4 ms·

- "Hey, I worked at FAANG or better, creating latest super-duper tech you use daily, was featured on TV, got multiple awards etc." - "Let's see if you can do F

by bitL 7y ago

- "Hey, I worked at FAANG or better, creating latest super-duper tech you use daily, was featured on TV, got multiple awards etc." - "Let's see if you can do Fizz Buzz!"

wccrawford 7y ago
I worked with a guy that had FAANG on his resume, and we ended up letting him go because he couldn't actually do real programming for a device from that same company. He flailed for months to get simple things done, and failed. Just having worked somewhere doesn't mean you actually did well there.
- crusso 7y ago
  Having worked at a FAANG, I can concur. Sure, some of the developers were world class. Some of them, though, had been there for years just kind of "lost in the sauce".
hjk05 7y ago
Yes, and if your interviewing for a sales position they might ask you to “Sell me this pen”. It’s a trivial task for someone experienced, so why take issue with it?
- bitL 7y ago
  Junior sales position right out of school.
yoz-y 7y ago
Well, if you are a good programmer then getting a Fizz Buzz on the interview is a jackpot no? It seems weird that half of the complaints about tech interviews is that they are too easy and the other half is that they are too tedious (I know that these are not mutually exclusive). The one alternative I see is to give one, really hard problem to people, but then the complaints about difficulty would come.
- bitL 7y ago
  It's like telling the candidate "we are a bunch of idiots that don't appreciate your time, we are infantile and joyous about it, and in this place we don't really solve anything interesting as we have time for these stupid tasks."
bartread 7y ago
> - "Let's see if you can do Fizz Buzz!" Yes, exactly. I'd like to verify that you can string a few lines of code together to solve a trivially simple problem. This is not an unreasonable ask, and I really don't care how impressive your CV is. If you can't solve fizzbuzz you're not going to be able to solve any of the much more complicated problems we wrestle with on a day to day basis.
- GordonS 7y ago
  It's such a simple task, but in reality it's a fantastic way to weed out those that really don't have a clue what they're doing. Saves a lot of time interviewing.
  - bitL 7y ago
    ...unless the person you are interviewing decides you are childish, immediately walks away and doesn't respond to your mail ever again, and your business goes belly up as you can't find anyone on the market with the skills that person was bringing, essential to your business. Frankly, not sure why anyone competent in the current climate should take you seriously if you attempted that. It's equivalent to asking a partner of another law company you want to join you what were the most important things that happened in 1753 and then rejecting them because they didn't know.
    - eitland 7y ago
      > ...unless the person you are interviewing decides you are childish, immediately walks away and doesn't respond to your mail ever again, ...in that case they just proved they were childish and I'd be happy to avoid working with them. > and your business goes belly up as you can't find anyone on the market with the skills that person was bringing, essential to your business. I think you are overestimating the value of childish ex-FAANGs :-) If someone is too full of themselves to write a FizzBuzz once they are too full of themselves for a number of other tasks as well.
      - bartread 7y ago

by bitL 7y ago

- "Hey, I worked at FAANG or better, creating latest super-duper tech you use daily, was featured on TV, got multiple awards etc." - "Let's see if you can do Fizz Buzz!"

wccrawford 7y ago

I worked with a guy that had FAANG on his resume, and we ended up letting him go because he couldn't actually do real programming for a device from that same company. He flailed for months to get simple things done, and failed. Just having worked somewhere doesn't mean you actually did well there.

crusso 7y ago
Having worked at a FAANG, I can concur. Sure, some of the developers were world class. Some of them, though, had been there for years just kind of "lost in the sauce".

hjk05 7y ago

Yes, and if your interviewing for a sales position they might ask you to “Sell me this pen”. It’s a trivial task for someone experienced, so why take issue with it?

bitL 7y ago
Junior sales position right out of school.

yoz-y 7y ago

Well, if you are a good programmer then getting a Fizz Buzz on the interview is a jackpot no? It seems weird that half of the complaints about tech interviews is that they are too easy and the other half is that they are too tedious (I know that these are not mutually exclusive). The one alternative I see is to give one, really hard problem to people, but then the complaints about difficulty would come.

bitL 7y ago
It's like telling the candidate "we are a bunch of idiots that don't appreciate your time, we are infantile and joyous about it, and in this place we don't really solve anything interesting as we have time for these stupid tasks."

bartread 7y ago

> - "Let's see if you can do Fizz Buzz!" Yes, exactly. I'd like to verify that you can string a few lines of code together to solve a trivially simple problem. This is not an unreasonable ask, and I really don't care how impressive your CV is. If you can't solve fizzbuzz you're not going to be able to solve any of the much more complicated problems we wrestle with on a day to day basis.

GordonS 7y ago
It's such a simple task, but in reality it's a fantastic way to weed out those that really don't have a clue what they're doing. Saves a lot of time interviewing.
- bitL 7y ago
  ...unless the person you are interviewing decides you are childish, immediately walks away and doesn't respond to your mail ever again, and your business goes belly up as you can't find anyone on the market with the skills that person was bringing, essential to your business. Frankly, not sure why anyone competent in the current climate should take you seriously if you attempted that. It's equivalent to asking a partner of another law company you want to join you what were the most important things that happened in 1753 and then rejecting them because they didn't know.
  - eitland 7y ago
    > ...unless the person you are interviewing decides you are childish, immediately walks away and doesn't respond to your mail ever again, ...in that case they just proved they were childish and I'd be happy to avoid working with them. > and your business goes belly up as you can't find anyone on the market with the skills that person was bringing, essential to your business. I think you are overestimating the value of childish ex-FAANGs :-) If someone is too full of themselves to write a FizzBuzz once they are too full of themselves for a number of other tasks as well.
    - bartread 7y ago