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

Interviewing a software engineer who prepared with AI

kapwing.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

461–470 of 731 posts

Re: Interviewing a software engineer who prepared with AI

#461

Post by crazygringo »

gwbas1c wrote: post #458
crazygringo wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regular sharpening doesn't work. But a deconvolution filter will. You can't do it in Photoshop but you can with a dedicated tool that tries different deconvolution kernels until it finds one that matches the exact original blur function. This is how you can remove motion blur from a photo due to camera movement, for example. It's wild how much information is still there, in the exact precise levels and shape of the b…

Well, let's see you do it! Can you deblur something like the first 2-3 letters of a name?

> Well, let's see you do it!

That's a bit rude to be making demands when I was just trying to provide some helpful info.

If you want to learn more, you can google it. I'm not the person who invented deconvolution. It's not secret knowledge.

Re: Interviewing a software engineer who prepared with AI

#462

Post by schnable »

9rx wrote: post #450
kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #441

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was told by a recruiter to "suit up" for an engineering position 15 years ago. I was met by the VP of engineering wearing cutoff jeans. I never listen recruiter sartorial advice.

To be fair, "suit up" usually means to put on a uniform rather than to wear a suit. The phrase seems to have originated in sports. T-shirts and hoodies are the uniform of tech.

I don't think it's fair to the candidate to expect them to think that when a recruiter says "suit up" they mean in t-shirt and jeans or cutoffs.

Re: Interviewing a software engineer who prepared with AI

#463

Post by fzeroracer »

motorest wrote: post #356
fzeroracer wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sitting in a conference room under pressure after potentially flying out possibly hundreds of miles doesn't test your soft skills in actual day to day work. I've known many excellent engineers that buckle under that conditional.

> Sitting in a conference room under pressure after potentially flying out possibly hundreds of miles doesn't test your soft skills in actual day to day work. I've known many excellent engineers that buckle under that conditional. You're complaining about the hypothetical effectiveness of concrete hiring practices. You are not rejecting the value and importance of soft skills. Also, the ability to work under pressure…

> Also, the ability to work under pressure is valuable skill. If you have a candidate that fails to perform when being in a room with someone else, I doubt you can argue that that's your hiring decision when other candidates are able to perform in similar circumstances.

I'm curious, as a software engineer when was the last time you've seriously worked under pressure? Like, 'do this thing now or you're fired/the company goes under' and so forth? The kind of snap pressure that interviews can push on you.

I haven't been under significant pressure in the past 10 or so years of software engineering. Not when on live ops diagnosing why our server is failing to work in prod, not when identifying critical client crashes.

Re: Interviewing a software engineer who prepared with AI

#464

Post by [deleted] »

schnable wrote: post #462
9rx wrote: post #450

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, "suit up" usually means to put on a uniform rather than to wear a suit. The phrase seems to have originated in sports. T-shirts and hoodies are the uniform of tech.

I don't think it's fair to the candidate to expect them to think that when a recruiter says "suit up" they mean in t-shirt and jeans or cutoffs.

[deleted]

Re: Interviewing a software engineer who prepared with AI

#465

Post by schnable »

graemep wrote: post #309
siva7 wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't take that advice seriously. Suit in tech would be awkward (even for most mgmt roles). Tech pioneered the concept that you don't need a suit to get the pay of a suit. You can be yourself.

It has spread to other industries and circumstances other than suits. I now have no idea how I am supposed to dress for most things other than formal occasions like wedding, funerals, or formal dinners.

Yep. The great thing about the expectation of suit is always knowing what to wear.

Re: Interviewing a software engineer who prepared with AI

#466

Post by zemo »

jamesgasek wrote: post #361

"Preparing with AI" sounds like an issue here, and it's not. The issue is lying about your experiences, which people have done since the beginning of time. I "prepare with AI" by having it help give me hints when doing leetcode problems, which is very helpful. Interviewing is not a presentation, it's a conversation, and having a simulated other side can be helpful. This shouldn't be surreal at all. A candidate just w…

> The issue is lying about your experiences

I think the point is that LLMs makes it easier and cheaper to produce a large volume of convincing lies. The candidate likely would not have been able to produce convincing-enough lies to get through the resume screen without LLMs.

Re: Interviewing a software engineer who prepared with AI

#467

Post by ziddoap »

gwbas1c wrote: post #458
crazygringo wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regular sharpening doesn't work. But a deconvolution filter will. You can't do it in Photoshop but you can with a dedicated tool that tries different deconvolution kernels until it finds one that matches the exact original blur function. This is how you can remove motion blur from a photo due to camera movement, for example. It's wild how much information is still there, in the exact precise levels and shape of the b…

Well, let's see you do it! Can you deblur something like the first 2-3 letters of a name?

Knowing that it is possible is different than having the tools, having the expertise, and wanting to take the time to do it for a random HNer.

There are several papers on the topic if you're that interested.

Re: Interviewing a software engineer who prepared with AI

#468

Post by Bluescreenbuddy »

no-dr-onboard wrote: post #45

I keep coming back to this phrase used in this post: "it was scary". Yeah, hiring is scary. Hiring is insanely expensive on all fronts. Firing people is difficult, it's expensive and legally exposing. Hiring the wrong person, allowing them access your systems and potentially exfiltrate your IP to them is a hazardous but necessary venture. The thing is, none of these things really changed with AI. People have been lyi…

>And yeah, you guys, it's time to buy a suit.

Most of your points I agree with, but this? Cmon grandpa

Re: Interviewing a software engineer who prepared with AI

#470

Post by 9rx »

schnable wrote: post #462
9rx wrote: post #450

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, "suit up" usually means to put on a uniform rather than to wear a suit. The phrase seems to have originated in sports. T-shirts and hoodies are the uniform of tech.

I don't think it's fair to the candidate to expect them to think that when a recruiter says "suit up" they mean in t-shirt and jeans or cutoffs.

It is a common phrase that, as commonly used, has no connotations with the suit as a style of dress: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/suit%20up

But you do highlight the flaw of natural language, where it only works where there already is a shared understanding. When quite often there isn't. Heck, 90% of the comments on HN are from actors having different understandings for technical jargon and talking past each other because they aren't even talking about the same thing. Such is the tragedy of the human existence.

Post reply on HN