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AI killed the tech interview. Now what?

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Re: AI killed the tech interview. Now what?

#451

Post by serial_dev »

Dylan16807 wrote: post #434
serial_dev wrote: post #417

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In a small company, you can tell your buddy “just have a chat with the candidate and if you like them and you think they can do the job, hire them”. If the person interviewing your candidates messes up, you’ll know soon enough. In a large company, the bad people will take over and your company is dying a slow death. That approach doesn’t work on a large scale. Some interviewers are too nitpicky, elitist, others appro…

But I'm talking about the idea of pair programming for an hour or two. Why can't the standardized test still involve that? What doesn't "scale" about it?

I think it’s easier to compare candidates who might have been interviewed by different people possibly weeks apart if you have a coding challenge… could they solve the problem we gave them, if yes how quickly and how well. Interviewers can write their notes, the session can be recorded and the committee can compare candidates relatively fairly.

Comparing candidates based on how they “vibe” with the interviewer during a pair programming session is a recipe for lawsuits and bad hires.

I’m just speculating here, I don’t have any significant hiring and interviewing experience

Re: AI killed the tech interview. Now what?

#452

Post by jimmyjazz14 »

When it comes to interviews I generally stick to asking fairly easy questions but leaving out key details, I care a lot more about candidates asking following ups and talking through the code they are writing over what code they actually produce. If a candidate can ask questions when they don't understand something and talk through their thought process then they are probably going to be a good person to work with. High level design questions are often pretty valuable I find as well, which I usually don't require code for I just ask them to talk through their ideas of how they would design an application.

Re: AI killed the tech interview. Now what?

#453

Post by codr7 »

svilen_dobrev wrote: post #409
codr7 wrote: post #291

The current job market is so messed up that I honestly can't see myself getting a job until we hit a wall and people start using their brains again. I have 26 years of solid experience, been writing code since I was 8. There should be a ton of companies out there just dying to hire someone with that kind of experience. But I'm not perfect, no one is; and faking doesn't work very well for me.

> There should be a ton of companies out there just dying to hire someone with that kind of experience. heh.. they are probably dead already? i have even longer years.. But this time i am looking since.. september? Applying 1-2 per day, on average.. Widening the fishing net each month.. ~2% showed some interest.. but no bingo. "overqualified" is about half of the "excuses" :/ Time to plant tomatoes maybe..

Or maybe join forces and show them how it's really done?

Not that I mind growing tomatoes, quite the opposite :)

Re: AI killed the tech interview. Now what?

#454

Post by wkat4242 »

janoc wrote: post #272
wkat4242 wrote: post #263

What a BS article. As they say, just do the interview in person. Problem solved. Not sure about the US but 99% of jobs here in Spain are hybrid or onsite ("presencial"), not fully remote. They're acting like all jobs are remote and it's impossible to do an interview in person. Also, does it really matter? If a person is good at using AI and manages to be good at creating code with that, is it really so much worse tha…

Costs money (travel) and time (company's) plus a lot of this is outsourced to agencies to do the screening. Yes, it is disgusting. Sadly also very common.

Ah weird, here in Europe if you apply for a job in another city or country they won't fly you out there. You can come on your own dime and usually you wouldn't even tell them you don't live there yet (after all if you don't even live there, why would they bother with you, it's only extra hassle for them when you start). Probably C-suite roles are an exception to this. But they're an exception to pretty much everything. Roles with particular foreign languages (e.g. support) too but this is also an edge case.

Moving personnel between countries when they are already working for the company does happen. They did it for me. But at that point they already know what they have.

Re: AI killed the tech interview. Now what?

#455

Post by [deleted] »

abenga wrote: post #368
jimbokun wrote: post #340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is the end point of AI in the economy, until we are removed from the economy entirely. Everyone on the planet is a one person startup, using AI and robotics to do all the actual work.

What's the point of humans (other than the ai and robotics ip owners) in this scenario?

[deleted]

Re: AI killed the tech interview. Now what?

#456

Post by codr7 »

drdaeman wrote: post #325
codr7 wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, been there, done that; wannabe FAANGs are the worst.

At least those are typically honest about what they try to be and give a very clear signal, right at the interview time. It's much worse when the interview gives you different vibes (and expectations) than the actual day-to-day work.

The only way to test actual work is to do actual work, should be obvious but here we are.

Re: AI killed the tech interview. Now what?

#457

Post by cableshaft »

solarmist wrote: post #279
joshdavham wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've (unfortunately) been interviewing the last two months and the main pattern that I've noticed is that a) big companies have terrible interview processes while b) small companies and startups are great at interviewing. Big companies need to hire tons of people and interview even more so they need some sort of scalable process for it. An early stage startup can just ask you about your past projects and pair program…

I hear this all the time, but I have yet to experience it. It may be because the small companies that I interview with are all startups, but I have yet to be able to get a call back from any other kind of small company. And the startups I do interview with have a full FAANG interview loops. There seems to be a weird selection bias that if you're FAANG or FAANG adjacent these small companies aren't interested.

I've had a few good experiences with interviews at small companies and startups, so they do exist.

But I have also had really terrible experiences, similar to what you've mentioned. Sounds like you've just gotten unlucky and gotten the terrible ones.

Re: AI killed the tech interview. Now what?

#458

Post by codr7 »

tshaddox wrote: post #450
codr7 wrote: post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hiring doesn't scale, period; deal with it.

For companies that successfully scale their team size, it literally did scale, right? I think you mean that hiring is very difficult to scale.

Define successfully, I'm pretty sure they could have been a lot more successful by giving hiring the attention it deserves.

Re: AI killed the tech interview. Now what?

#459

Post by codr7 »

hassleblad23 wrote: post #421
codr7 wrote: post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hiring doesn't scale, period; deal with it.

Exactly. Its almost like optimising for finding your best possible match for marriage. You don't go over a billion prospects, you choose from the ones locally available to you, as they come.

You're right, premature optimization is exactly what it is.

Re: AI killed the tech interview. Now what?

#460

Post by xmx98 »

codr7 wrote: post #286
tokai wrote: post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I was allowed to use any programming language because they knew them all (allegedly). brainfuck time

Hehe, I have to remember to bring one of my custom Forths to the next interview.

As an interviewer I’d just skip the questions and talk about your Forth haha
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