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Interviewing a software engineer who prepared with AI

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Re: Interviewing a software engineer who prepared with AI

#491

Post by BhavdeepSethi »

otabdeveloper4 wrote: post #292
no-dr-onboard wrote: post #45

I keep coming back to this phrase used in this post: "it was scary". Yeah, hiring is scary. Hiring is insanely expensive on all fronts. Firing people is difficult, it's expensive and legally exposing. Hiring the wrong person, allowing them access your systems and potentially exfiltrate your IP to them is a hazardous but necessary venture. The thing is, none of these things really changed with AI. People have been lyi…

> it's time to buy a suit Yeah, no. I'd deduct points if the candidate wears a suit. What a huge red flag, missing all sorts of context and appropriateness cues.

This is insane to read. You don't get brownie points for what you're wearing, but deducting points for someone trying to impress folks by dressing more formally than what you're typically used to?

Re: Interviewing a software engineer who prepared with AI

#492

Post by 01HNNWZ0MV43FF »

lo_zamoyski wrote: post #415
michaelt wrote: post #325

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So tech got rid of the suits, but kept the desire to judge people at interviews based on their clothes? Great. Fantastic job everyone /S

Reverse snobbery is like slave morality. It transmutes a high standard into a perverse mirror image consisting of intolerant, intentional, celebrated mediocrity. At least requiring a suit requires something aesthetically better and more worthy of human dignity. Reverse snobbery demands you dress worse and beneath it.

At least t-shirts and stripey socks are comfortable

Re: Interviewing a software engineer who prepared with AI

#493

Post by itishappy »

mariusor wrote: post #237
atoav wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am pretty sure my current employer could make an exception if you can show proof of your condition (which would benefit you either way in Germany). But we also like to see collegues in person, as this is what the interaction for many positions might look like anyways.

Demanding said proof is very illegal in multiple jurisdictions.

In the US, the ADA allows employers to request proof of disability.

Re: Interviewing a software engineer who prepared with AI

#494

Post by hnbad »

cruffle_duffle wrote: post #455
barbs wrote: post #378

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wore a suit to my very first tech interview on the advice of my well-meaning but ill-informed mother. I got the job, but was then told "don't listen to your mother"!

Very close story here as well. lol. “You can always underdress but never overdress!” Thanks mom!

Take it to the limit and show up to an interview in full white tie attire.

Re: Interviewing a software engineer who prepared with AI

#495

Post by ar_lan »

a_t48 wrote: post #474

On the topic of interview prep - is it weird that I’ve never been able to bring myself to do it? I can’t be the only one, right? As best as I can tell it’s never really hurt me (okay, there was a Google interview I failed where grinding a few leetcodes might have helped…).

I'm the same, and it makes me paranoid. I feel like I'm investing purely in one company instead of any defensive diversification.

But my job is very demanding and I have 4 hours after work to spend with my wife and kids before I have to start all over again. I'm just not in a season where interview prep (which may as well be a university 16-week course) is reasonable.

Re: Interviewing a software engineer who prepared with AI

#496

Post by khazhoux »

lores wrote: post #392
khazhoux wrote: post #312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wearing a suit to a tech interview in silicon valley would without a doubt send the signal that either (a) they have absolutely no clue about SV work culture, or (b) they’re a “look at me” guy who dresses odd on purpose

If they're young it can also be because that's what they've been told to do, if they're from a different culture (even an American one) it may be shockingly weird not to wear a suit to an interview, and there are even people who wear suits all the time because a well-made suit is very comfortable, with no more showing off involved than dressing up any other way. An interview is not a regular work day, best not to sum…

> If they're young.... if they're from a different culture...

These are just instances of my point (a): not having a clue about SV work culture.

> there are even people who wear suits all the time

Not in silicon valley tech. I mean, sure, maybe there's one guy and the number is not zero.

Re: Interviewing a software engineer who prepared with AI

#497

Post by abirch »

never_inline wrote: post #477
FirmwareBurner wrote: post #435

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They say they "use AI to match the keywords in job description". If recruiters only pick up your resumes based on keyword matching themselves, what is one to do, if not adapt their resumes to said keywords so they can at least try to get to a human interview? Not talking about India specifically, but in general. Hiring is broken, so everyone tries to fix it in their own ways to maximize their chances.

AI will often casually lie / make up points which sound authentic.

AI is the GOAT of Buzzword generation or should I/Gemini say

"Synergistic AI-powered paradigm shift: the ultimate game-changer for disruptive innovation in buzzword generation."

Re: Interviewing a software engineer who prepared with AI

#498

Post by pramsey »

eikenberry wrote: post #107
no-dr-onboard wrote: post #45

I keep coming back to this phrase used in this post: "it was scary". Yeah, hiring is scary. Hiring is insanely expensive on all fronts. Firing people is difficult, it's expensive and legally exposing. Hiring the wrong person, allowing them access your systems and potentially exfiltrate your IP to them is a hazardous but necessary venture. The thing is, none of these things really changed with AI. People have been lyi…

You are right about hiring not being that much different but your prognostications are way off IMO. > - people are probably going to have to fly out for interviews, again. Fly where? Many companies don't have offices anymore. > - awkward and/or neurodivergent people are going to have to learn social skills again. Ahh... the age old, "just do better" position for neurodivergent people. Classic bigotry. > - And yeah, y…

> Suits were out in tech 30 years ago when I first interviewed. They have only gone more out of style. Fashion doesn't work the way you think it works.

Or maybe it works exactly the way they think? Suits are so out, that wearing one is a strong signal of "different thinking" in a way that being casual once was. A colleague of mind would wear a three-piece on "casual Friday", and always showed up to the nines for interviews. Never harmed him, just reinforced his "think different" bona fides.

Re: Interviewing a software engineer who prepared with AI

#499

Post by cloverich »

hliyan wrote: post #483
astroalex wrote: post #479

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you are trying to advance your career, I feel prepping for interviews is probably the number one most important thing you can do, unless you are freakishly gifted at acing interviews with no prep.

The number one most important thing you can do is to learn how to actually do the job. Your ability to pass interviews will follow from that. If the place you're applying to has an interview process that does not align well with the job, then you might not want to apply there -- they will be hiring a lot of people who are not a best fit for the role, and that's the environment you might end up working in.

Agree becoming good at your job is number one, but interviewing is an independent skill worth developing. The places I've worked that required interview prep in one form or another, were all around better and all around had higher quality employees. That's not an absolute rule (nothing is) of course. But prepping for interviews gives you more "yes" opportunities to evaluate companies, and once you get competing offers you see something you normally don't. You can get paid substantially more for the same job, without ever negotiating. Merely having other opportunities, your prospective employers will magically offer you more money, a bigger signing bonus, more stock, for the same exact job, and you don't even have to ask for it. You merely tell them all what they are all offering. But of course the real value is being comfortable and confident enough to _take_ multiple interviews, and ask hard questions, and using that to find better companies.

(This of course works for all kinds of things, not just interviewing: Quotes for house work, car purchase / sell offers, etc. Simply get more than one, and poof you get better deals).

Re: Interviewing a software engineer who prepared with AI

#500

Post by ar_lan »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #303
jaredklewis wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> - And yeah, you guys, it's time to buy a suit. Others have already commented on this, but do you work in tech? IME getting interviewed by directors and even VPs in t-shirts is the norm. I’ve worn jeans to work my whole career. If anything, I think people in tech have a strong prejudice against people in suits (ie “obviously this person isn’t a real software engineer, they’re wearing a suit.”) Anyway, probably not g…

I was once turned down by Microsoft (in the 1990s), because I wore a suit to the interview. They made a point of mentioning it.

I didn't wear a suit, but in 2012 I wore slacks, tucked in collared shirt, and a tie, and got the same response from Microsoft. It was for an internship which is hilarious.

I interviewed elsewhere and one other time I wore an Oxford. I passed the university interview but the hiring manager told me for the on campus interview to not wear that again, or I'll stick out too much. I wore a plain T-shirt and have been happily employed for 10 years here :)

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