This is why you never end up hiring good developers
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Re: This is why you never end up hiring good developers
#2As someone who recently interviewed at a number of Boston area tech companies I disagree with #2 from a candidate's perspective. I agree that interview coding is "far removed from the real practice of writing code" - but that's okay.
If done correctly it can give the interviewer insight into the applicant's thought process - and for the applicant it can be one of the best filters for who you would actually want to work for.
Companies/interviewers that asked very specific questions that tested only my memorization of a particular language's syntax were a huge turnoff. More open-ended ones along the line of "how would you solve this problem" and allowed me to whiteboard in the language of my choice and/or psuedocode made the company much more attractive.
Re: This is why you never end up hiring good developers
#3Fizzbizz? Naah. What you want to do is something more like Minesweep. You go, "Mr. or Mrs. Candidate-Person, we're designing a Minesweep game. You've probably played it before. Here are the rules if you need clarifications. I'm handling the front-end, you write something for the backend."
It doesn't matter the programming language they go for or the precise implementation they choose to any one of a number of issues. The question is whether they can build something coherent that actually does what they intend it to. There are basically two main types of candidates: the candidate who approaches the problem and says "I need to loop over every cell in sequence and assign a mine or not based on a random probability! Wait, what do you mean, I need to get a specific number of mines on the board? I'm not sure I can make that happen" ... and the candidate who's worth hiring.
That said, I have seen interviewers use this premise to try and push for one particular algorithm as The Answer (the one where you shuffle the coordinates and take N) under the premise that "pick random coordinates, check, and retry" could be slower on ultra-dense gameboards -- but hey, dude, nobody plays 99%-full minesweeps because they're not fun. Meh.
Re: This is why you never end up hiring good developers
#4Okay so the article is fairly standard stuff if you've read the Joel essays.
When I interview now I get the candidate to break down a problem with me and answer it in sudo code. I'll ask questions and guide the candidate about how it could be done better, asking if there are there any edge cases we have missed and generally just build something out (a plan if you like).
The best candidates tell you you are wrong (politely) and come up with a better way of building whatever it is that you've tasked them (I expect the people I hire to be a lot better than me!). You also have a vague idea of what it would be like to work with them. Weak candidates (even after you explain to them) just do not get that it's a discussion and don't ask questions or for help, they just get frustrated.
Use of the Internet is fine and you'll soon see if you can work with their brain or not.
Re: This is why you never end up hiring good developers
#5In the best interview I had, the interviewer started by saying, "Just talk" with a friendly smile. I was taken aback, and it eased the tension I was feeling. I started talking about my experience, and he took an active interest and branched off his questions based on the things I had done. He asked intelligent questions that made his compentency clear. I was able to volly back and forth with him until my competency became clear to him.
Don't grill people with a technical interview about things you care about. Have a technical conversation and try to find common interests. You get to witness the interviewee's chops, see if they're an asshole, and prove that you're not one all at the same time.
Re: This is why you never end up hiring good developers
#6Okay so the article is fairly standard stuff if you've read the Joel essays. When I interview now I get the candidate to break down a problem with me and answer it in sudo code. I'll ask questions and guide the candidate about how it could be done better, asking if there are there any edge cases we have missed and generally just build something out (a plan if you like). The best candidates tell you you are wrong (pol…
> sudo code
Hopefully this is for a security-related position! ;-)
Re: This is why you never end up hiring good developers
#7Hiring the right people is a hard problem.
The standard approaches, hiring software developers on the basis of code scribbled on white-boards or a series of narrow technical questions, are bad. Instead, I favor three different approaches, depending on the level of the position:
We should hire new grads based on internship performance.
We should hire senior developers based of their records of design, implementation, and leadership.
We should hire mid-tier developers based on code review, typically based on open-source code.
More here: http://short-sharp.blogspot.ca/2013/04/stop-white-board-codi...
Re: This is why you never end up hiring good developers
#8If you found this article familiar, that's because the same article was posted here 3 days ago.
Previous link: http://seldo.com/weblog/2014/08/26/you_suck_at_technical_int...
Previous discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8232746
Re: This is why you never end up hiring good developers
#9Hiring the right people is a hard problem. The standard approaches, hiring software developers on the basis of code scribbled on white-boards or a series of narrow technical questions, are bad. Instead, I favor three different approaches, depending on the level of the position: We should hire new grads based on internship performance. We should hire senior developers based of their records of design, implementation,…
How do you hire interns?
Re: This is why you never end up hiring good developers
#10Okay so the article is fairly standard stuff if you've read the Joel essays. When I interview now I get the candidate to break down a problem with me and answer it in sudo code. I'll ask questions and guide the candidate about how it could be done better, asking if there are there any edge cases we have missed and generally just build something out (a plan if you like). The best candidates tell you you are wrong (pol…
> sudo code Hopefully this is for a security-related position! ;-)
Haha :-D