This is just an ad for hackerrank.
And yes; it is hard to find a job in Silicon Valley if you are sitting in Kazhakstan and need a visa too. Duh.
For anyone who has been turned down by 38 companies
171–180 of 306 posts
Re: For anyone who has been turned down by 38 companies
#172So, how did you get to where you are today? I’ve always been passionate about coding, starting from my early days at Olympiad teams in high school and ACM teams in college. Anyone who's made it onto an Olympiad team[1] of any significant geographical scale, in any category, shouldn't have to deal with this whiteboard nonsense. Maybe a few lightweight-to-medium rounds to verify that they are what they say they are. Bu…
> Anyone who's made it onto an Olympiad team[1] of any significant geographical scale, in any category, shouldn't have to deal with this whiteboard nonsense. Oh yeah? I've interviewed my fair share of self-righteous prima-donna "I shouldn't have to deal with you plebes" sorts before to know you'd better put them through MORE of this whiteboard nonsense rather than less. And if they get all huffy, you know that when t…
You sound unnecessarily angry and your interview style seems far more formal than it needs to be.
Think their issue might be with you? ;)
Re: For anyone who has been turned down by 38 companies
#173Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not to be harsh or anything, but this kind of proves the point. Crippling anxiety and social phobia are not things I would want in an employee, all else equal, because they will need to be able to communicate in meetings and present findings/work to different teams / executives. Reply: baseline social comfort is not a generic personality type.
Isn't that your job as a manager, though? To balance the various personality types on your team? Seems like you just want one generic personality type on your team to make your life easier.
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Re: For anyone who has been turned down by 38 companies
#174Earlier quoted context omitted.
Full disclosure, I work for HackerRank, but I really wanted to comment for two reasons: (1) Reading this article and seeing the comments, really helps me see how my daily work helps level the playing field and as Alibek says, change people's lives. Very fulfilling and thankful for that. (2) Re: exabrial's comment above, where do you think culture fit should be evaluated in the process? Lots of interview processes tod…
I feel like "culture fit" is more often than not just an excuse to only hire people who are like you demographically. I mean, that doesn't mean you need to hire a screaming, unpleasant jerk, or anything, but still.
It's a weasel word. It means nothing at all.
Re: For anyone who has been turned down by 38 companies
#175This is just an ad for hackerrank. And yes; it is hard to find a job in Silicon Valley if you are sitting in Kazhakstan and need a visa too. Duh.
And honestly; don't spend you time practicing silly brain teasers and programming quiz questions. Write meaningful software that you into production.
Re: For anyone who has been turned down by 38 companies
#176The current state of the hiring process in tech companies has really affected me. I'm, by nature, a very shy person who doesn't deal with rejection very well. Because of this, I tend to apply at jobs where my hiring is a slam-dunk because it's so routine and easily within my skill-set. It results in jobs that aren't particularly fulfilling but gives me plenty of time to work on technology I'm interested in my spare t…
Lot of advice below on how to toughen up for interviews, but I'm going to give a contrarian view: you can't toughen up if it's not in you already. Tech interviews are an exhausting, often humiliating experience. Some companies claim to do it better (e.g., see Asana's post a few days ago) and more humanely, but by and large the process is designed to break the candidate: to see the limits of their skills and aptitudes…
I don't think tech company interviews are purposefully setup to be brutal gauntlets but I think what in reality occurs is a team needs to hire quickly, members tap into past experiences and then build a process. This process may be wildly inconsistent or draw from past negative experiences. Before you know it you've built a brutal hiring process. I think the real problem is developers lack hiring and interview training.
Re: For anyone who has been turned down by 38 companies
#177> You don’t get to use to your own IDE, you have an absurdly limited amount of time and you’re in an incredibly high-pressure environment.
Ironically, HackerRank itself is a part of this problem. All of those are true for HackerRank coding challenges.
As another commenter has pointed out here, HackerRank (and other coding test platforms) want to commoditize the hiring process, but in a way that ensures that candidates are the ones who are doing the all the work. The companies just don't want to spend any time in the interviewing process. It's no wonder that so many companies are struggling to hire good engineers.
If you as a company throw me an online coding challenge as the first interaction, you can be rest assured that you won't be hiring from me again (and many others).
Re: For anyone who has been turned down by 38 companies
#178Earlier quoted context omitted.
I actually found 'toughening up' the wrong mental strategy, but rather "not giving a damn". You're in a position where you have a job. Anything you interview for you -don't need-. You may want, but you don't need. You also sound very comfortable in a specific role. That's a great place to start from, because if someone rejects you...what are they rejecting? How does it effect you? You know you're good, at least in ce…
I think the "not giving a damn" statement belies that you do actually care. Like someone saying "I don't care" implies... yes, you do care, otherwise you would not state such a thing.
Being a bit pedantic there aren't you? Sure, if I wasn't interested, I wouldn't be interviewing. But recognizing that the interview's outcome doesn't reflect who I am, nor does it mean 'my life is over and I'll never get a job I like', or any of the other anxieties common to those first few job hunts, means I am not so invested in -succeeding-, and far more invested in just scoping the company out, seeing if this would be a good fit, and accepting a "no" as in no way a reflection of my quality.
Obviously, "not giving a damn" is hyperbole; as I said, if I really didn't give a damn I'd not be interviewing in the first place. But it is the most accurate description of the attitude I find myself having when interviewing. "Toughening it out" was what I did as a college student and junior dev, trying to fight the impostor syndrome as I try to convince strangers I'm worth hiring, and trying to hold down the feelings of depression and self-loathing afterwards as I criticized every single thing I did that I thought was a mistake in the interview (even successful ones that in hindsight I realize I absolutely aced), and tried not to think about how I just blew my chance at a dream job (because every company that I talked with was a dream job, after all; someone who would actually -pay- me to write code and solve problems!)
I instead describe my current attitude as "not giving a damn" to demarcate it as very much different than that prior experience; my feelings now are "I am good, I know a lot, I learn fast, and I have a track record to prove it, and if you say no it means either you want someone with different experiences who is looking for something very different than what I am, or you've been interviewing for (and thus hiring for) the wrong thing; in either case I don't think I'd enjoy it here. So, while I hope this works out in the affirmative...I will view a 'no' from you as a positive as well, because it tells me more about you than it does about me. Regardless of your response, I am relieved to hear it, hence, I don't give a damn what it is".
Re: For anyone who has been turned down by 38 companies
#179Earlier quoted context omitted.
Lot of advice below on how to toughen up for interviews, but I'm going to give a contrarian view: you can't toughen up if it's not in you already. Tech interviews are an exhausting, often humiliating experience. Some companies claim to do it better (e.g., see Asana's post a few days ago) and more humanely, but by and large the process is designed to break the candidate: to see the limits of their skills and aptitudes…
I don't think tech company interviews are purposefully setup to be brutal gauntlets but I think what in reality occurs is a team needs to hire quickly, members tap into past experiences and then build a process. This process may be wildly inconsistent or draw from past negative experiences. Before you know it you've built a brutal hiring process. I think the real problem is developers lack hiring and interview traini…
I think you have hit the nail on the head, my interview experience at a single company (currently employed, didn't interview anywhere else) had a very high variance in terms of questions/approaches so I can see this playing a significant part in determination of appropriateness of a potential New Hire.
Personal experience is important in terms of rapidly evaluating a candidate! If a team is composed of 10 people and you interview with each and each brings something a little different to the table, that seems OK to me. It gives a candidate exposure to the people they would be working with, kind of like dating.
Re: For anyone who has been turned down by 38 companies
#180Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is actually kind of a bad thing to do, since you're intentionally wasting other people's time.
Companies interview multiple candidates looking for the best one, and they'll solicit applications from candidates that will never make it past a phone screen. Why wouldn't you do the same with companies?
Companies don't go into the interview saying "we'll never hire this person, we're just talking to them for the practice".
It's fine to interview at multiple companies that you might consider taking an offer from, but interviewing at a place you know you'll say no to strikes me as, yes, wasting their time (and money, as we usually have a few people interviewing one candidate at the same time).