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The latest trend for tech interviews: Days of unpaid homework

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Re: The latest trend for tech interviews: Days of unpaid homework

#971

Post by dosycorp »

meesterdude wrote: post #808
dosycorp wrote: post #21

I don't want to name names but one YC company I interviewed at left me with the distinct impression that they talked a big game, just to get me to work on one of their (apparently) "strictly-hiring-related toy projects" as homework. Homework, "sure", except it: 1) integrated with a real system, 2) mirrored something they actually did, and 3) they would only agree to proceed if I signed an IP/work contract and accepte…

> Anyway, I'm not going to name names because this is unwise to do that in a public forum. Why not? create a throwaway if its a matter of coming back to you. Otherwise we really need to name and shame these companies if we have any hope of getting the practices to improve. Sunlight is a great disinfectant!

Or create a site/database. To throw sunlight on it maybe?

Ok, I created it: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16895043

I'm replying you because you were interested in this ( or seemed to be ).

Re: The latest trend for tech interviews: Days of unpaid homework

#972

Post by dosycorp »

walshemj wrote: post #306
collyw wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have noticed a trend of not naming companies here. Is it against the rules? I fell that we should name and shame companies that are disrespectful of peoples time.

yes I think we need a database of bad actors here

And it is done.

Pretty simple (beanstalk / elasticsearch, no sessions): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16895043

Hope you find this database useful.

Re: The latest trend for tech interviews: Days of unpaid homework

#973

Post by dosycorp »

gravyboat wrote: post #287
collyw wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have noticed a trend of not naming companies here. Is it against the rules? I fell that we should name and shame companies that are disrespectful of peoples time.

I've had multiple comments detached (as you can see by my comment history) for calling out companies that suck to apply for in the monthly hiring threads. Either the people who posted must have complained so they removed it, or HN doesn't want people to know some companies suck to deal with when it comes to hiring process.

I made a place that is not moderated by HN, where you can share your experiences of applying. It's called hirepwned.xyz and that's the domain name. Just wanted to let you know because you were passionate about this.

The HN post is here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16895043

Re: The latest trend for tech interviews: Days of unpaid homework

#974

Post by dosycorp »

collyw wrote: post #29
dosycorp wrote: post #21

I don't want to name names but one YC company I interviewed at left me with the distinct impression that they talked a big game, just to get me to work on one of their (apparently) "strictly-hiring-related toy projects" as homework. Homework, "sure", except it: 1) integrated with a real system, 2) mirrored something they actually did, and 3) they would only agree to proceed if I signed an IP/work contract and accepte…

I have noticed a trend of not naming companies here. Is it against the rules? I fell that we should name and shame companies that are disrespectful of peoples time.

After these comments, I made a site where you can share you experiences: hirepwned.xyz -- There's no rule against not naming companies.

Re: The latest trend for tech interviews: Days of unpaid homework

#975

Post by dosycorp »

frgtpsswrdlame wrote: post #95
JustSomeNobody wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't believe I agree. Every story has two sides and I'm just not sure this is the forum to lay that all out in.

If not here, where? There's no other forum where it will be easier to hear both sides of the story, naming a name on HN is probably the best place to name names because it's pretty likely to actually get hashed out in the comments.

There perhaps now is another forum because I made it ( actually reused some old code ), after reading these comments. But it's not a forum. More like a very simple database with elastic search. I'm replying you because you seemed interested in this. Hope this is useful somehow, the HN post is here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16895043

Re: The latest trend for tech interviews: Days of unpaid homework

#976

Post by dosycorp »

meesterdude wrote: post #802
gravyboat wrote: post #287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've had multiple comments detached (as you can see by my comment history) for calling out companies that suck to apply for in the monthly hiring threads. Either the people who posted must have complained so they removed it, or HN doesn't want people to know some companies suck to deal with when it comes to hiring process.

Don't let the HN censorship discourage you. Name them and shame them!

I'm still undecided about the best option for these situations, but I made this ( simple ) site as an experimental database of people's hiring experiences, and posted to HN. I'm letting you know because you cared about this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16895043

Re: The latest trend for tech interviews: Days of unpaid homework

#977

Post by chrisbennet »

kraigie wrote: post #896
BjoernKW wrote: post #789

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if that were the case, which I don’t think it is because the underlying problem is something else, the current predominant interviewing process does little to alleviate that problem as well. I don’t think we can magically solve inequality by trying to fix the interviewing process or by denying there are social networks.

Actually there are historical examples of where changing the interviewing process solved inequality. All it took was a curtain. You see there where few women in orchestras and it was said that this was because they didn't have the talent so couldn't get expirence, rather than being unable to get expirence due to prejudice. Then blind auditions started, interviewers would sit in front of a curtain, candidate would com…

It is great that it worked for musicians but I was surprised that it doesn’t necessarily work for resumes.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-30/bilnd-recruitment-tria...

”Professor Michael Hiscox, a Harvard academic who oversaw the trial, said he was shocked by the results and has urged caution.

"We anticipated this would have a positive impact on diversity — making it more likely that female candidates and those from ethnic minorities are selected for the shortlist," he said.

"We found the opposite, that de-identifying candidates reduced the likelihood of women being selected for the shortlist." The trial found assigning a male name to a candidate made them 3.2 per cent less likely to get a job interview.

Adding a woman's name to a CV made the candidate 2.9 per cent more likely to get a foot in the door.

"We should hit pause and be very cautious about introducing this as a way of improving diversity, as it can have the opposite effect," Professor Hiscox said.”

Re: The latest trend for tech interviews: Days of unpaid homework

#978

Post by user5994461 »

henrikschroder wrote: post #969
user5994461 wrote: post #959

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The number of holidays is always written in the contract. A company would never write that you have unlimited holidays, that's just plain stupid. If it's written, it means that you have the minimum legal number of days in your jurisdiction and you are being screwed severely.

The legal minimum in most of the US is 0 days, right?

You'd need to check with your local jurisdiction. I highly doubt that it is zero.

Re: The latest trend for tech interviews: Days of unpaid homework

#979

Post by holstvoogd »

jonhendry18 wrote: post #952
Torn wrote: post #760

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Software is 100% an employees market. Everyone wants coders, and can be hard to pin down good ones. I think software engineers either don't know what they are worth, or are uncomfortable negotiating comp.

"Software is 100% an employees market" Not if you're geographically stuck and your skills are not in demand locally.

And looking for remote jobs that are not US only is fun too. 'We are totally a global company that only works remote. such awesomeness, but yeah, you have to be based in this very specific time zone though' ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Re: The latest trend for tech interviews: Days of unpaid homework

#980

Post by bayonetz »

newobj wrote: post #301

It's unreal that will people will bitch and moan about having to invest a couple days, maybe even a whole week in cramming/prepping/interviewing, to perform on-demand, one time, for a job that realistically will earn them $100k, $200k, $300k, $400k+ a year. Meanwhile people that work harder than us 5 days a week for the entire duration of their career will make 1/2, 1/4, 1/6th, or less of income, with none of the per…

What is unreal is that these homework assignments don't get the job, they get an interview. The interview is then still the standard whiteboard coding and system design sessions. If passing take home meant getting the job, it would be more palatable. In the end, these companies suck at developing reliable evaluation instruments and it shows in how they don't trust the homework assignment to hire on its own.
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