I know this is satire... But quite literally, at a place I worked at (for two months, I quit) they actually did push code that wrote in the second interview to production.
My Startup Job Interview
81–90 of 108 posts
Re: My Startup Job Interview
#82A guy in a shirt, a guy in a polo, and an Asian lady. Why not a lady? Not calling you racist, but it is interesting how the race of non-whites seems to be included in some manner like it is always relevant. Why not mention the race of the two other people? Is it less relevant? You only mention the lady once. What role did she play in the situation? Just curious.
That actually stood out to me as well, but I disagree with the others that the detail was meaningless. Of course, the detail we choose to convey has very specific meaning, sometimes unintentionally. The point of "asian lady" does paint a specific picture, but to me it conjures an image of an older, motherly/grandmotherly image (no one refers to a woman in their age/social/cultural group as 'lady' these days). The poi…
I see. Your interpretation makes sense. I did not take into account the word lady. I now understand the implication of her being mentioned. Normally, I use lady to refer to every, well, lady. It was my own habit that kept me from understanding the context behind the words.
Re: My Startup Job Interview
#83Re: My Startup Job Interview
#84A guy in a shirt, a guy in a polo, and an Asian lady. Why not a lady? Not calling you racist, but it is interesting how the race of non-whites seems to be included in some manner like it is always relevant. Why not mention the race of the two other people? Is it less relevant? You only mention the lady once. What role did she play in the situation? Just curious.
In reverse, why would it be such a bad thing that he mentioned that she was asian? Is then not as offending that he referred to an individual purely by an article of clothing.
PC, while good when faced with derogatory remarks and such, can be overused.
I did my bachelors degree in a pretty small school which was mostly filled with white teachers and students (I live in the north), and on staff there was only a single black man. It was quite interesting repeatedly seeing PC conscious people looking for him:
"Is Andy here?" "Which Andy are you referring to? We have three," "Oh.. erm.."
I am not saying "Oh, lets all be non-PC", but if the only defining feature about a person is being asian I dont see why it would be any worse than saying "dark haired woman".
The minute we assign some kind of shame in either direction when it comes to pointing out race, disabilities or any other defining features, that is the moment we are steering in the wrong direction.
Re: My Startup Job Interview
#85This is the first post of their "saga": http://blog.galler.io/startup-dialog Maybe it will help everybody understand that this is a satire...
Ahh... The rabbit hole question seemed like a hint too, but this confirms it. Unfortunately this means that the Enders Game line wasn't said in reality. Though perhaps in the future it will be.
Rabbit Hole and Troll .... :)
Re: My Startup Job Interview
#86A guy in a shirt, a guy in a polo, and an Asian lady. Why not a lady? Not calling you racist, but it is interesting how the race of non-whites seems to be included in some manner like it is always relevant. Why not mention the race of the two other people? Is it less relevant? You only mention the lady once. What role did she play in the situation? Just curious.
Because white and male are the default assumed race and gender[1]. [1]: http://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/why-is-white-male...
You realize that your link argues against this social reality, right?
>But now we have female doctors, lawyers, professors, and presidents. In fact, we have so many of them (even in heavily male-dominated areas like the physical sciences) that it’s no longer fair, or correct, to assume that the person in question is male. So how about we just collectively get over gender-stereotyping truck drivers, cardiologists, and pre-school teachers? I’m not saying we should aim to stop using gender qualifiers right this second. But it might not be a bad idea to pause and ask yourself why you think you need to specify that the doctor is female and the teacher is male. Is it important? Or is it just not exactly what you would expect?
Re: My Startup Job Interview
#87I'm looking forward to the collected essays "Somewhat verbatim guide on how not to run a company."
Verbose. Verbatim means "in exactly the same words as were used originally."
Doesn't it just mean "word for word" or "exactly the same as"? I don't think the extra words in your explanation really need to be there. One can use the term in general, such as "copy an essay verbatim" or really any type of work or performance (e.g. musical recording), even if it is non verbal.
Re: My Startup Job Interview
#88Earlier quoted context omitted.
Good storytelling. One quick detail per person sends the reader on the path to creating their own imaginary picture.
I do understand that. It is a good technique to use. But my question is: Why mention the fact that the lady was Asian, when she is not mentioned again in the story? I feel that providing the extra detail without further involving the character takes away from the story. What does the Asian lady do in the scenario? Does her being Asian somehow influence? People from some Asian countries are very polite and reserved. D…
Look, this stuff is subjective and I'm barely a novice. But.. any choice of detail you make is going to have a lot of influence on how the reader sees that room. They carry their own biases and associations. I saw two 28 year old white guys, kinda of californian looking, clear "non formal workplace' subcultural affiliation. The Asian lady, I imagine as a little older, more formally dressed and not saying anything. The interviewee is a few years older than the guys, more formally dressed and generally more accustomed to a a formal work environment.
If it had been 'two white guys and a tall woman' I probably would have pictured the interviewee as non white. I also imagine (because its in blog/HN comment format) the objection to singling out the asian. That makes it seem honest, because noticing that she's asian is like an admission of guilt.
This story is making fun of stereotypes. Using clichés is how he's getting a particular effect.
Re: My Startup Job Interview
#89Every "bad interview" story that graces the front page of HN has this common theme that the interviewee is an infallible genius who aces every question. I know there's a bias here (better engineers are probably more likely to blog in the first place and most people would rather write about an experience where they're the "victor"), but it would be nice to read an article from someone acknowledging their own failure j…
I see what you're saying, but I can provide at least one counterexample. This was on the front page whenever: http://symbo1ics.com/blog/?p=2055
There were loads of interviewee issues that occurred in the article. Hopefully that balances things a little.
Re: My Startup Job Interview
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
After staring at the rabbit, black hole, and troll question for a few seconds and going "WUT?" I started to get the feeling this didn't actually happen.
I thought it funny but tried to start formulating an algorithm - seemed do-able
To me, some important information seems to be missing for it to become a legit brain-teaser: the numbers of rabbits? the number of holes? how does each round work?, etc.