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Guide to Tech Interviews

kchodorow.com

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Re: Guide to Tech Interviews

#21

Post by nates »

jtbigwoo wrote: post #14

Resist the urge to follow up with the company, try to put the whole thing out of your mind. You probably won’t be able to, but remind yourself that there is nothing you can do and concentrate on other things. (Also, feel free to write thank you notes, but I’ve never known a programmer at a geeky company who gave two shits whether you did or not.) This is good technical interview advice, but I've never gotten a job th…

I disagree, it's not like it can be negative. There's only a chance for a positive...

Re: Guide to Tech Interviews

#22

Post by Breefield »

dominotw wrote: post #20

I recently had nightmare of a interview experience with AirBnb. They asked me take 2 days off from work and fly all the way to SFO after I wasted couple of hours doing their online coding puzzle. The first interviewer asked me a string matching question, and insisted that I code up his brute force solution with terrible insert complicity and second interviewer asked me to code up a binary search tree( he had no clue…

Did you speak about reimbursement before flying there?

Re: Guide to Tech Interviews

#23

Post by dominotw »

Breefield wrote: post #22
dominotw wrote: post #20

I recently had nightmare of a interview experience with AirBnb. They asked me take 2 days off from work and fly all the way to SFO after I wasted couple of hours doing their online coding puzzle. The first interviewer asked me a string matching question, and insisted that I code up his brute force solution with terrible insert complicity and second interviewer asked me to code up a binary search tree( he had no clue…

Did you speak about reimbursement before flying there?

Yes I did. I was also sent the policy document which stated they will reimburse me for the flights/accommodation/food. I also have the email communication with their recruiters which said that they will reimburse me. Do I have to get a lawyer?.

Re: Guide to Tech Interviews

#24

Post by azov »

gummadi wrote: post #13
maeon3 wrote: post #2

If you are using an IDE like Eclipse or anything with auto code completion, syntax color-highlighting, and syntax error highlighting, get rid of that while coding up the exercises in the PDF. Use Notepad++ or kwrite and disable those features, if your coding speed grinds to a halt under these conditions, good! That's the point of the exercise, like trying to jog at 30 thousand feet, as you overcome the hindrance up t…

One of my friend always take his personal laptop to the onsite interviews and asks the interviewer permission to type code on his IDE for whiteboard exercises. He didn't have a problem and infact most of them are more than happy to allow him to do so.

Not sure it's a good idea. Remember why your interviewer is asking those questions? So that he can compare candidates. You're making his job a bit harder because you now have advantage over people who did it on a whiteboard.

Re: Guide to Tech Interviews

#25

Post by justjimmy »

dominotw wrote: post #23
Breefield wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you speak about reimbursement before flying there?

Yes I did. I was also sent the policy document which stated they will reimburse me for the flights/accommodation/food. I also have the email communication with their recruiters which said that they will reimburse me. Do I have to get a lawyer?.

Sorry to hear about your troubles. I've always had the interviewing companies pay for the tickets on their end and they (or their travel agents) would send me the confirmation email/tickets.

Didn't know some companies are asking to pay for it yourself upfront first - definitely makes it more risky…

Re: Guide to Tech Interviews

#26

Post by epoxyhockey »

dominotw wrote: post #20

I recently had nightmare of a interview experience with AirBnb. They asked me take 2 days off from work and fly all the way to SFO after I wasted couple of hours doing their online coding puzzle. The first interviewer asked me a string matching question, and insisted that I code up his brute force solution with terrible insert complicity and second interviewer asked me to code up a binary search tree( he had no clue…

From my own experience, I have concluded that start-ups located in the FiDi and SOMA have no idea what they are doing when it comes to interviewing and hiring. When they aren't interviewing for sport or to gather intel, they generally don't know what questions to ask to determine if someone is a good fit. EDIT: I've been asked several illegal interview questions, as well.. maybe I should start capitalizing on that.

A lot of people bash Human Resources departments, but they do inject a great deal of sanity into the process when your time is on the line.

Re: Guide to Tech Interviews

#27

Post by geebee »

dominotw wrote: post #20

I recently had nightmare of a interview experience with AirBnb. They asked me take 2 days off from work and fly all the way to SFO after I wasted couple of hours doing their online coding puzzle. The first interviewer asked me a string matching question, and insisted that I code up his brute force solution with terrible insert complicity and second interviewer asked me to code up a binary search tree( he had no clue…

I do think companies need to be more careful about managing the interview process. I have full respect for a company's right to decide how they'll interview candidates - if I object, I am free to terminate the interview as well. However, I have had the experience of doing an 8 hour "assignment" (after a couple of phone interviews), only to hear crickets chirping and finally getting a call from a recruiter with no knowledge of the evaluation other than to say that they had decided not to pursue my application further. No review, no feedback.

I understand that when you give a reason for the no hire decision, you open yourself to lawsuits and other types of trouble. But I also see a problem with asking for a substantial investment of time from the applicant (with no corresponding investment of time from the company) and responding to the applicant with a three second brush-off. It is a small community, and of course this will influence my impression of this company.

Re: Guide to Tech Interviews

#28

Post by tocomment »

dominotw wrote: post #23
Breefield wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you speak about reimbursement before flying there?

Yes I did. I was also sent the policy document which stated they will reimburse me for the flights/accommodation/food. I also have the email communication with their recruiters which said that they will reimburse me. Do I have to get a lawyer?.

Perhaps look into small claims court? You shouldn't need a lawyer for that.

Re: Guide to Tech Interviews

#29

Post by eru »

azov wrote: post #24
gummadi wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of my friend always take his personal laptop to the onsite interviews and asks the interviewer permission to type code on his IDE for whiteboard exercises. He didn't have a problem and infact most of them are more than happy to allow him to do so.

Not sure it's a good idea. Remember why your interviewer is asking those questions? So that he can compare candidates. You're making his job a bit harder because you now have advantage over people who did it on a whiteboard.

The other candidates could have asked as well.

When on the job, there's no such thing as cheating [1], so I'd like to see any prospective employy act as pro-active as that. (And if I really need comparability, I'd thank the candidate for their good idea, but explain why we are going with the whiteboard instead.)

[1] Modulo conforming to laws and ethics.

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