I want a job, but don't want to do those stupid tech interviews

#1

Post by graviboots » Thu, Jul 10, 2014, 7:26 AM UTC

I'm in the market for a job, but the idea of going through the tech interview process is really off-putting. The interview process seems to consist of:

- Email back-and-forth with recruiter

- Phone call with recruiter

- Possible homework question

- Phone-screen interview #1 + online coding

- Phone-screen interview #2 + online coding

- On-site with 5 more interviews.

The whole process is a real pain. I'd love to just grab a coffee and discuss how we can work together. Is there any way to circumvent/short-circuit this whole tech interview process?

Re: I want a job, but don't want to do those stupid tech interviews

#2

Post by jardaroh » Thu, Jul 10, 2014, 7:42 AM UTC

There is. Create your own projects or contribute to existing projects. Apply for jobs with projects in your CV and explain a bit about your role in the application body. You can easily avoid step 3, 4 and 5.

Even better, if you contribute to a company's project(s) you might stand a chance to get hired by that company as you are already familiar with their code and do not need the default grace period, this is a long shot and should not be your end goal but it happened to a few friends of mine.

Re: I want a job, but don't want to do those stupid tech interviews

#3

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Jul 10, 2014, 7:44 AM UTC

[deleted]

Re: I want a job, but don't want to do those stupid tech interviews

#4

Post by varjag » Thu, Jul 10, 2014, 7:53 AM UTC

Invoice the interviewers for every coding session at a modest hourly rate. This way you both cut through BS, demonstrate your coding skills and come across as professional.

Re: I want a job, but don't want to do those stupid tech interviews

#5

Post by sikkhbeat » Thu, Jul 10, 2014, 7:55 AM UTC

Wouldn't this post make more sense with a portfolio or some list of what you've done to earn a FastPass? Not that I disagree that tech interviews are broken/mundane/soul-crushing.

Re: I want a job, but don't want to do those stupid tech interviews

#6

Post by CmonDev » Thu, Jul 10, 2014, 7:56 AM UTC

"I'd love to just grab a coffee and discuss how we can work together"

How do they know you are good? Do you propose they grab a coffee with every candidate?

Re: I want a job, but don't want to do those stupid tech interviews

#7

Post by ketralnis » Thu, Jul 10, 2014, 7:57 AM UTC

This doesn't answer your question, but that's because I think that your question is unreasonable:

I get that tech interviews can be long and thorough and at times opaque, but would you want to hire a programmer after you've just had "a coffee and discuss how we can work together"? I've worked with a lot of people that can talk the talk really well but couldn't write code to save their life and it sucks to manage them and it really sucks to work alongside them.

Identifying and getting rid of a bad employee is difficult and expensive and time-consuming. As an employer it pays for itself to lose some potential interviewees that don't want to do a "possible homework question" in exchange for avoiding all of that.

Unless you're really special, you're, well, not that special. There's no magic bullet that entitles you to skip the queue. If there were, why wouldn't everyone just do that?

But you can skip the recruiter step entirely. Email the company you want to work for and ask what they have available. If you're in the Bay Area at least it seems like everyone is hiring.

Re: I want a job, but don't want to do those stupid tech interviews

#8

Post by perryh2 » Thu, Jul 10, 2014, 8:05 AM UTC

CmonDev wrote: post #6

"I'd love to just grab a coffee and discuss how we can work together" How do they know you are good? Do you propose they grab a coffee with every candidate?

Offer a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Re: I want a job, but don't want to do those stupid tech interviews

#9

Post by derwildemomo » Thu, Jul 10, 2014, 8:09 AM UTC

A while ago, a recruiter from one of the big players got in touch.. well, after 4 interviews they finally figured that I was too inexperienced (merge sort run time complexity is, in fact, way more important that most other things when developing mobile stuff). Total waste of time.

The process concluded with them offering me that I may apply a year from now, again :D.

Re: I want a job, but don't want to do those stupid tech interviews

#10

Post by lenniez » Thu, Jul 10, 2014, 8:09 AM UTC

Sounds like you shouldn't apply for corporate jobs but smaller startups of some kind. Then you don't have to deal with recruiters and homework. Just show your work, maybe your Github account and write a nice letter. Always works.

And what jardaroh said.