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I agree. I really dislike being asked to produce code of any complexity in an interview setting, although I do think it's important to see a candidate's code to
by kypro 6y ago
I agree. I really dislike being asked to produce code of any complexity in an interview setting, although I do think it's important to see a candidate's code to understand how they solve problems for more senior roles.
Personally I'm way too anxious in interview settings to produce decent code. In interviews I find myself trying to get everything right first time, but in reality that's not how I work. I prefer to develop iteratively and debug as I go.
I'm also quite a slow and deep thinker. It's not uncommon for me to think about a problem for a good 15-20 minutes before writing any code. In this case I guess you would have some time to prep the night before, but I'd still be very nervous about coding on the day.
I prefer home assignments and that's typically what I'll do when interviewing people. I like to keep it simple and open ended. Simple because I don't want to waste their time and open ended to allow them some room for creativity because often we don't have explicit requirements in the real world. This has always worked quite well.
- fatnoah 6y ago>I agree. I really dislike being asked to produce code of any complexity in an interview setting, although I do think it's important to see a candidate's code to understand how they solve problems for more senior roles. I've never been a big fan of giving code interviews, however when I have to give them, I'm far more interested in the candidate's thought process around how they understand the problem and what needs to be considered in building the solution.
- redblacktree 6y agoI agree, and I think this is where the value in these kinds of interview techniques lie. As the interviewee though, I have to say that the high-pressure situation makes me feel very... exposed(?) when I have to elucidate my thought process in real time. I will say that one of the best "interviews" I've had included a portion where I worked with one of their engineers on a design problem they were actually having. It felt very collaborative, which allowed me to relax a bit, and I think we came up with a pretty good solution. I didn't mind doing "free work," because for me, it's fun to solve problems like these.
- fatnoah 6y ago>I agree. I really dislike being asked to produce code of any complexity in an interview setting, although I do think it's important to see a candidate's code to understand how they solve problems for more senior roles. I've been around the block a few times and I LOVE system design interviews, both as an interviewer and interviewee. They are much more collaborative and "fun" for me. The good news is that I've been managing for several years at this point, so those types of interviews are far more prevalent than coding.
- monksy 6y agoTakehomes: The minute you allow for them to ask for 2-3 hours of work. That's the moment that they'll ask for 40+hours of work for free (and call it 2-3 hours). Also they'll try to claim copyright on your work (with pay) and reject you outright.
- tchaffee 6y agoI agree you have to be careful. However the takehomes I have had were a few hours of work paid at 50% of the hiring rate and that was where it ended. Great experience. There are companies out there doing this to make a great interview process and companies out there who want free work. It should become obvious which is which very quickly.
- monksy 6y agoHow could I be mad if you are guaranteeing pay for this moonlighting? At that time it's freelance work. However, if you're going to limit to 4 hours: If I don't have doc building copy, and tests done on that 4 hour mark, you're not getting those extras.