Live data from Hacker News

Tech Interview Handbook

techinterviewhandbook.org

21–30 of 132 posts

Re: Tech Interview Handbook

#21
I think this may be very targeted to certain cultures and while its useful to take elements from maybe for your first job.

Now I have a pitch style CV and have dumped the chronological for well over a decade.

However writing a guide like this you need up front to show that you have actually done a lot of recruiting.

Re: Tech Interview Handbook

#23

"GPA does matter" No, it does not, unless you're a recent graduate. Absolutely nobody pays attention to your GPA, if you're more than a few years in your career.

As a new grad I didn't have my GPA on my resume and it never actually came up except for the occasional transcript request. I had a fine GPA, but not high enough for it to be a nice datapoint. I had plenty of interest with lots of companies, including many FAANGMGOEWVIOPJW companies. This was years ago though.

Maybe things have changed, but when I went to career fairs as a uni student in the 00s they all asked for my GPA. Less than 3.5 was pretty much an instant no.

Re: Tech Interview Handbook

#24

"GPA does matter" No, it does not, unless you're a recent graduate. Absolutely nobody pays attention to your GPA, if you're more than a few years in your career.

I never put my GPA on any resume. I had a garbage GPA because the only classes I went to were CS classes so I got horrible grades in all my required electives. I was worried someone would ask and no one did.

I always put my GPA on my resume. I'm always hoping somebody will mention it and nobody ever does.

Re: Tech Interview Handbook

#25

"GPA does matter" No, it does not, unless you're a recent graduate. Absolutely nobody pays attention to your GPA, if you're more than a few years in your career.

I never put my GPA on any resume. I had a garbage GPA because the only classes I went to were CS classes so I got horrible grades in all my required electives. I was worried someone would ask and no one did.

Did you not have to submit transcripts of your results?

Re: Tech Interview Handbook

#26

I disagree about having an Objective Statement. I replaced mine with a Summary long ago. Also, talking about your interests should happen during an interview or even a phone screen. You don't list "Film Noir" when applying to a flowers shop.

The typical "Looking for a challenging position juggling chainsaws in a hard-driving..." OK I exaggerate but I never liked anything along those lines. I was usually pretty fluid about what I was looking for and mostly stuck it in a cover letter or was having a conversation with someone I knew anyway.

Re: Tech Interview Handbook

#27
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a new grad I didn't have my GPA on my resume and it never actually came up except for the occasional transcript request. I had a fine GPA, but not high enough for it to be a nice datapoint. I had plenty of interest with lots of companies, including many FAANGMGOEWVIOPJW companies. This was years ago though.

Maybe things have changed, but when I went to career fairs as a uni student in the 00s they all asked for my GPA. Less than 3.5 was pretty much an instant no.

I'm talking like 2012-2015ish here. I was never asked for it specifically, or asked why it was not on my resume. A few big companies asked for my transcript, but that's all. I don't even know if they looked at it.

I had about a 3.5, so nothing to write home about. Got offers from a few big tech companies.

I really think they didn't care, unless my barely 3.5 GPA just made the cutoff when they looked at my transcripts.

Re: Tech Interview Handbook

#28

I disagree with this resume advice actually. He for example removes that he was in the military sniper team and won best shot, but keeps high school education? I would totally say the opposite, keep the cool the side thing that's a conversation starter, but remove irrelevant educational experience. Including the number of stars on the github projects they worked on seems so.... narcissistic? Promotional? Idk but its…

I don't mind the stars, I wouldn't discount the resume based on that, but the changes themselves seemed useless. Having looked at many resumes of candidates, I scanned both with my "looking to hire" hat on and quickly determined, 1) is a grad and seems smart 2) is involved with open source projects and seems to enjoy creating software, on that basis I'd bring them in for an interview

Re: Tech Interview Handbook

#29

I disagree with this resume advice actually. He for example removes that he was in the military sniper team and won best shot, but keeps high school education? I would totally say the opposite, keep the cool the side thing that's a conversation starter, but remove irrelevant educational experience. Including the number of stars on the github projects they worked on seems so.... narcissistic? Promotional? Idk but its…

I would modify the cool side thing (being a sniper), if it highlights leadership skills, collaboration, and determination. There are many opportunities to develop these and many more in military and other roles before you get a first real job.

Depending on whether you took advantage of the opportunity and who you are interviewing with, it can be a strong differentiator and set you onto a quicker path to promotion.

The stars part is flawed because it's set against the 19 commits which don't really quantify anything. Both these miss after some good build up around the adoption of the Docusaurus. It'd be better to have a description of the impact of the 19 commits.

Re: Tech Interview Handbook

#30
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The last time I interviewed, I did it full-time for about a month. Was kind of fun actually: you're solving isolated little coding problems, talking with companies about their engineering and business challenges, meeting smart and friendly people, and at the end of it all you get a big pay raise. The downside is mostly that it's a ton of scheduling calls and on-sites (back when those were in person). At the end of th…

Well yes. To get a software engineering job, step 1 is to quit your software engineering job to study full time to get a job doing something very similar. Doing your job as a software engineer is an impediment to interviewing as one.

Except for all those stories of people who have been interviewing for months but can't seem to land anything. Much better to realize you have developed some behavioral problems and seek treatment for them while you are employed rather than after you leave your job.
Post reply on HN