The dystopian world of software engineering interviews

Post by _9vpl » Sat, Feb 15, 2020, 7:51 AM UTC

bobbytran wrote: post #270

allovernow wrote: post #11

In my admittedly limited experience, there's one way to avoid such nonsensical interviews - run away from bureaucracy. Seek smaller organizations (startups in particular) and if you're lucky enough to have a minimally cross-disciplinary background, you can seek out niche organizations where you'll interview with technical specialists who'll ask reasonable questions that are actually related to your work and your inte…

I've made a career out of working for and with smaller companies. My paycheck is very good and I'm always learning new/different technologies. Most smaller companies dont have these sorts of interviews. Most of mine have been technical in nature and some involved take-home projects, which were then discussed. I've also avoided the dreaded non-compete clauses that FAANG employees need to sign and work on my own side-b…

Post by toohotatopic » Sat, Feb 15, 2020, 7:52 AM UTC

throwaway5283 wrote: post #212

paxys wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hah! Reminds me of https://twitter.com/mxcl/status/608682016205344768 . Cynical answer though — Google does not want people like you. They don't want to hire entrepreneurs or inventors. They want people who can churn out code when given specific instructions, and that is what their interview process optimizes for.

This is absolutely true. I work at Giant Search and Advertising Company, and joining was a huge mistake. I thought I would be working interesting technical problems with a high degree of autonomy — instead the work is extremely boring, and you get ahead by playing political games rather than by innovating. I’m one of the rare few here who managed to get through the interview without really preparing. Before joining,…

Post by tartoran » Sat, Feb 15, 2020, 7:59 AM UTC

DoreenMichele wrote: post #295

_bxg1 wrote: post #279

A few months ago I interviewed with Major CDN Company for a front-end dev position. They sent me a take-home React/NextJS project stub with dependencies and such already defined, and instructions to finish building out the full app. "Perfect!", I thought. No stage pressure, plenty of opportunities for going an extra mile. They encouraged me to get creative and I did; it met all the requirements and then some. I proud…

It's hilarious, but I think you dodged a bullet. Imagine for a minute actually working there.

Post by RangerScience » Sat, Feb 15, 2020, 8:14 AM UTC

heleninboodler wrote: post #410

RangerScience wrote: post #18

I've been doing initial phone screens (small companies) this week (two just today, actually), and with all of them when the recruiter (internal or external) gets to the "we'd like to send you a coding challenge" I interject with: "Let's do a code exchange. I'll point you at some of my GH projects, and you send me some of your code". So far they've accepted ("I'll forward it to the hiring manager"), and it's far too s…

One approach I really like is a company that will vet you and decide you have promise, then decide to hire you on the spot for some small amount of contract work. "Ok, you seem great, let's commit to 40 hours of work from you on whatever schedule you want, and we'll see how that goes." This lets you squeeze that in on evenings and weekends if you want and not quit your current job. Costs them very little and is way m…

Post by tsukikage » Sat, Feb 15, 2020, 8:42 AM UTC

danbmil99 wrote: post #425

peterebailey wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gathering and defining requirements is very much a part of the job. It is entirely unsustainable to rely on others to tell you what to implement in Google.

How many interviews involve asking the prospective hire if they know how to gather and define requirements?