Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

On asking job candidates to code

philcalcado.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

271–280 of 524 posts

Re: On asking job candidates to code

#271

Post by justinlardinois »

spike021 wrote: post #245
dominotw wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had nightmare of a interview experience with AirBnb in 2012. They asked me take 2 days off from work and fly all the way to SFO after I wasted couple of hours doing their coding homework. The first interviewer started with "your degree is not from a good school" like the very first sentence right to my face. He then asked me a string matching question, and insisted that I code up his brute force solution (with terr…

Nowadays, at least for their engineering internships, they have a pre-filled list of top schools to choose from followed by an "other" option (at least when I tried applying a couple years ago). That told me exactly what I needed to know. I'd be instantly rejected because of not going to a "good school".

At least they tell you instead of taking the applications anyways and then tossing out resumes that don't match.

I once came across a job application that had TOP SCHOOLS ONLY emblazoned across the top.

Thanks for saving me my time in applying.

Re: On asking job candidates to code

#272

Post by mooreds »

mordocai wrote: post #182
dominotw wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've noticed that your github profile doesn't even get looked at until you jump through all the standard phonescreen/homework hoops. Even after than many interviewers look at your resume like 10 minutes before the interview there is no chance that they would read through your code on github. github as your resume is overrated. I am curious to know if people hire or get hired purely based on their github profile witho…

We literally never hire someone without a technical interview, but we do look at github/bitbucket/gitlab/whatever code we can find the day or so before the interview. If there's something interesting we'll ask questions about it during the interview. So far, there hasn't been one candidate that had anything resembling a portfolio online, but we don't hire all that often and i've only been doing it for a bit over a ye…

What is your opinion on a technical blog? like http://www.mooreds.com/wordpress/ (note, this is mine)

Is that more or less useful than a github profile?

Just curious.

Re: On asking job candidates to code

#273

Post by mikeash »

orng wrote: post #143
mikeash wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why ask technical questions about the skill you want to see, when you could just ask for a demonstration of that skill?

Because asking a few quick questions doesn't waste 8 hours of your candidates time.

A quick coding problem doesn't have to take that long either. I agree that asking for a (relatively) huge project is the wrong way to go about it, but it doesn't have to be huge.

Re: On asking job candidates to code

#274

Post by cpeterso »

dominotw wrote: post #215
ryandrake wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Often the "information sideband" is the very fact that the company decided to cut off all communication as a way to convey rejection. If they treat random people that way, how do you think they treat people who are obligated to be on their worksite every day? Companies: DON'T DO THIS! I, for one, actively discourage smart friends from interviewing at places that treat candidates like shit.

I had nightmare of a interview experience with AirBnb in 2012. They asked me take 2 days off from work and fly all the way to SFO after I wasted couple of hours doing their coding homework. The first interviewer started with "your degree is not from a good school" like the very first sentence right to my face. He then asked me a string matching question, and insisted that I code up his brute force solution (with terr…

> This experience has dissuaded many of my friends from applying there.

This should be the lesson for employers: an interview candidate who feels good about their interviewing experience, even if they aren't hired, can refer their qualified friends to your company. The alternative is that they might discourage good candidates from interviewing with your company by warning people on Hacker News about its hiring practices. Also, the candidate might be a good fit for a different position in the future.

Re: On asking job candidates to code

#275

Post by herval »

aprdm wrote: post #195
herval wrote: post #156

The process I've seen working best to this day was at Pivotal Labs: pair for a half hour to one hour with 3 different people in the team you're being hired for. You get to measure everything, from communication skills to cultural fit. Perhaps pair on an internal tool, or even better, an open source project (in which case the candidate gets an extra incentive for not wasting their time). If you're dealing with too man…

I've interviewed there. Only two people I've paired with, one in the morning and other on after lunch. I had two problems: * The 2nd guy I've interviewed with was completely non interested on doing it. He was checking the phone all the time and getting off and on. I felt so awkward because of his lack of interest. * I didn't get _ANY_ feedback at all, just got refused. After 6hours in their office...

That's an orthogonal issue, though. I had the same experience during a whiteboarding somewhere else...

Re: On asking job candidates to code

#276

Post by justinlardinois »

billmalarky wrote: post #260
vkjv wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A couple of quick notes: * If you don't provide a link to your github profile, I'm not supposed to look at it. This an HR requirement. Other companies may use this same policy. * I definitely look at github, but it's not always easy to tell if a project is original or not. Quite often I'm presented with either 30 forks, or a few projects that seem like they started as some boilerplate. * Don't just provide github, al…

My issue with the whole "github resume" thing is all my best code is in private projects because they are related to serious side projects I intend to monetize. I suspect the same could be said for any other developer who is serious about their side projects.

Your situation is just one of the many reasons for why hiring by GitHub is bad. It selects for people who are willing and able to work for free.

Re: On asking job candidates to code

#277

Post by mooreds »

MollyR wrote: post #221
jcadam wrote: post #89

A couple of months ago I did a 'homework' assignment for an interview (it involved writing a simple REST service in go, even though I have at least one personal project demonstrating exactly this skill -- to an even greater degree -- in my github profile). During the phone-discussion after turning in the project, the mid 20-something lead developer couldn't find anything to nitpick (I could have) and even told me he…

its hard finding good (CHEAP) developers

The market clearing price is higher than many buyers (employers) would like, that's for sure.

Re: On asking job candidates to code

#278

Post by iolothebard »

ryandrake wrote: post #132
tetraodonpuffer wrote: post #87

not sure why there is so much resistance here about doing an 8 hour test, I might be in the minority but for a traditional whiteboard interview I would spend a lot more than 8 hours revising algorithms and so on, and have a lot of stress due to whiteboard coding not being anything like real coding. Being able to take a Sunday to work on a challenging problem in my own editor / computer / dev environment sounds great!…

> not sure why there is so much resistance here about doing an 8 hour test If you're applying to just 5 companies, that's a full (well 40-hour) work week of effort for a small chance of going forward with the next stage of the interview/hazing ritual. Might be good if you are already unemployed, but incompatible with candidates who already work.

I ask them to give me a full design document with their coding style guide. Since it's an 'easy test', this is my 'easy test' to check their procedures.

They should already have a coding document in place and they can use their boilerplate document to quickly whip up a design doc. Right??!!?

Re: On asking job candidates to code

#279

Post by cpeterso »

jameshart wrote: post #163
kejaed wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A's hire A's and B's hire C's. http://www.hrdusa.com/As_hire_As.html

And since everybody knows they're an A, the only explanation for a 'no hire' decision must be that the interviewer is a B.

Who hires the Bs in the first place? :)

Re: On asking job candidates to code

#280

Post by ElysianEagle »

drubio wrote: post #141
jcadam wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, I'm in Florida. The local market isn't that great (though I am presently employed) so I've been interviewing for remote jobs.

Remote is insanity now a days, it was a reasonable market a few years ago but not anymore. There's a glut on both the supply and demand sides. Many years ago there was a limited demand for remote work, which probably tapered the supply, but in my experience from every 3 leads you followed (granted you had the experience), 2 were promising and 1 was almost always an offer. Now a days it's more like you need to follow…

>To make matters worse, everything from the smallest start-up to the largest tech company is adopting the same 'exclusive hiring practices' while they sit back wait for the resumes to roll in and/or send in work samples.

So true. I've found myself back on the market recently and what I'm finding is a large number of companies resorting to HackerRank pre-screens where they pick out anywhere from 3-6 puzzle-type coding challenges, give you an hour or so to complete them and if you don't nail them all, you're out. And that's just for the initial screening - there's no guarantee you'll make it past the N phone screens and in-persons you'll have after the initial screening.

Insanity, indeed. I hope someone writes a book on the crazy hiring practices in our industry, compared to other fields. Maybe I will someday - have to land a job first, lol :-/

Post reply on HN