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The reason for the very generic interview is that you won't be on the same team in two years. People move around a lot. If they hire you because you know Angula

by mabbo 10y ago

The reason for the very generic interview is that you won't be on the same team in two years. People move around a lot. If they hire you because you know Angular but fuck all otherwise, they're screwing over the team you're going to be on in two years who need someone that can learn C socket programming ASAP. It's about finding someone who can see things more generally, but then implement solutions with the tools on hand. It's really hard to do, but it means I get to work with incredible people. (Also, I did a webcam interview this week. It's not a great format.)

peterwwillis 10y ago
I don't think it's as bad of a format if you just change the premise to a remote hire or something. You need to do a lot more communicating. But there is really no way to be totally sure about someone. I also find it mildly insulting that essentially i'm interviewing for a job I don't know i'm going to have, as if I had no choice in what I do, or my choice was irrelevant. If I get hired for a Perl job, don't put me on a Java team, because I hate Java. They could also just skip certain interviews by asking if I have any interest in X team in the future, or if I have any experience with it. I will say I did appreciate and enjoy my own experience with Amazon - two phone interviews, possibly some code sample, and an in-person. Really nice people. Just an unfortunate waste of time, especially for the interviewers.
FireBeyond 10y ago
Other than in house tech support, or some systems design work for AWS, I struggle to think of many situations in which "Explain the purpose and functionality of the Northbridge on a motherboard / in a CPU" would serve any practical purpose whatsoever. Hell, I've lost track of the number of custom PC builds I've made, BIOS tweaks and I still had to research this.
flukus 10y ago
> If they hire you because you know Angular but fuck all otherwise, they're screwing over the team you're going to be on in two years who need someone that can learn C socket programming ASAP. That's even more fucked up. It really shows that they view all developers as interchangeable cogs.
- mabbo 10y ago
  Cogs implies lack of choice. I choose when I move teams. Or sometimes, a manager asks me if I'm willing to move, as there's a team that needs more help.
  - flukus 10y ago
    That sounds fine. The original comment made it sound like people were shuffled around by management with no regard for what their skills are, that angular devs would be move to c sockets.

by mabbo 10y ago

peterwwillis 10y ago

I don't think it's as bad of a format if you just change the premise to a remote hire or something. You need to do a lot more communicating. But there is really no way to be totally sure about someone. I also find it mildly insulting that essentially i'm interviewing for a job I don't know i'm going to have, as if I had no choice in what I do, or my choice was irrelevant. If I get hired for a Perl job, don't put me on a Java team, because I hate Java. They could also just skip certain interviews by asking if I have any interest in X team in the future, or if I have any experience with it. I will say I did appreciate and enjoy my own experience with Amazon - two phone interviews, possibly some code sample, and an in-person. Really nice people. Just an unfortunate waste of time, especially for the interviewers.

FireBeyond 10y ago

Other than in house tech support, or some systems design work for AWS, I struggle to think of many situations in which "Explain the purpose and functionality of the Northbridge on a motherboard / in a CPU" would serve any practical purpose whatsoever. Hell, I've lost track of the number of custom PC builds I've made, BIOS tweaks and I still had to research this.

flukus 10y ago

> If they hire you because you know Angular but fuck all otherwise, they're screwing over the team you're going to be on in two years who need someone that can learn C socket programming ASAP. That's even more fucked up. It really shows that they view all developers as interchangeable cogs.

mabbo 10y ago
Cogs implies lack of choice. I choose when I move teams. Or sometimes, a manager asks me if I'm willing to move, as there's a team that needs more help.
- flukus 10y ago
  That sounds fine. The original comment made it sound like people were shuffled around by management with no regard for what their skills are, that angular devs would be move to c sockets.