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I will not do a tech interview

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Re: I will not do a tech interview

#501

Post by Flenser »

ngoel36 wrote: post #239
crazygringo wrote: post #62

Granted, there are a lot of bad tech interviews out there (asking about algorithms that nobody ever uses) ... but I do not understand this. Imagine someone's being hired for a front-end position, and we don't have months to get them up to speed. I'm going to ask them to explain how a closure works. How they deal with AJAX. What they think about "!important". Things to be careful about with floats. How CSS precedence/…

I used to work at Google. I saw a lot of good candidates get rejected. I myself was rejected multiple times before I got an offer. I was talking to my manager who was on the Hiring Committee about this dilemma, and at the end of the day the fact is that good companies don't give a shit about their false negative rate - only their net positives. By having an efficient technical interview process, yes, you let good can…

They're not trying to find the best out of all possibles candidates, or the least likely to fail. They're selecting the candidate that it's easiest to make a decision on.

Re: I will not do a tech interview

#502

Post by nappy-doo »

pjlegato wrote: post #444
nappy-doo wrote: post #421

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not at Google.

At least in California, employers are statutorily prohibited from claiming rights to IP that was created on the employee's own time and using the employee's own equipment, and agreements that purport to waive this prohibition are void. (CA Labor Code 2870-2872; http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=lab&gr... )

Great. CA law doesn't apply in Massachusetts.

Re: I will not do a tech interview

#503

Post by acchow »

crazygringo wrote: post #62

Granted, there are a lot of bad tech interviews out there (asking about algorithms that nobody ever uses) ... but I do not understand this. Imagine someone's being hired for a front-end position, and we don't have months to get them up to speed. I'm going to ask them to explain how a closure works. How they deal with AJAX. What they think about "!important". Things to be careful about with floats. How CSS precedence/…

"Imagine someone's being hired for a front-end position, and we don't have months to get them up to speed."

First, I'll ignore the fact that contributions can be made to any stack far sooner than "months". It's uncommon for companies to be so incredibly short-sighted. In tech, the hiring goal is for talented people who will contribute for a long time (1 year+).

Re: I will not do a tech interview

#505

Post by krfsm »

crazygringo wrote: post #62

Granted, there are a lot of bad tech interviews out there (asking about algorithms that nobody ever uses) ... but I do not understand this. Imagine someone's being hired for a front-end position, and we don't have months to get them up to speed. I'm going to ask them to explain how a closure works. How they deal with AJAX. What they think about "!important". Things to be careful about with floats. How CSS precedence/…

Maybe somebody can explain this better to me -- but if you freeze up in interviews, are you also going to freeze up in developer meetings? During code reviews? When you're in the room with clients?

Developer meetings are about the issues at hand. Code reviews are about the code. Client meetings are about their problems and ways to solve them. Presentations are about the topic you're presenting. Selling your teammates on an idea is about the idea and its merits. Interviews are about you.

(Incidentally, getting a person to go out with you, as some other poster mentioned, is about you. It is also a well known source of major brain freeze.)

Re: I will not do a tech interview

#506

Post by ensmotko »

tmoertel wrote: post #240
untog wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe somebody can explain this better to me -- but if you freeze up in interviews, are you also going to freeze up in developer meetings? During code reviews? When you're in the room with clients? Of course not. Interview situations are very, very different than the others. Meetings and code reviews are with co-workers, whom you know and trust. Meetings with clients could be nerve-wracking for other reasons, but the…

Can I offer you some advice? An interview is a negotiation. The rules aren't fixed. If you're asked to do something that won't give a reliable measurement of your ability, say so and offer the interviewer a better option. You'll probably get what you want. In the scenario you described, I might try something like this: "I think I see what you're trying to measure by asking that question, but it assumes a working styl…

I've tried something similar once. I got asked about the binary search algorithm. After some high level discussion on the idea behind it, I told the interviewer I hope I won't have to implement it. The algorithm is known for being easy to get wrong [1].

Nevertheless the interviewer asked me to write it down on paper (using python). I've done so, but made a few mistakes. I still got the job offer, so the mistakes weren't a factor. I just wanted to point out that some interviewers are really set in their ways and don't change their minds.

[1] http://googleresearch.blogspot.com/2006/06/extra-extra-read-...

Re: I will not do a tech interview

#507

Post by tocomment »

tocomment wrote: post #37
300bps wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess I do not see how you can lose if you take the contract-to-hire approach I agree with most of what you said, but one way you can lose if you insist on contract-to-hire is that you are filtering out a portion of the highest quality candidates who are only interested in immediate full time hiring.

I don't think many candidates are interested in "immediate" hiring. Most people I know need to take extra time to wait for other offers to come in. It also gives the candidate a way to see what kind of problems he'd be working with, and the quality of the code-base, working conditions, etc. I think it's a win-win.

All of you guys are imagining some sort of 6 month junky contract to hire situation. All I'm talking about is a 3-10 day contract like the article mentions.

An unemployed candidate can do a contract like that while evaluating other jobs and possibly waiting for other offers to come in.

An employed candidate can do the work in off-hours.

Re: I will not do a tech interview

#509

Post by amerika_blog »

Hoop-jumping, including memorization-based education, just doesn't work as well as real-world scenario tests.

We forget this at our peril.

The real reason we indulge hoop-jumping is that it gives a veneer of equality to a process that (really) has more to do with natural gifts than certifications.

Re: I will not do a tech interview

#510

Post by ronaldx »

mcv wrote: post #391
nknighthb wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since a driving test involves driving, and I've never once encountered a technical interview that involved any reasonable facsimile of an actual technical work environment... No, absolutely not.

My best technical interview was a take-home programming assignment. I could ask questions by email. After a week, I would present my work to the other programmers and they'd ask questions about why I did something a certain way. Best interview process ever, and that company had excellent programmers and the lowest employee turnover I've ever seen.

Please name and shame!
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