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Show HN: Free, anonymous coding interview practice

interviewing.io

21–30 of 223 posts

Re: Show HN: Free, anonymous coding interview practice

#22
post #10

I can easily see the benefit it provides for the interviewees, but what's in it for the interviewers?

I can see it as good for practicing for the interviewer. It'd also be good if I could easily make an offer out and use that as a way of sourcing candidates and getting my referral bonus on.

Re: Show HN: Free, anonymous coding interview practice

#24
I'm absolutely one of these people who melt down. Give me a task and leave the room and I'm on it, but while being watched I loose all ability to think, which I think has a lot to do with the fact that I never went to college and jumped right into the industry directly after high school essentially bypassing a very important skill you learn there: test taking.

Two weeks ago the position of my dreams -- literally, exactly what I wanted to do, and at a totally rad and well-regarded company -- vanished during my second interview after (what I believe) was a killer and detailed coding challenge submission (which we discussed at length) and an excellent first interview.

Why?

Function.apply -- LOL

"Describe event delegation" -- LOL

Stuff you learn during DAY ONE of JavaScript coding (I've been programming for over ten years in a number of languages, and have built many, many large-scale applications). It was absolutely humiliating, and I'm still recovering from it in the worst of ways. My brain just froze up completely.

Thanks for putting the site up because I'm sure there are many people that will benefit. I've got an interview at Amazon at 3pm and those are notoriously difficult; wish it were already live and running! I'm not looking forward to it.

Re: Show HN: Free, anonymous coding interview practice

#25
This looks great.

These days I skip all interviews which require me to code in the interview. I have plenty of open source code, if they cannot figure how good I am looking at, then they definitely cannot figure how good I am with a 3 hour coding interview.

IMO, coding interviews is like public speaking. Many people get nervous in front of a crowd. It's a skill one has to obtain should it be required. Coding interviews are quite irrelevant for a programmer/developer position.

Re: Show HN: Free, anonymous coding interview practice

#26
Great...so when everyone does this and becomes good at technical interviews, SV companies will find some other meaningless, high pressure method to screen job candidates. "Steal a bone from this agitated rottweiler while you recite every other fibonacci number up to 20"

Re: Show HN: Free, anonymous coding interview practice

#27
post #10

I can easily see the benefit it provides for the interviewees, but what's in it for the interviewers?

I think this site is ignoring the value add for the interviewers as well. Interviewing others is a skill and takes practice and dedication. Many people just take some coding question and ask a candidate without thinking it through much and what they're actually analyzing. It would be good practice for interviewers as well.

You mean like: they could allow a third person to watch/listen the interview and at the end of it, rate the interviewer and give suggestions for improvement?

Re: Show HN: Free, anonymous coding interview practice

#28

This looks great. These days I skip all interviews which require me to code in the interview. I have plenty of open source code, if they cannot figure how good I am looking at, then they definitely cannot figure how good I am with a 3 hour coding interview. IMO, coding interviews is like public speaking. Many people get nervous in front of a crowd. It's a skill one has to obtain should it be required. Coding intervie…

Exactly my thinking as well.

Dig in, look around, its obvious what I can do, and what I'm capable of learning.

Ask me to code a sample app and comment every function with detailed explanations of my thought process.

Add me as a collaborator to GitHub and request that I make some pull requests on your product.

Live coding interviews are more irrelevant than irrelevant and completely ignore the fact that many people -- and especially introverted technical types -- just don't do well in front of groups.

Re: Show HN: Free, anonymous coding interview practice

#29

This looks great. These days I skip all interviews which require me to code in the interview. I have plenty of open source code, if they cannot figure how good I am looking at, then they definitely cannot figure how good I am with a 3 hour coding interview. IMO, coding interviews is like public speaking. Many people get nervous in front of a crowd. It's a skill one has to obtain should it be required. Coding intervie…

For me, even worse than an in person interview is a remote coding interview over the phone. Usually some sort of screen sharing + phone call.

I find it incredibly nerve wracking because it gives me that feeling of someone standing over my shoulder without me being able to fully interact with them or read their body language. When you sit down to hammer out a solution you have all the additional pressure of trying to stay engaged with someone you can't see. As a result I constantly drop my focus on the problem and lose what I've worked out in my head.

Re: Show HN: Free, anonymous coding interview practice

#30
post #10

I can easily see the benefit it provides for the interviewees, but what's in it for the interviewers?

The intellectual challenge is a baited hook for headhunting people who aren't looking for work, so aren't actively applying for jobs or answering cold calls.
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