4 ms·
Most tech interviews especially for engineers are a one-sided power dynamic that does nothing except make the candidate nervous and eventually rejects them arbi
by sg47 6y ago
Most tech interviews especially for engineers are a one-sided power dynamic that does nothing except make the candidate nervous and eventually rejects them arbitrarily. The ones that do get a job seem to think that that's the only way to interview people and this cycle continues. What happens is this becomes a boys club that excludes anyone else.
- rexer 6y agoCan you expand on why you believe these sorts of interviews don't offer good signal? Having gone through a couple of these interview cycles, I felt the behavioral questions adequately demonstrated how I'd perform in similar situations.
- sg47 6y agoBehavioral questions are fine. Some like top grading are not. I had someone ask me about my choices right from my senior year in high school and my choice of college, etc. Well, I was extremely depressed in high school and didn't do well in my entrance exams, got into an average college but was actively programming by myself and turned my life around in my junior year in college. I wouldn't have fit into the interviewer's expected stereotype of someone who has been excellent since high school.
- gnusty_gnurc 6y agoThis is more apparent for people with anxiety too. My mind shuts down during whiteboarding, yet people generally seem to think I'm smart outside any of those scenarios. I've already been employed for several years at different places, doing a whole range of things, and it's weird that I have to practice some arbitrary exercises in order to demonstrate to a company that I can work. This has led to me landing at companies that don't require the bizarre jumping-through-hoops that filters for the desperate and "committed". And so far, I've not only yet to see interview-style programming on the job, I've seen utterly atrocious practices.
- sg47 6y agoAbsolutely. There's no reason to do this. No one has written code on a whiteboard at work. To do this just for interviews is very silly. You've to also second guess what the interviewer expects from you. Not every interviewer is calibrated the same way. If I could it my way, I'd start with a 30-minute briefing session on the coding test that's to follow. 1-1.5 hour coding project - implement an API or something. 45 minutes where you review some code (maybe intentional bad code). 1 hour writing a design document. 1 hour presenting the design doc to a couple of team members. Couple of behavioral sessions with team members/manager.
- ende 6y agoBut why even have any of it? In what other private sector field is there any sort of requirement to continuously re-prove your qualifications beyond your education and prior work experience? The answer is none. There are fieldS with more complicated knowledge than tech/CS that don’t put their candidates through this type of interview process. Not doctors, nor lawyers, nor scientists and engineers (electrical/mechanical/civil). The technical interview process is absurd on its very premise, and should be outlawed.
- sg47 6y agoThe problem is, no other field allows you to copy/paste code from Stack Overflow, call yourself a "Senior" Engineer after 2 years of experience, etc. There are lots of really crappy programmers out there. The process is to weed them out. Unfortunately it's also biased against the good engineers. In my opinion, this weeding out can be done during the phone interview or initial coding test.
- ende 6y agoI think the concern over candidate fraud is over exaggerated. Other fields don’t have any special way to identify fraudulent candidates - anyone can misrepresent experience in any field, and the only way to reliably identify it is in their actual work product. I see no reason why tech should be any different. Especially when nearly all tech jobs are under at-will employment. The cost of replacing a position is the same as in any other field.