The GitHub Job Interview
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The GitHub Job Interview
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Re: The GitHub Job Interview
#2Seing code is the way to go in job interviews, and in my opinion can't be compared to solve puzzles, etc.
Thanks to Open Source right now there are tons of public code from people, that's why we have created masterbranch.com a service to aggregate, analyze, and list all you OS but also with the option of include non-open source code (the code is not visible if the project is not open source).
Also, the idea of open sourcing a component, a side project, etc. and ask the candidates to contribute I think is a great way to have an idea about how they work.
Re: The GitHub Job Interview
#3The idea is good, but if you are explicitly interviewing I would add an honorarium to the whole thing.
This way it's not officially a probation - the candidate can even say they were freelancing during this time - so the CV problem doesn't come up AND you don't look the tiniest bit like you are exploiting people.
Re: The GitHub Job Interview
#4I've been mulling over the idea of writing a small buggy program, one that doesn't compile, and providing some test cases, then post it on GitHub as a first pass filter.
It achieves several aims:
1. This approach scales. Send a prospective employee the github url and they can get started.
2. The programming puzzle can be solved in about 15 minutes. Kind of like a better Fizz Buzz.
3. The interviewee doesn't feel insulted that the employer expected them to do some work for free.
4. The employer has some assurance the person will have some source control competency, to be able to check out from a Git. repository.
5. You could test the prospective employee based on the skills you require. For example: You could even have the puzzle interact with a web service. Troubleshooting the program will involve firing up a proxy or packet sniffer to figure out why things didn't work. It might be a jQuery bug. etc.
Re: The GitHub Job Interview
#5That is a sensible idea - but i would go one step further.
Ideally you want to learn about a potential candidate's design/coding/debugging/bug-fixing/testing skills. Github project collaboration over a week or so would go a long way towards that.
But you also want to see how well the potential employee communicates with other members of the team, on a day-to-day basis. Some Developers, even good developers, have strong opinions that might rub other employees the wrong way. The key is to look at how well they work as a team.
Having them spend a day or so onsite with your existing team is invaluable. You might also want to consider paying them a nominal amount for the amount of time they would spend on the project. That just adds a professional touch to the whole experience.
Re: The GitHub Job Interview
#6> Being rejected after two weeks of work doesn't look good on anyone's CV
Why would someone put this on their CV?
Re: The GitHub Job Interview
#7How is this any better than just looking for candidates who have created or contributed to other open source projects? I suppose there would be some good candidates that came from bigger companies and maybe don't have much of a GitHub portfolio, but surely the vast majority of people that would be considered by tech startups would already have some work online.
Re: The GitHub Job Interview
#8I solved a test problem for a company once (gt 500 LOC), but it was after a pre-screen and the stated salary was 130-140k base, not including generous bonuses, in the Midwest. It was also when I had a lot of downtime, so I didn't mind.
Now, I have a hard time finding enough time for my own projects, much less for contributing something to a company just for the chance to interview.
Since you're offering single digit equity, it might be worthwhile, but for the vast majority of companies, it would warrant a pass.
Re: The GitHub Job Interview
#9How is this any better than just looking for candidates who have created or contributed to other open source projects? I suppose there would be some good candidates that came from bigger companies and maybe don't have much of a GitHub portfolio, but surely the vast majority of people that would be considered by tech startups would already have some work online.
It's all about context. While a candidate might have some code online, you save a lot of time by having some code that you're more familiar with and can utilize to see how they think about a problem.
Also it's good to see how someone reacts to digging around in an unfamiliar code base and see how they familiarize themselves.
Re: The GitHub Job Interview
#10Seing code is the way to go in job interviews, and in my opinion can't be compared to solve puzzles, etc. Thanks to Open Source right now there are tons of public code from people, that's why we have created masterbranch.com a service to aggregate, analyze, and list all you OS but also with the option of include non-open source code (the code is not visible if the project is not open source). Also, the idea of open s…
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