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> - "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.

> - "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
      > 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. Agreed: and one of the related issues that's worth stating is the damage and demoralisation to your team(s) that's likely to result, were they hired.
  - yifanl 7y ago
    I mean honestly, Fizzbuzz is about the complexity you'll see in most of your day-to-day coding. So if you're too immature to go through with a task like that, then I'm afraid you're too immature to work here.
  - GordonS 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 Literally not sure of this was meant to be ironic?
    - bitL 7y ago
      Why? You mean showing right away reflection of your childish behavior so that you have some food for thought on how you appear and repel potential employees? :D
      - GordonS 7y ago
        The idea of walking out and ghosting a company for daring to ask a (very) basic technical question before/during an interview seems very childish. And the "imaginative" notion of a company going under because they dared to not hire you - a guru above all other, resplendent in technical magnificence - is, frankly, ridiculous.
- ex_amazon_sde 7y ago
  Not at all. If the candidate can solve fizzbuzz but fails at more difficult coding challenges you won't hire him/her. Therefore, the fizzbuzz test is not useful and it's offensive (or at least, boring) to any good candidate.
  - GordonS 7y ago
    It's useful as a gatekeeper, to quickly weed out the chaff - I'm not saying it's the only test I do. > it's offensive (or at least, boring) to any good candidate Personally, I find this preposterous. When I get a CV, I don't know the person, and I need to decide if they are worth spending time on. FizzBuzz is a simple filter that I've found to be very effective the fact is that a lot of candidates just aren't up to even the most basic of tasks. If being asked to do a dirt simple task that will take you less than 5 minutes offends you, then I don't want you on my team.
    - bitL 7y ago
      Imagine your candidate studied at best schools, worked at best companies, contributed to some popular open source projects, now you lucked out and for some reason she ended up interviewing for your team. You examine the CV, and decide "it's Fizz Buzz time!". Now what kind of reaction would you expect from the candidate, whose CV is screaming "I worked super hard to be able to handle the most difficult tasks with enormous responsibility, often life or death situations", and now she needs to "get down to the basics" or no job in your team :DDD What do you think will she tell to her network when they ask her why didn't she end up working for you?
      - GordonS 7y ago
        That's a fair point, but I thought exceptional scenarios were implied and didn't think I needed to add a disclaimer - if I receive a CV from someone with a good OSS profile, that alone is enough to avoid silly tests. The whole point of FizzBuzz is to act as a crude filter - it's only employed where it's required (which for me is > 90% of CVs).

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
    > 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. Agreed: and one of the related issues that's worth stating is the damage and demoralisation to your team(s) that's likely to result, were they hired.
- yifanl 7y ago
  I mean honestly, Fizzbuzz is about the complexity you'll see in most of your day-to-day coding. So if you're too immature to go through with a task like that, then I'm afraid you're too immature to work here.
- GordonS 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 Literally not sure of this was meant to be ironic?
  - bitL 7y ago
    Why? You mean showing right away reflection of your childish behavior so that you have some food for thought on how you appear and repel potential employees? :D
    - GordonS 7y ago
      The idea of walking out and ghosting a company for daring to ask a (very) basic technical question before/during an interview seems very childish. And the "imaginative" notion of a company going under because they dared to not hire you - a guru above all other, resplendent in technical magnificence - is, frankly, ridiculous.
ex_amazon_sde 7y ago
Not at all. If the candidate can solve fizzbuzz but fails at more difficult coding challenges you won't hire him/her. Therefore, the fizzbuzz test is not useful and it's offensive (or at least, boring) to any good candidate.
- GordonS 7y ago
  It's useful as a gatekeeper, to quickly weed out the chaff - I'm not saying it's the only test I do. > it's offensive (or at least, boring) to any good candidate Personally, I find this preposterous. When I get a CV, I don't know the person, and I need to decide if they are worth spending time on. FizzBuzz is a simple filter that I've found to be very effective the fact is that a lot of candidates just aren't up to even the most basic of tasks. If being asked to do a dirt simple task that will take you less than 5 minutes offends you, then I don't want you on my team.
  - bitL 7y ago
    Imagine your candidate studied at best schools, worked at best companies, contributed to some popular open source projects, now you lucked out and for some reason she ended up interviewing for your team. You examine the CV, and decide "it's Fizz Buzz time!". Now what kind of reaction would you expect from the candidate, whose CV is screaming "I worked super hard to be able to handle the most difficult tasks with enormous responsibility, often life or death situations", and now she needs to "get down to the basics" or no job in your team :DDD What do you think will she tell to her network when they ask her why didn't she end up working for you?
    - GordonS 7y ago
      That's a fair point, but I thought exceptional scenarios were implied and didn't think I needed to add a disclaimer - if I receive a CV from someone with a good OSS profile, that alone is enough to avoid silly tests. The whole point of FizzBuzz is to act as a crude filter - it's only employed where it's required (which for me is > 90% of CVs).