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Eh, I got my job at a very early stage startup through a friend I met on Twitter. The "interview" was a chat with the (reasonably technical) CEO, where we talke

Eh, I got my job at a very early stage startup through a friend I met on Twitter. The "interview" was a chat with the (reasonably technical) CEO, where we talked about political philosophy for 45 minutes, then I said something about "oh, I should probably tell you about my experience and resume," so we went over that briefly. No coding challenge or anything. I assume my case is an extreme outlier, though. But yeah. "Networking" by meeting groups of strangers for drinks probably wont get you a job. But making friends who happen to work in (entrepreneurial) tech might.

xwolfi 6y ago
It s not, I ve been interviewed that way and interviewed others that way. Many times it led to horrible mistakes so now I give a simple project to do at home with no deadline. If a guy can do well that kind of well rounded project, even by cheating, I want him and his network all the same.
decafninja 6y ago
Startups and smaller companies are a different story. One of my friends got a job at a startup by virtue of standing in line at a cafe holding a programming book, and the (non-technical) founder standing behind him hired him after a quick chat. Bigger companies often don't let you through like that though. My friends are constantly offering to refer me to roles at their companies, but every one of them would still involve going through the whiteboard interview ritual. For now, I'm not taking them up on the offers because I'm not confident I'll pass the leetcode rounds.
- shoes_for_thee 6y ago
  I was similarly once hired in the back of a shared cab. Another time, apparently saying the phrase "binary tree" was enough to clear the whiteboard and move along to the next question with a gold star. Another time I was hired after doing zero programming exercises and just telling the company that I had a competing offer (which I did). I've had some baffling rejections as well.

xwolfi 6y ago

It s not, I ve been interviewed that way and interviewed others that way. Many times it led to horrible mistakes so now I give a simple project to do at home with no deadline. If a guy can do well that kind of well rounded project, even by cheating, I want him and his network all the same.

decafninja 6y ago

Startups and smaller companies are a different story. One of my friends got a job at a startup by virtue of standing in line at a cafe holding a programming book, and the (non-technical) founder standing behind him hired him after a quick chat. Bigger companies often don't let you through like that though. My friends are constantly offering to refer me to roles at their companies, but every one of them would still involve going through the whiteboard interview ritual. For now, I'm not taking them up on the offers because I'm not confident I'll pass the leetcode rounds.

shoes_for_thee 6y ago
I was similarly once hired in the back of a shared cab. Another time, apparently saying the phrase "binary tree" was enough to clear the whiteboard and move along to the next question with a gold star. Another time I was hired after doing zero programming exercises and just telling the company that I had a competing offer (which I did). I've had some baffling rejections as well.