Limitations and pitfalls of the job interview

Nope, the first hurdle is usually some bs resume filter which removes a lot of competent candidates from consideration

I interview a lot of people and found much to complain about in this essay. This is the main thing:

> The key is to decide in advance on a list of questions, specifically designed to test job-specific skills, then ask them to all the candidates. In a structured interview, everyone gets the same questions with the same wording, and the interviewer doesn’t improvise.

This is good advice, if and only if you're interviewing an undifferentiated group of applicants, as in the cited examples (college entrance and army recruits). If you're hiring a QA III and you have three different applicants, it's terrible advice. You need to ask about the candidate's specific experience, and ask follow-ups.

More generally, I don't think the stated goal of an interview according to this essay (peering in to the candidate's soul to suss out traits like "responsibility" or "sociability") is possible or reasonable. My goal is more modest - I just want to figure out whether you were good at your last job or not. If you say you're responsible, I can't prove you right or wrong in a one hour conversation. But if you say you're a whiz at Selenium UI automation, and you're lying, I will figure it out pretty easily.

This is good for entry level candidates but how does someone who has finished this type of apprenticeship find their second job?

> a rapidly growing population of devs who feel like they're locked out due to the technical interview process.

I’m not convinced all these articles about “hiring is broken” and “interviews are broken” actually help with this problem. They are pining for something that may not exist (and may not be possible), and failing to help candidates understand and excel within the current system’s imperfections.

I get the impression that many young devs have skewed expectations and aren’t practicing job interviews before attempting them, and believe that their coding skills are the only things that should matter. The article here reinforces those expectations by repeatedly talking about evaluating competency without acknowledging that competency in soft skills like writing and communication and attitude are often at least as important as competency in software engineering, for example.

That said, I would very much agree with your approach and that a technical apprentice is a nice way for both the candidate and the company to learn about each other. Internships naturally do this without necessarily having the expectation of hiring the intern - though I’ve seen a lot of interns hired because they prove themselves competent.

One problem with a technical apprentice role as an alternative to longer interviews is that you have to expect to not hire a large percentage of the apprentices (otherwise there’s no point). In that sense, the apprenticeship becomes a much more demanding interview, and the commitment and risks are much higher for both the candidate and the company. As someone who does a lot of interviewing and resume reading and hiring, I’m not sure I would change my interview process if I hired more apprentices (but I already spend a lot of time looking for potential over experience.)

I have taught at the undergrad, which gave me the perspective of observing those undergrads that got job offers and those that didn't. Almost without exception, those students that did well in class and made an effort had no problem getting job offers. It was rare if they got a job at a FAANG company, but I don't think I knew anyone who wasn't able to secure an offer. One thing common to all of these students is they practice technical interview questions. Some had internships, some didn't. Some of the students were very bright from a theory perspective but most had a relatively poor grasp on theory. However, one common trait was they made an effort to grow as programmers.

There were students who really struggled getting jobs and it was not at all surprising. They struggled in their courses and were not proficient programmers. I never got the impression that they spent much time outside of class trying to work on these skills. No matter how hard I tried to motivate them it fell on deaf ears. I do not think an apprenticeship would have much value to these students other than possibly delaying the conclusion that this may not be the field for them.

I see the idea of apprenticeships discussed as a better alternative to the technical interview. My observation is that those that are proposing this have not worked in a "skilled profession" (not entirely sure how one defines that) that has a so-called apprenticeship. A common example I see on HN is that of doctors, where their residency serves as a sort of apprenticeship. The number and difficulty of tests doctors have to go through to practice as a doctor (at least in the US) is pretty incredible. Given the choice between going through that or studying months for the most difficult battery of technical interview questions, I would choose the technical interview route every time. This completely ignores the fact that doctors attend 4 years of post-graduate education (medical school) before even starting the residency. Imagine if companies required a PhD in CS before you could become an apprentice! And their boards are, without question, orders of magnitude more difficult than a PhD defense (I have a PhD in CS and my wife is a spine surgeon, so I am speaking from experience).

The counter argument I suppose is "well maybe not doctors, but what about accountants and actuaries?" I was a fully credentialed actuary in a prior life and can say those exams were way more stressful and difficult than preparing for technical interviews. Once you are through them it is very easy to move around and there are no technical interviews, but it also takes on average 7 years of intense studying and heartbreaking failures to get there.

I am not saying technical interviews are perfect. However, it seems the theme is that the grass is greener in other professions, and I don't think that is actually the case. What other profession can you studying your butt off for 6 months and land a job paying over $250k out of college?! Yes preparing for technical interviews is difficult, but boy is it worth it (at least in my opinion). I personally think they are a great opportunity to grow as a developer as well. Anyways, I suppose I have gone on enough.