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Interviewing a software engineer who prepared with AI

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Re: Interviewing a software engineer who prepared with AI

#341

Post by dagw »

j1elo wrote: post #299
sethammons wrote: post #293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The general rule is to dress one step up from those in the role. Everyone in hoodie and shorts? Wear pants. Everyone in collared polos? Go business casual with maybe a blazer. Showing up a level lower makes you look unprepared. Showing up some levels higher, like in a suit to a hoodie shop, shows lack of research and reading a room. In start ups, I have seen candidates nearly rejected just on a suit alone. Def starte…

That's the point. One of my first interviews in tech was with a CEO who dressed with an Iron Maiden t-shirt. That settled to me the question about whether I would need to worry too much about looks at the office! :)

whether I would need to worry too much about looks at the office

'Uniforms' can go both ways. Would a person who only owns white Oxford shirts and monochrome dress pants have to go out and buy a new wardrobe he would feel very uncomfortable in if he wanted to work there? People who wear 20 year old band t-shirts can be every bit as judgemental about looks as people who wear tailored Italian suits.

Re: Interviewing a software engineer who prepared with AI

#342

Post by housecarpenter »

ellen364 wrote: post #282
donnachangstein wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Classic bigotry. Hiring is all about finding the best candidate. If you find you cannot function sitting in conference room with three other people for an hour, there is a 100% chance there is a better candidate suited for the role, even if his/her technical skills are less than yours. Jobs have soft skill requirements, and there is nothing bigoted about that.

I'm curious about this. When I've hired, I've always wondered how I can actually tell (a) what soft skills are required for the role and (b) whether a candidate has them. People sometimes think that's a silly thing to ponder: it's obviously obvious! But at most places I've worked, we spend lots of time defining the technical skills required for a job and handwave the rest. I guess people assume "they'll know it when…

As somebody with autism, one thing I'd say from my experience (I don't know how many people will agree) is that interviewing has felt like a much more severe stress test of my soft skills than anything I've had to do while actually being employed. While employed, the vast majority of my social interactions are oriented around some technical task that I need to work on with other people, and conveying information effectively so as to bring about the completion of this task. This is precisely the kind of social interaction that I feel most competent in--I feel like I'm pretty good at it, actually! What I struggle with are social interactions that are more open-ended, that are more about emotional connections and getting people to like you, and I feel like interviewing is an interaction of the latter type.

In this respect interviewing is a bit like LeetCode. LeetCode problems and writing code to satisfy business requirements are both "coding" but they're quite different kinds of coding; someone being able to do the former is probably good evidence they can do the latter, but there are also plenty of people who can do the latter without being able to do the former. So it is, in my view, with interviewing vs. interacting with people on the job.

Re: Interviewing a software engineer who prepared with AI

#344

Post by mariusor »

porridgeraisin wrote: post #328
mariusor wrote: post #316

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry for the snark, but yeah, I agree, human dignity and empathy have no place in the capitalist work place. You must prove you're disabled or else.

What's wrong with asking people to prove they're disabled? There definitely exist people that lie about being disabled too. Many places have a persons with disability certificate given by the government, so "proving", just means entering the ID of that certificate in a form.

> What's wrong with asking people to prove they're disabled

It's dehumanizing, it's lacking empathy, and it usually ends up having people trivialise the problem a person might suffer from.

As long as the disability doesn't prevent a person from executing their contractual obligations, gatekeeping a position behind "you need to be able to function in society" is an indecent request to people that have difficulties doing so.

And from personal experience, once you're in the second half of your life, looking for an autism diagnosis and then using that to fight the gauntlet of bureaucracy required to get a government approved "stigma certificate" is a chore that really eats into one's provision of spoons.

I for one would like my manager and my employer to understand when I tell them I have trouble in loud open spaces with many people and disruptions, and I would prefer to do my job at home in a comfortable environment.

How do you propose I demonstrate to you that being in an office severely impairs my ability to reason about problems and write code? Is heart rate enough? Are higher bugs per feature enough? Is being an asshole to people enough?

Re: Interviewing a software engineer who prepared with AI

#345

Post by bayindirh »

ed_mercer wrote: post #339

>integrity and reputation goes a long way. Was it really necessary to take the moral high ground and lecture the candidate? As if companies are honest and well-meaning in interviews. You caught him and that's the end of it.

When I'm in similar positions, if I see the honesty and feel the connection, I change the tone a bit to take off my corporate/higher up hat and make friendly remarks like that.

When caught in vulnerable positions, some people are very open to sincere remarks, but the situation is fragile. Not wounding the person further is the key.

I always try to remind myself, that I don't need to cut with the sword of truth. I can (and shall) point with it, too.

Re: Interviewing a software engineer who prepared with AI

#346

Post by watercolorblind »

throwaway290 wrote: post #286
DaSHacka wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Hiring is all about finding the best candidate. If you find you cannot function sitting in conference room with three other people for an hour, there is a 100% chance there is a better candidate suited for the role, even if his/her technical skills are less than yours. > Jobs have soft skill requirements, and there is nothing bigoted about that. Everything you just said also applies to someone who's deaf, blind, or…

> Everything you just said also applies to someone who's deaf, blind, or physically impaired. A blind person is not a good bus driver. A physically impaired person is not a good mover or yoga teacher. A deaf person is not a good session musician. A person who cannot function sitting in a meeting with 3 people for an hour is not a good employee where that is required. What makes the last one special compared to others…

A physically impaired person can be a good yoga instructor: they'll suggest alternatives, different/better cues, or provide more accessible classes such as yin or seated yoga.

Just because they are physically impaired now doesn't mean they were before, and an instructor won't necessarily move through the poses with the class since they can have 2-3 classes per day.

Re: Interviewing a software engineer who prepared with AI

#347

Post by anal_reactor »

roenxi wrote: post #289
tuvang wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First impressions do count but I think the above poster has a point, a suit can actually harm your chances in an environment where no one wears suits.

I'd want to see some actual hard evidence before I believed that. The usual way social cues work is they are devastatingly effective even if people claim they are not. Much like how most interviewers are honestly convinced that their approach is unbiased but in practice they tend to hire people who are like themselves. My expectation is that turning up in a suit would get better results. The effect is probably smalle…

The problem is that when someone who doesn't usually wear a suit puts it on just for one day, it's blatantly obvious he's uncomfortable.

Re: Interviewing a software engineer who prepared with AI

#348

Post by austin-cheney »

This is why I will not interview for any job that mentions any of: React, Angular, Vue, Spring, or Rails.

The people in these positions are scared to death to write original code and then have the balls to whine about people who use AI to provide unoriginal answers.

Re: Interviewing a software engineer who prepared with AI

#349

Post by mariusor »

relativ575 wrote: post #326
mariusor wrote: post #316

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry for the snark, but yeah, I agree, human dignity and empathy have no place in the capitalist work place. You must prove you're disabled or else.

I've worked under communist regime. A real one, a few decades ago, and let me tell you, they also demanded proof of disability. Did you have different experience?

I wasn't trying to claim that only capitalists dehumanize people. But that's what we mostly see today because that's the majority of our society.

When it comes to the types of disabilities that are being discussed in this thread and that I was referring to - to say varied types of autism - I doubt any type of organisation that treats employees as "resources" will work in a decent way.

Re: Interviewing a software engineer who prepared with AI

#350

Post by tmstieff »

coolThingsFirst wrote: post #308
dakiol wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

imho I think the pagination example alone wouldn’t get you hired even if told correctly. In over a decade of experience my “coolest experience” related to pagination is about not using LIMIT and OFFSET because it’s not performant… but that’s 101 knowledge and doesn’t sell.

What’s the better way to do pagination?

The easiest alternative is using a where clause and filtering by an ID range. Eg: "WHERE id between 1000 and 1200". But this introduces a ton of limitations with how you can sort and filter, so the general advice of not using LIMIT and OFFSET has a ton of caveats.
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