4 ms·

I have answered around 10 company interviews and cleared 8 of them. I have personally interviewed around 15 people so far. My keys lessons are: 1. Whiteboard

by tn13 10y ago

I have answered around 10 company interviews and cleared 8 of them. I have personally interviewed around 15 people so far. My keys lessons are: 1. Whiteboard coding is not actually about coding. It is about talking with interviewer, coming up with examples and demonstrating a clear cut though process and of course then showing that you can convert idea into code. 2. All this requires very good communication. I always made sure I asked many questions to my interviewers, cares about what problems they solved and treated him as "fellow developer who took time to help me out getting a job" rather than someone who is a judge trying to judge me. 3. What really struck me about OP's rant is that he probably did not invest time in researching how he would be interviewed in first place. All the recruiters who contact you are absolutely clear in telling you what to expect. You were supposed to know what to expect. 4. If the interviewer was rude or indeed "threw" the resume on face, I would strongly recommend informing your recruiter about this. Such person should not be allowed to interview anyone else. 5. As an interviewer you are supposed to help the person get a job by convincing yourself that he could be a good fit in the company. This is not very hard. It is an exercise for you too. You just cant say "write DFS on whiteboard". You must drive the person in right direction, giving hints and even if the person lacks intellect/experience you must make him feel comfortable and good. Even though that person does not get the job eventually you must help him become a better interviewee as he leaves that room. > you're truculent, uncooperative and insist on being the smartest asshole in the room, you will not be finding work with my team today Can not agree more. Often really smart people tend to be humble and love challenges than insisting "this is not the good way to interview me". An intelligent and curious person will not run away from a mentally taxing activity, he would face it bravely and even enjoy it in the process.

notacoward 10y ago
> An intelligent and curious person will not run away from a mentally taxing activity, he would face it bravely and even enjoy it in the process. So many fallacies there. You're assuming that intelligent and curious people can't also suffer from social/performance anxiety. What if the person's just very introverted? They could still be an invaluable member of your team, but you'd never know that if you insist on interviewing them in a manner directly contrary to their strengths. What if the person's female, and doesn't want you staring at her butt even more while she writes on the board. Yes, that s* happens. Even worse is the way you use "bravery" to equate distaste with cowardice. I'm sure there are programmers who have exhibited more bravery in more contexts than you ever will, but might still balk at jumping through hoops for you when they could be engaging in more empirically-proven interview methods instead. ~25 times interviewing, on either side of the desk, is not much of a sample. Look to people who have been there hundreds of times individually, thousands of times collectively. You might find that there are more techniques, more pitfalls, and more kinds of people involved than you had ever thought of before you made your appeal to authority. Whiteboard interviews might have their place in some very limited circumstances, but making them a default part of the process is just lazy and sets up a generally unhelpful competitive/hierarchical dynamic. An intelligent and curious person will not run away from other methods, but will face them bravely and enjoy them in the process.
smt88 10y ago
Interviewing 15 people is not an indicator that you now know something about hiring. To really learn about hiring, you'd have to interview those people and find out how well they do, but also how well the rejected applicants do. You can't test your assumptions if you can't compare the people you hire with the people you didn't. And, for the record, I (and several of my colleagues) have interviewed almost 100 people each over the course of our careers -- more than 10 per year. We still don't have a secret sauce. Some filters work and some don't. Google has been famously working on this problem using extensive data analysis, and they still haven't cracked the secret of always hiring the best coders.
- exclusiv 10y ago
  I think what they wrote is an indicator that they know something about hiring. I've been on both sides and the key lessons the parent laid out are good. They're related more to being a professional in interviewing and whiteboards, not key lessons to ensure you hire the best people available which is what you are discussing.

by tn13 10y ago

notacoward 10y ago

> An intelligent and curious person will not run away from a mentally taxing activity, he would face it bravely and even enjoy it in the process. So many fallacies there. You're assuming that intelligent and curious people can't also suffer from social/performance anxiety. What if the person's just very introverted? They could still be an invaluable member of your team, but you'd never know that if you insist on interviewing them in a manner directly contrary to their strengths. What if the person's female, and doesn't want you staring at her butt even more while she writes on the board. Yes, that s* happens. Even worse is the way you use "bravery" to equate distaste with cowardice. I'm sure there are programmers who have exhibited more bravery in more contexts than you ever will, but might still balk at jumping through hoops for you when they could be engaging in more empirically-proven interview methods instead. ~25 times interviewing, on either side of the desk, is not much of a sample. Look to people who have been there hundreds of times individually, thousands of times collectively. You might find that there are more techniques, more pitfalls, and more kinds of people involved than you had ever thought of before you made your appeal to authority. Whiteboard interviews might have their place in some very limited circumstances, but making them a default part of the process is just lazy and sets up a generally unhelpful competitive/hierarchical dynamic. An intelligent and curious person will not run away from other methods, but will face them bravely and enjoy them in the process.

smt88 10y ago

Interviewing 15 people is not an indicator that you now know something about hiring. To really learn about hiring, you'd have to interview those people and find out how well they do, but also how well the rejected applicants do. You can't test your assumptions if you can't compare the people you hire with the people you didn't. And, for the record, I (and several of my colleagues) have interviewed almost 100 people each over the course of our careers -- more than 10 per year. We still don't have a secret sauce. Some filters work and some don't. Google has been famously working on this problem using extensive data analysis, and they still haven't cracked the secret of always hiring the best coders.

exclusiv 10y ago
I think what they wrote is an indicator that they know something about hiring. I've been on both sides and the key lessons the parent laid out are good. They're related more to being a professional in interviewing and whiteboards, not key lessons to ensure you hire the best people available which is what you are discussing.