Send them to conferences to “poach”.

Just like the soft skills of competing with liars, you can also improve detecting deception.

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

#90

Post by OutOfHere » Sat, Dec 07, 2024, 2:42 PM UTC

bartread wrote: post #15

thesaintlives wrote: post #3

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

I’d say chances of getting busted are high as well. The invisibility of the window to common interview software won’t do anything mask candidates’ own suspicious behaviour. I was doing a 45 minute screener interview with a guy the other day who I could see kept glancing over at another window or screen as he was typing in code. Every couple of characters or so he was pausing looking over, then he’d type a handful mor…

That is completely ridiculous because the candidate could be looking at a relevant documentation page, which is fair game. Next time, try a voice interview.