4 ms·

Thanks! I really appreciate that! I think I can post the evaluation criteria: 1) App performance. We will be looking at the wait times for reader to see the co

by baxuz 7y ago

Thanks! I really appreciate that! I think I can post the evaluation criteria: 1) App performance. We will be looking at the wait times for reader to see the content — the shorter, the better. 2) We will evaluate your code’s quality. Does your code have good modular design and testability? Is it easy to read? 3) We prefer the project to be lightweight, and all dependencies should be well justified. I was focusing on #1 and #3. As for #2, they found it too tightly coupled and hard to read. I thought that the app is simple enough to not warrant extracting modules in the main app logic. The coupling was also there for performance / filesize reasons.

abraae 7y ago
Your comment makes me imagine a more nuanced technical interview process - i.e you get to provide feedback to criticisms from the interviewer, you get to escalate/request review from someone else at the employer if you disagree with the interviewer. A platform ensures that the protocols are abided by by both employer and candidate. These sorts of interactions sound pretty far out now, but a few years ago who would have thought that people would be typing code into a web page in real time as part of a job interview process?
- baxuz 7y ago
  It wasn't real time, but a home assingment. Sadly, I didn't get a chance to provide feedback to the criticisms. At least not in an impactful way — the decision has been made.
  - spuz 7y ago
    So were you hired or not?
    - baxuz 7y ago
      Nope
      - mnsc 7y ago
        Can you estimate how much time you put into the assignment? Did you get paid?
        baxuz 7y ago
        Probably a bit more than 12h, and I have to give it to the company, the project was compensated. This was the only time I've experienced that.
        bovermyer 7y ago
        I distrust any interview that includes something like this. It's an arbitrary construct that is not indicative of what form the work will take. Only the first three months of working with someone will give any real indication of what'll be like to work with them for another three+ years.
        shams93 7y ago
        Yeah we created a test for our interview but we give it onsite I think requiring people to do work even if its compensated is wrong, its not that hard to put together a small exam based on the source for your projects to analyze whether a candidate can handle the work.
        at-fates-hands 7y ago
        > It's an arbitrary construct that is not indicative of what form the work will take. Agreed. I had a similar code challenge and after joining the company, in the first year of work I did little if any JS work which even approached the level of the challenge I was presented with. To this day, I'm still bitter the company gave me the old "bait and switch" tactic to get me to come work there.
        nkingsy 7y ago
        I have had this issue as well with take home projects. Most companies are looking for someone who will follow KISS, so demonstrating ability to do complex things like your render queue is not at all appreciated. They want to see that you can match a spec and write well-factored code. Adding complexity for performance will be a pure negative unless you can factor that out so the next person can use it on their component. I would read this code and think I was dealing with a very talented programmer that needs seasoning. Such a programmer can be very dangerous to the wrong company, as the seasoning will have to be added on the company’s dime.
  - mjfisher 7y ago
    > Sadly, I didn't get a chance to provide feedback to the criticisms That's a shame. It sounds like the criteria were fairly well defined, but it would be nice if your assignment was used as a starting point for good in person discussion. E.g. "we think the code in index.js was too coupled - what could we do to break that out?"
wackget 7y ago
Too tightly coupled? Fuck me. I'd have given them a single .js file. There's a point where decoupling everything is just a complete waste of time. Sounds like the company was run by idealistic developers who have never had to work under real-world deadlines.
- baxuz 7y ago
  Initially it was a single TS file. I did this since one of the requirements was for it to be modular and testable.

by baxuz 7y ago

abraae 7y ago

Your comment makes me imagine a more nuanced technical interview process - i.e you get to provide feedback to criticisms from the interviewer, you get to escalate/request review from someone else at the employer if you disagree with the interviewer. A platform ensures that the protocols are abided by by both employer and candidate. These sorts of interactions sound pretty far out now, but a few years ago who would have thought that people would be typing code into a web page in real time as part of a job interview process?

baxuz 7y ago
It wasn't real time, but a home assingment. Sadly, I didn't get a chance to provide feedback to the criticisms. At least not in an impactful way — the decision has been made.
- spuz 7y ago
  So were you hired or not?
  - baxuz 7y ago
    Nope
    - mnsc 7y ago
      Can you estimate how much time you put into the assignment? Did you get paid?
      - baxuz 7y ago
        Probably a bit more than 12h, and I have to give it to the company, the project was compensated. This was the only time I've experienced that.
        bovermyer 7y ago
        I distrust any interview that includes something like this. It's an arbitrary construct that is not indicative of what form the work will take. Only the first three months of working with someone will give any real indication of what'll be like to work with them for another three+ years.
        shams93 7y ago
        Yeah we created a test for our interview but we give it onsite I think requiring people to do work even if its compensated is wrong, its not that hard to put together a small exam based on the source for your projects to analyze whether a candidate can handle the work.
        at-fates-hands 7y ago
        > It's an arbitrary construct that is not indicative of what form the work will take. Agreed. I had a similar code challenge and after joining the company, in the first year of work I did little if any JS work which even approached the level of the challenge I was presented with. To this day, I'm still bitter the company gave me the old "bait and switch" tactic to get me to come work there.
        nkingsy 7y ago
        I have had this issue as well with take home projects. Most companies are looking for someone who will follow KISS, so demonstrating ability to do complex things like your render queue is not at all appreciated. They want to see that you can match a spec and write well-factored code. Adding complexity for performance will be a pure negative unless you can factor that out so the next person can use it on their component. I would read this code and think I was dealing with a very talented programmer that needs seasoning. Such a programmer can be very dangerous to the wrong company, as the seasoning will have to be added on the company’s dime.
- mjfisher 7y ago
  > Sadly, I didn't get a chance to provide feedback to the criticisms That's a shame. It sounds like the criteria were fairly well defined, but it would be nice if your assignment was used as a starting point for good in person discussion. E.g. "we think the code in index.js was too coupled - what could we do to break that out?"

wackget 7y ago

Too tightly coupled? Fuck me. I'd have given them a single .js file. There's a point where decoupling everything is just a complete waste of time. Sounds like the company was run by idealistic developers who have never had to work under real-world deadlines.

baxuz 7y ago
Initially it was a single TS file. I did this since one of the requirements was for it to be modular and testable.