2 ms·

Sounds like a bad interview process to me. Crushed the technical interview, had a glowing recommendation, and "blew" the interview on the whim of a founder- for

Sounds like a bad interview process to me. Crushed the technical interview, had a glowing recommendation, and "blew" the interview on the whim of a founder- for talking about root principles no less. And instead of pulling you back to specifics (ie. leading you to answer the things they're interested in), the founder dismisses you for failing their totally hidden criteria. From my perspective, the founders blew the interview, not the interviewee. Then again, no one ever complains about the interview process on HN...

brianpgordon 11y ago
This definitely resonates with me as someone occasionally involved in the interview process from the other side. In my experience the scariest bits of "hidden criteria" are brought up under the umbrella of culture fit. Candidates are posed a minefield of completely non-technical-related open-ended questions, with the consequence that the interviewer is free to draw practically any conclusions they want about the candidate's personality and compatibility with the company. These lines of questioning are impressive to recount, as if the interviewer is a clairvoyant with exceptional powers of insight into the candidate's soul. However, I'm skeptical that this process is any better than random at selecting people who would turn out to be valued, effective engineers. It seems to me that, unless there are glaring issues with arrogance/stubbornness/misanthropy, technical chops and engineering skill are what you should optimize for, not personality. I've heard of "objective" interviews based on a rubric with a set number of points for each question and little room for interpretation. I wonder how that works out. I feel like even if it's pretty bad, the interview is so completely terrible and broken right now that it might be an improvement.

2 ms·

Sounds like a bad interview process to me. Crushed the technical interview, had a glowing recommendation, and "blew" the interview on the whim of a founder- for

by badloginagain 11y ago

brianpgordon 11y ago
This definitely resonates with me as someone occasionally involved in the interview process from the other side. In my experience the scariest bits of "hidden criteria" are brought up under the umbrella of culture fit. Candidates are posed a minefield of completely non-technical-related open-ended questions, with the consequence that the interviewer is free to draw practically any conclusions they want about the candidate's personality and compatibility with the company. These lines of questioning are impressive to recount, as if the interviewer is a clairvoyant with exceptional powers of insight into the candidate's soul. However, I'm skeptical that this process is any better than random at selecting people who would turn out to be valued, effective engineers. It seems to me that, unless there are glaring issues with arrogance/stubbornness/misanthropy, technical chops and engineering skill are what you should optimize for, not personality. I've heard of "objective" interviews based on a rubric with a set number of points for each question and little room for interpretation. I wonder how that works out. I feel like even if it's pretty bad, the interview is so completely terrible and broken right now that it might be an improvement.