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The shortest, strangest engineering interview I've ever done

bluepnume.medium.com

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Re: The shortest, strangest engineering interview I've ever done

#2

Post by bluepnume »

Would absolutely love to know how other engineers on HN approach interviews and assessing technical competence. I didn't _think_ I had any mis-steps here but would love to know if anyone thinks there's something I could have fixed about this whole interviewing process.

Probably the guy was just having a bad week, but all the same. Really bemused (and more than a little confused)

Re: The shortest, strangest engineering interview I've ever done

#4

Post by quantified »

bluepnume wrote: post #2

Would absolutely love to know how other engineers on HN approach interviews and assessing technical competence. I didn't _think_ I had any mis-steps here but would love to know if anyone thinks there's something I could have fixed about this whole interviewing process. Probably the guy was just having a bad week, but all the same. Really bemused (and more than a little confused)

I think your process is enlightened and productive. In this case it worked like a charm, you got the vibe check pretty quickly! Just an outlier in the interaction.

In your history, is the "I'm the best!" bravado like that a sign of anything? Over-cocky is what it seems to have been here.

Re: The shortest, strangest engineering interview I've ever done

#6

Post by bluepnume »

quantified wrote: post #4
bluepnume wrote: post #2

Would absolutely love to know how other engineers on HN approach interviews and assessing technical competence. I didn't _think_ I had any mis-steps here but would love to know if anyone thinks there's something I could have fixed about this whole interviewing process. Probably the guy was just having a bad week, but all the same. Really bemused (and more than a little confused)

I think your process is enlightened and productive. In this case it worked like a charm, you got the vibe check pretty quickly! Just an outlier in the interaction. In your history, is the "I'm the best!" bravado like that a sign of anything? Over-cocky is what it seems to have been here.

The funny thing is, it was pretty clear to me he meant that as a bit of a joke.

The question on our application is "are you a fit for the JD"

For the most part, the answer is "obviously yes, that's why I'm applying", but we do get some really insightful answers here where people talk about their weaknesses too and we learn something.

But even in the call he seemed to acknowledge that was a bit of a joke, and I legit don't mind jokey bravado for the most part.

Re: The shortest, strangest engineering interview I've ever done

#7

Post by smanikonda »

quantified wrote: post #4
bluepnume wrote: post #2

Would absolutely love to know how other engineers on HN approach interviews and assessing technical competence. I didn't _think_ I had any mis-steps here but would love to know if anyone thinks there's something I could have fixed about this whole interviewing process. Probably the guy was just having a bad week, but all the same. Really bemused (and more than a little confused)

I think your process is enlightened and productive. In this case it worked like a charm, you got the vibe check pretty quickly! Just an outlier in the interaction. In your history, is the "I'm the best!" bravado like that a sign of anything? Over-cocky is what it seems to have been here.

i'm with you quantified. I'm just a guy, but for me personally when someone says "i'm the best" (especially as a programmer) that's a pretty decent red flag. Programming since the beginning of time is just one curve of lifelong learning with evolutions in languages, methodologies, etc. It's one field where it's basically impossible to be "the best", as there's always an area you can do better in. There's also always that one guy that's gonna be more cracked than you.

TLDR: IMHO bravado of any kind is pretty overrated. Just say that you are a fit and show where you can be better, that's what this game is all about. And feigning that bravado for interview clout is especially corny cause any programmer worth their salt can sniff that out immediately.

Re: The shortest, strangest engineering interview I've ever done

#10

Post by ezekg »

Related: I recently tried to hire for a FE role and the number of candidates that got upset at me for "passing" was astounding. Even soft-passes. Like, I liked a few of them and put their GH in a note file for if I ever needed to hire more later, but man -- immediately deleted some of these candidates from my list after receiving angry emails. I get some people are stressed about being OOW for awhile, but man... be professional. If you're mad you didn't get chosen and feel the need to lash out, just go for a walk and don't burn the bridge.

I totally get the "what the fuck did I do?" bit.

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