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I believe this happens for a few reasons. * A lot of software developers don't apply to enough positions. A number of developers who talk with me and complain

I believe this happens for a few reasons. * A lot of software developers don't apply to enough positions. A number of developers who talk with me and complain about the interview process don't apply and get enough interviews to be picky about the interviews they are accepting. Companies play on this fact very well. They know developers get their heart set on only a few jobs and so make them jump through hoops to get the position. Try applying to 10 developer positions a day. Seriously. It's fun and refreshing. * Software developers don't market themselves well enough. I honestly don't even have a resume available. When people ask for one I say, "I don't have a resume nor do I need one." They will then say one of two things. A) "Fine, we're not interested in you." Great! I didn't apply with you anyway and frankly don't have time to jump through your hoops. B) "Oh that's not a problem can we just chat with you for a bit? I know you spoke at Conference A, B, and C, and we saw you at MeetUp X, Y, and Z. You're good friends with our Senior Ops person. We don't need a resume." Fantastic. My marketing is working out well. By the way, when they bring me in to have a chat and say "We'd like you to write out a red-black tree on the board in your favorite language, please. Oh and answer a bunch of random Big O notation questions." The answer is: No. Remember how you heard me speak at those conferences? Remember how I did a live coding and pairing session at that MeetUp? I think we can assume I know how to code. And if we can't, that's fine. * Finally, have confidence. Honestly, most interviewers aren't confident in how to hire or what to hire. So, be confident for them. 50% of the time when I say I will not answer your asinine questions, more interviews stop and say, "Oh, well excellent, let me just talk to you about our problems." Which is where most interviews need to go. So, you ask, how could we fix this? Fix it for yourself, individually. You aren't going to fix the industry. You aren't going to fix how bad people are at judging others work in a short period of time. But you can make your own situation substantially better.

bsvalley 10y ago
That's good stuff I like that. In today's market the competition is too high, their goal during an interview process is to focus on the negatives. Why? Because they pretty much tell you right away - we're talking to you because we like you. So the game is to dislike you. They're looking for that opportunity to dislike you and to move on to the next candidate. If you do exactly what you said in your comment, you'd be disqualified for being a "jerk". As bad as it sounds, it's reality. Again, what you said is %300 what I think candidates should do.
- trcollinson 10y ago
  You are right, sometimes I am disqualified for a number of reasons. I am sure people have thought of me as a jerk, a fake, a lot of other things. And that is absolutely alright. Why should the company and I both waste a substantial amount of our time on something that doesn't really fit? I certainly don't try to come across as a jerk but time is quite valuable. Use it wisely. Now, one area I am going to respectfully disagree on it competition. I find there is very low competition. Yes, I know, there are thousands of jobs and thousands of applicants. But the trick with competition is use it to your advantage. You mention elsewhere that you DO have a CS degree some a university. Good, you have a differentiator. What other differentiators do you have? Do you visit MeetUps? Do you talk to people at MeetUps? Do you present at MeetUps? Are you on the board of a MeetUp? Do you talk at conferences? Do you blog? Do you submit code to open source projects? Do you have your own open source project? Are you published? The list goes on and on and on. Get yourself some differentiators and suddenly the competition shrinks or disappears. Imagine if you spent all of that prep time for an interview doing these other activities. You'd better yourself AND your ability to be valued in the market. I don't have a trick for getting work without working at it, hard. But I can say that if you hate prepping for interviews like you have been, then stop. Do something else to prep your future employer to know you are the right fit.
  - bsvalley 10y ago
    I'm referring to the "competition" post Resume, when they already reached out to you - "your profile is very attractive and would be a perfect fit for our role". They put you into their hiring process with a few other candidates who've also been selected carefully. I could bypass their stupid interview questions like you said, unfortunately, the other 2 or 3 candidates will play the game and one of them will get the job. They won't hire someone who doesn't follow the requirements. I could be their favorite pick, my 10 years of experience + a few products out in the world won't change much. They will pull out the "culture fit" card on you and you'll be out.
mrfusion 10y ago
Is there a polite way to refuse the coding problems?
- trcollinson 9y ago
  Generally I try to head this off before I even get into the situation. I will boldly ask whether there will be any white boarding during an interview. If there is I will often explain why that's not a good idea and see what else they would be willing to do to interview me. The discussion is usually very valuable to both of us. I also will bring a laptop with me to the interview. If it turned out they would like to ask me a white boarding question while I am there I have said "I would much prefer we pair on a solution to that together. I have my laptop here. Why don't we get started? I bet we could deploy something in the next 10 minutes." This often leads to, again, either a good discussion or even better an actual pairing session which teaches me about my interviewer and them about me. If they really insist I whiteboard something, I will say no unless it's a problem that really interests me.

bsvalley 10y ago

That's good stuff I like that. In today's market the competition is too high, their goal during an interview process is to focus on the negatives. Why? Because they pretty much tell you right away - we're talking to you because we like you. So the game is to dislike you. They're looking for that opportunity to dislike you and to move on to the next candidate. If you do exactly what you said in your comment, you'd be disqualified for being a "jerk". As bad as it sounds, it's reality. Again, what you said is %300 what I think candidates should do.

trcollinson 10y ago
You are right, sometimes I am disqualified for a number of reasons. I am sure people have thought of me as a jerk, a fake, a lot of other things. And that is absolutely alright. Why should the company and I both waste a substantial amount of our time on something that doesn't really fit? I certainly don't try to come across as a jerk but time is quite valuable. Use it wisely. Now, one area I am going to respectfully disagree on it competition. I find there is very low competition. Yes, I know, there are thousands of jobs and thousands of applicants. But the trick with competition is use it to your advantage. You mention elsewhere that you DO have a CS degree some a university. Good, you have a differentiator. What other differentiators do you have? Do you visit MeetUps? Do you talk to people at MeetUps? Do you present at MeetUps? Are you on the board of a MeetUp? Do you talk at conferences? Do you blog? Do you submit code to open source projects? Do you have your own open source project? Are you published? The list goes on and on and on. Get yourself some differentiators and suddenly the competition shrinks or disappears. Imagine if you spent all of that prep time for an interview doing these other activities. You'd better yourself AND your ability to be valued in the market. I don't have a trick for getting work without working at it, hard. But I can say that if you hate prepping for interviews like you have been, then stop. Do something else to prep your future employer to know you are the right fit.
- bsvalley 10y ago
  I'm referring to the "competition" post Resume, when they already reached out to you - "your profile is very attractive and would be a perfect fit for our role". They put you into their hiring process with a few other candidates who've also been selected carefully. I could bypass their stupid interview questions like you said, unfortunately, the other 2 or 3 candidates will play the game and one of them will get the job. They won't hire someone who doesn't follow the requirements. I could be their favorite pick, my 10 years of experience + a few products out in the world won't change much. They will pull out the "culture fit" card on you and you'll be out.

mrfusion 10y ago

Is there a polite way to refuse the coding problems?

trcollinson 9y ago
Generally I try to head this off before I even get into the situation. I will boldly ask whether there will be any white boarding during an interview. If there is I will often explain why that's not a good idea and see what else they would be willing to do to interview me. The discussion is usually very valuable to both of us. I also will bring a laptop with me to the interview. If it turned out they would like to ask me a white boarding question while I am there I have said "I would much prefer we pair on a solution to that together. I have my laptop here. Why don't we get started? I bet we could deploy something in the next 10 minutes." This often leads to, again, either a good discussion or even better an actual pairing session which teaches me about my interviewer and them about me. If they really insist I whiteboard something, I will say no unless it's a problem that really interests me.