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WTF with high school questions?

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Re: WTF with high school questions?

#181

Post by kube-system »

deckard1 wrote: post #145
mtlynch wrote: post #6

Related: This was the first step in the interview process at Canonical – I withdrew (2022) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30735678

They really do want the people that will crawl through broken glass for them. The whole tech industry is insane. Can we please go back to: I give you work, you give me money. And if you want passion then I want equity .

Maybe you want that, but some people like working beside people who give a shit. Some of those places give equity, some give good paychecks, and some give a good work-life balance. Not everyone is motivated the same way you are.

Re: WTF with high school questions?

#182

Post by kube-system »

ALittleLight wrote: post #69
mtlynch wrote: post #6

Related: This was the first step in the interview process at Canonical – I withdrew (2022) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30735678

I wonder if the real test is to get a candidate who will do something like "I took a look at the interview questions and determined that most of them aren't a productive use of time for either of us, here's why. Now, here's a short description of why you should hire me and what I'll bring to the company." Like looking for someone who can cut through the bureaucracy.

Usually, if it quacks like bureaucracy, it's a bureaucracy.

Re: WTF with high school questions?

#183

Post by kube-system »

outworlder wrote: post #136

My "high school" was not in the US. They don't even _have_ a GPA! No matter how it's calculated, they don't have it. They have quarterly tests(some lesser tests in between), and they have a weighted average of your scores for that particular year. You are above some number, you pass, otherwise you fail. It does not carry over to the next year. How would someone like me input anything resembling a GPA? Also, it was a…

"Not applicable" is the most appropriate response. If that entry is not accepted, it seems reasonable to convert it to an equivalent value in the system they're looking for.

Re: WTF with high school questions?

#184

Post by scintill76 »

kube-system wrote: post #58

Not that I agree with it, but maybe they ask those kinds of questions because they want people who will just answer the damn questions, rather than argue with them over it. > High School: I got kicked out of AP English for insubordination in high school. ...is this evidence that the filter is bad, or evidence that the filter is working?

That stood out to me too. This could be very valuable information, in the employer's opinion, to make their choice.

The author's counterpoint might be that there are a lot of similar behavioral/subordination/personal-history questions that they could have asked, but didn't, because, as TFA discusses, a lot of stuff you did when you were barely starting to be an adult doesn't matter after a few years.

Re: WTF with high school questions?

#185

Post by the_only_law »

myth_drannon wrote: post #38

Shopify has an initial round with recruiter called "Life Story interview". You basically start from the beginning, talking about your high school experience, what did you like there and what did you study, your childhood hobbies ...

Ugh do they at least get you drunk first.

Re: WTF with high school questions?

#186

Post by kube-system »

scintill76 wrote: post #184
kube-system wrote: post #58

Not that I agree with it, but maybe they ask those kinds of questions because they want people who will just answer the damn questions, rather than argue with them over it. > High School: I got kicked out of AP English for insubordination in high school. ...is this evidence that the filter is bad, or evidence that the filter is working?

That stood out to me too. This could be very valuable information, in the employer's opinion, to make their choice. The author's counterpoint might be that there are a lot of similar behavioral/subordination/personal-history questions that they could have asked, but didn't, because, as TFA discusses, a lot of stuff you did when you were barely starting to be an adult doesn't matter after a few years.

The problem with the hiring process is that there's no one correct way to do it.

What consistently confuses me is why any highly marketable professional would be frustrated about an organization filtering in a way that they disagree with. If you can tell that an organization is not for you in the application form, that's literally the best time to find out. I don't know why anyone would want to go into business with people who they disagree with on how to run a business.

Re: WTF with high school questions?

#187

Post by red-iron-pine »

deckard1 wrote: post #145
mtlynch wrote: post #6

Related: This was the first step in the interview process at Canonical – I withdrew (2022) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30735678

They really do want the people that will crawl through broken glass for them. The whole tech industry is insane. Can we please go back to: I give you work, you give me money. And if you want passion then I want equity .

There are 8 billion people on the planet and remote work & automation is changing the game.

If you won't crawl through broken glass, cool, there are 5000+ people in India who might, and a couple hundred jr IT support types a lot closer who are being replaced with an IAM system.

Two World Wars killed the main working segments of entire generations -- young men -- and allowed the West to take the lead for a while. The tech booms prolonged that a little further. But now them halcyon days are over homie. Hustle, or I'm replacing you with a math whiz from Delhi.

Re: WTF with high school questions?

#188

Post by plusminusplus »

vagrantJin wrote: post #144
alphazard wrote: post #117

The best way to see if someone will perform well at a job, is to have them do that job and see. The second best way is to ask them for proof they succeeded at a similar job. That proof is usually a combination of references and a discussion about work they did at the previous job. If you can't do any of those things, like for some recent grads, then the next best predictors of job performance are going to be psychome…

That was a whole lot of psychobabble.

Seemed cogent to me. At the very least, it contributed to discussion more than you dismissing something using a very tired cliche.

Re: WTF with high school questions?

#189

Post by red-iron-pine »

ALittleLight wrote: post #69
mtlynch wrote: post #6

Related: This was the first step in the interview process at Canonical – I withdrew (2022) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30735678

I wonder if the real test is to get a candidate who will do something like "I took a look at the interview questions and determined that most of them aren't a productive use of time for either of us, here's why. Now, here's a short description of why you should hire me and what I'll bring to the company." Like looking for someone who can cut through the bureaucracy.

Nothing in the history of Canonical suggests they are that clever.

Re: WTF with high school questions?

#190

Post by kube-system »

radlad wrote: post #170
kube-system wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the form is much more focused on "things that look good on paper" What more could you ask for from a form?

I think you're conflating "how should one answer the questions on a form" with "how should the form be written"?

They're inherently related. The medium dictates the context of both the questions and responses. Trying to communicate things on a form that are not accurately communicated on a form is a fools errand. Interviews, code tests, etc exist to communicate things that aren't well communicated in that format.
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