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Software Engineering Internship Amazon Interview Experience

rajk.me

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Re: Software Engineering Internship Amazon Interview Experience

#71

Post by downandout »

I'm curious why he didn't just disable/disconnect/cover the microphone & webcam. I realize this doesn't address the principle of the issue, but it does address the practical issue of applying for the job without giving into much of the creepiness here.

That said, with employees literally throwing themselves off of buildings to get away from Amazon [1], I'm not sure how much nonsense I'd put up with to get a job there anyway.

[1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-11-28/amazon-wo...

Re: Software Engineering Internship Amazon Interview Experience

#72

Post by khedoros1 »

Barrin92 wrote: post #55
shorodei wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Within these restrictions, I don't think they expect your written code to compile. They just want to ensure the integrity of the test itself. Is it worth the invasion of privacy? Personally, I don't think so.

Well if you participate in an on-site test which the person was willing to do you are essentially tested under the same conditions, so I'd not really consider this to be a privacy invasion.

You're presumably giving them a view into your home and its location. You'd potentially be required to change security settings on your computer, to re-enable things that had been explicitly disabled. You're likely to also want to close whichever browser tabs or open programs that might be deemed unprofessional.

Those are all things that I'd consider invasive that I don't have to deal with during an in-person interview. And the wording is just creepy anyhow.

Re: Software Engineering Internship Amazon Interview Experience

#73

Post by andrewguenther »

quantumtremor wrote: post #16
zeppelin101 wrote: post #4

Wait, I see nothing wrong with any of this. Obviously Amazon is trying to curb cheating on remote coding/compatibility tests. They don't actually care to collect any info about you beyond what you do during the test. They don't care which websites you visit before or after the test. Or how you use your clipboard - after the test. But during the test, it's not so unreasonable. People do cheat, especially if they can g…

Yes, I agree that cheating should be curbed. But not at the expense of tracking every running application on a computer, or the exact location of interviewees. Videochat and on-site interviews exist and don't have these kind of problems.

Video and on-site interviews are much more expensive and leave employers open to lawsuits. Not that I necessarily agree with this practice, but I could see why this approach would be considered.

Re: Software Engineering Internship Amazon Interview Experience

#74

Post by SilasX »

hermitdev wrote: post #66
morganvachon wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In a practical sense, it's not much different from a math instructor having you clear the memory on your graphing calculator before an exam; it's an anti-cheating measure and given that this is an online assessment, it almost makes sense. However, from a philosophical point of view, it's Draconian and unnerving. What assurance does the interviewee have that Amazon isn't storing and using all this telemetry? Amazon is…

> "it's not much different from a math instructor having you clear the memory on your graphing calculator before an exam" This sort of behavior by teachers is exactly what got me to write my first serious z80 assembly program to mimic all of the menus on the TI-83 circa 1996. Teachers had already caught on to the fact that there were programs that would display the "Mem Cleared" message on the calculators, so mandate…

I can assure you that, for the vast majority of the population, it has the intended effect of keeping the calculator from storing digital cheat sheets.

I admire your tenacity too.

Re: Software Engineering Internship Amazon Interview Experience

#75

Post by Cyph0n »

morganvachon wrote: post #29
zeppelin101 wrote: post #4

Wait, I see nothing wrong with any of this. Obviously Amazon is trying to curb cheating on remote coding/compatibility tests. They don't actually care to collect any info about you beyond what you do during the test. They don't care which websites you visit before or after the test. Or how you use your clipboard - after the test. But during the test, it's not so unreasonable. People do cheat, especially if they can g…

In a practical sense, it's not much different from a math instructor having you clear the memory on your graphing calculator before an exam; it's an anti-cheating measure and given that this is an online assessment, it almost makes sense. However, from a philosophical point of view, it's Draconian and unnerving. What assurance does the interviewee have that Amazon isn't storing and using all this telemetry? Amazon is…

> However, from a philosophical point of view, it's Draconian and unnerving. What assurance does the interviewee have that Amazon isn't storing and using all this telemetry?

How is that different from being recorded by multiple cameras during an on-site interview?

I honestly don't see why the information they're collecting is a big deal. They are remotely interviewing you for a position, and would like to minimize cheating as much as possible. Instead of sitting you in a room, they use the technology available on your computer, while clearly telling you upfront what kind data will be collected. If you don't like it, get an interview elsewhere.

Re: Software Engineering Internship Amazon Interview Experience

#77

Post by SilasX »

quantumtremor wrote: post #2

Reiterating the questions posed at the end, To what extent should personal ethics play in deciding where a (software) engineer should work? What if the engineer has no other choices for a job, and needs to (make rent/pay the bills/eat food)? It is true that it'd be pretty easy to circumvent the tracking, by placing paper over the webcam, running the browser in a virtual machine, spoofing data to the browser, and so o…

Okay, but that's sort of a self-enforcing rule, isn't it? The very fact that you can figure all of that out enough to fool the monitors means you're qualified for the role.

Kinda like, "haha! I secretly got messages delivered to me during the steganography test! It's obviously not a legit test."

Re: Software Engineering Internship Amazon Interview Experience

#78

Post by mabbo »

As a developer at Amazon who does interviews, what the fuck?

I imagine part of this is a response to the very, very large amount of time we spend interviewing interns every winter (I know I typically do 2 or 3 sessions of 3 1-hour interviews in a row). There's just too many interviews to do.

Someone wants to innovate and find ways to sort the good from the bad without SDE time spent, I would guess. I hope this isn't the new system for everyone. Then again, if it saves me hours and hours of phone screens...

Re: Software Engineering Internship Amazon Interview Experience

#80

Post by jackfrodo »

morganvachon wrote: post #29
zeppelin101 wrote: post #4

Wait, I see nothing wrong with any of this. Obviously Amazon is trying to curb cheating on remote coding/compatibility tests. They don't actually care to collect any info about you beyond what you do during the test. They don't care which websites you visit before or after the test. Or how you use your clipboard - after the test. But during the test, it's not so unreasonable. People do cheat, especially if they can g…

In a practical sense, it's not much different from a math instructor having you clear the memory on your graphing calculator before an exam; it's an anti-cheating measure and given that this is an online assessment, it almost makes sense. However, from a philosophical point of view, it's Draconian and unnerving. What assurance does the interviewee have that Amazon isn't storing and using all this telemetry? Amazon is…

In the future, could you not use the phrase "bend over"? I don't think it has a place on HN.
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