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Interviewing as a Front-End Engineer in San Francisco

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Re: Interviewing as a Front-End Engineer in San Francisco

#51

Post by Osiris »

Are algorithm questions really that useful when looking for a candidate? I find myself being really nervous about applying to other jobs because I'm not formally trained in CS.

My job and side projects are mostly web sites that require knowledge about how to architecture software but I very rarely write complex algorithms.

If something comes up where I need to optimize something I can usually spend some time Googling for some insights on how to improve it, but it's been 15+ years since I've written a sort algo. The idea of being forced to come up to a solution to an unknown problem on the spot makes me feel inadequate.

Re: Interviewing as a Front-End Engineer in San Francisco

#52

Post by _random_ »

ktavera wrote: post #49

As a follow-up to my earlier comment, i'm doing a phone interview right now and the first interviewer started off with questions about how IIS internals worked and some obscure C# questions. I immediately asked him "Is this a front-end position or not? I know C# and .net MVC but i'm focusing my career on Angular" his reply "I honestly don't know, they just told me to call you and ask you a series of questions on adva…

It seems that JS MVC frameworks change every year, maybe they decided that asking questions on the flavour-of-the-month is not an indicator? Would expect some JS questions though.

Re: Interviewing as a Front-End Engineer in San Francisco

#53

Post by ac2u »

byroot wrote: post #38
steven777400 wrote: post #33

We were hiring a non-senior full-stack developer recently and I noticed there were no "frontend" questions on the list, so I added what I thought would be a question that any developer with frontend experience could answer, and would also pave the way for some more interested discussions for an advanced candidate. The question was something to the effect of "In JavaScript, what is the value of 'this' in a method?" I…

I always include something around `this` behaviour in my interviews if the position is Javascript related. You cannot possibly have a decent experience in JS without have been bit by this. And I'm always amazed by the amount of developers that just do not understand how it works, and bind every possible methods.

Likewise, I ask it also. When someone has spent the last 3 years as a "JavaScript developer" and doesn't have a basic grasp of context in JS, them it's a red flag.

Re: Interviewing as a Front-End Engineer in San Francisco

#54

Post by _random_ »

badman_ting wrote: post #42

I interviewed at a well-known place here in Portland and they seemed really disappointed that I didn't already know Rails. That was surprising to me, since like the author, I am more familiar with the mindset that you prefer smart people rather than people who know technology X. Beforehand I spent all this time reviewing data structures, algorithms, etc, but they just cared about Rails. I also got one of those goofy…

Times when Rails development was considered an out-of-box thinking have clearly passed...

Re: Interviewing as a Front-End Engineer in San Francisco

#55

Post by joeblau »

Great writeup. This is pretty much the same experience that I had when I moved to San Francisco. I got a lot of "college memorization" questions. Basically, you could read a book, memorize the answer and come up with it. I was also interviewed by some young guys out of Stanford who asked me a question that they probably spent a few weeks in class working on that I had 45 minutes to figure out. When I look at the interview process, it seems more like a battle than an actual interview, but it is engineers we are dealing with.

When I do interviews, I want to know that you can program, but I care more about whether or not I can work with you.

Re: Interviewing as a Front-End Engineer in San Francisco

#56

Post by auctiontheory »

philipwalton wrote: post #9
bjryan wrote: post #4

I am honestly a little shocked by this. I am a university student and this past semester I interviewed with around 10 companies in the Bay area, all of which were for Front-End engineering positions. I can only think of one company which did not give me any 'front end specific' questions. I was asked everything from hoisting and closures to explaining how Webkit works and various ways to improve page load time. Are y…

Maybe offline. I'm not interested in publicly calling out any companies. I mainly wanted to shed light on the process and my experience. I will say that when interviewing for previous jobs in the past (at smaller companies), I got asked a lot more front-end questions. Maybe it's just a big company problem.

It's true on the business side as well. Small companies ask relevant questions because they have to - their survival depends on finding someone who can do the job.

Big companies, even famous ones, have moved so far beyond their scrappy "gotta survive" days that they have become quite lost in their bureaucracy and arrogance.

Re: Interviewing as a Front-End Engineer in San Francisco

#57

Post by fistofjohnwayne »

I think these problems stem from the job posting. Like the author, I've come to love interviewing and I've conducted a good deal of interviews myself. I've noticed that a job titled "front-end developer" with a poor description casts too wide a net and wastes everyone's time.

If I see that you mentioned design experience and Backbone in your job posting and then you quiz me on Rails and database queries I'm going to feel like I'm attending amateur hour.

However, if you state that data structures, algorithms and all that other great CS stuff is fair game in the job posting or the follow-up emails – then go ahead.

Don't envy the front-end developer. At this point we have to be prepared for anything.

Re: Interviewing as a Front-End Engineer in San Francisco

#58

Post by badman_ting »

byroot wrote: post #38
steven777400 wrote: post #33

We were hiring a non-senior full-stack developer recently and I noticed there were no "frontend" questions on the list, so I added what I thought would be a question that any developer with frontend experience could answer, and would also pave the way for some more interested discussions for an advanced candidate. The question was something to the effect of "In JavaScript, what is the value of 'this' in a method?" I…

I always include something around `this` behaviour in my interviews if the position is Javascript related. You cannot possibly have a decent experience in JS without have been bit by this. And I'm always amazed by the amount of developers that just do not understand how it works, and bind every possible methods.

Anyone who claims to know JS and doesn't have "this" down cold is either a disaster waiting to happen, or a disaster in progress.

Re: Interviewing as a Front-End Engineer in San Francisco

#60

Post by badman_ting »

_random_ wrote: post #54
badman_ting wrote: post #42

I interviewed at a well-known place here in Portland and they seemed really disappointed that I didn't already know Rails. That was surprising to me, since like the author, I am more familiar with the mindset that you prefer smart people rather than people who know technology X. Beforehand I spent all this time reviewing data structures, algorithms, etc, but they just cared about Rails. I also got one of those goofy…

Times when Rails development was considered an out-of-box thinking have clearly passed...

Yep, just another orthodoxy now, for some.
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