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The first time I interviewed at Amazon, the interviewer either pretended that a fire alarm was going off, or was actually going off, so they had to cut the phon

The first time I interviewed at Amazon, the interviewer either pretended that a fire alarm was going off, or was actually going off, so they had to cut the phone interview short. When I asked if they wanted to call me back, they said they didn't think so, and that I'd be hearing from the recruiter. I did not ever hear from that recruiter again. It was a pretty gutting way to interview with, at the time, the company of your dreams. Plus, being 20, the weight of that call was a lot greater than it probably should've been.

baq 6y ago
Fire alarm tests happen at office campuses at regular intervals and aren’t announced beforehand. That said, the thing to remember at all times is that the dude doing the interview is just doing his job and you’re little more than a row in a spreadsheet before and after the interview, perhaps even during, too. I wish this was taught instead of having to be hard won experience, especially since this is obvious as soon as you start interviewing people yourself.
- bird_monster 6y ago
  > That said, the thing to remember at all times is that the dude doing the interview is just doing his job This isn't really a thing candidates should care about, IMO. It is fine to demand decency out of interviewers, and it is fine to callout when bad things happen while people are "Just doing their job."
  - baq 6y ago
    Of course it is, never said otherwise, just don't be surprised if you don't get treated decently and especially you shouldn't give up your dreams on the grounds of failing one interview.
    - bird_monster 6y ago
      Sorry, usually when people say "Just someone trying to do their job", it means "Don't give this person shit because they're just trying to get through the day."
- chrismcb 6y ago
  At regular interviews, like every few years. And they will almost always announce them ahead of time. Not to the second, but I've always known when a test was coming. Of course they weren't always tests.
  - baq 6y ago
    Sounds like you've got it easy. At my $DAYJOB it's once every ~6 months and they always measure time for the building to empty, so they don't want people to leave or not come in on that day.
techsupporter 6y ago
> It was a pretty gutting way to interview with, at the time, the company of your dreams. My god, I'm terribly sorry that happened. I know you're probably not looking for apologies at this point but, as someone who has conducted countless interviews as the interviewer and I've had some really bad candidates on my phone and in person...I cannot fathom doing that to a person. If we're booked for a 30-minute interview, the candidate is getting all 30 minutes of my time. If I guess fairly early on that the candidate is not the right fit or simply didn't pass, we will talk about general tech topics or I will ask more professional background questions than I usually do (I try to keep to a 50/50 split of technical questions and "tell me about yourself"-style). If we're booked for an hour, the candidate gets a minimum of 30 minutes, and I shoot for a bit longer. Heck, I've had some candidates turn it around in those last few minutes. The candidate has already slogged all the way to this point. I feel that the minimum level of decency I can offer is to give most or all of the time I've already said I would give. This applies even if the fire alarm goes off; the candidate is going to get each one of those minutes because it's the respectful thing to do.
- bird_monster 6y ago
  Yeah I mean, it was a decade ago and I've definitely done fine, but it definitely shaped how I approached giving interviews to candidates when I had the opportunity. I always tried to remember the gravity of being on either side of the table, and the amount of stress that usually went into being a candidate deserves an amount of respect that most FAANG companies, in my experience, do not provide.

baq 6y ago

Fire alarm tests happen at office campuses at regular intervals and aren’t announced beforehand. That said, the thing to remember at all times is that the dude doing the interview is just doing his job and you’re little more than a row in a spreadsheet before and after the interview, perhaps even during, too. I wish this was taught instead of having to be hard won experience, especially since this is obvious as soon as you start interviewing people yourself.

bird_monster 6y ago
> That said, the thing to remember at all times is that the dude doing the interview is just doing his job This isn't really a thing candidates should care about, IMO. It is fine to demand decency out of interviewers, and it is fine to callout when bad things happen while people are "Just doing their job."
- baq 6y ago
  Of course it is, never said otherwise, just don't be surprised if you don't get treated decently and especially you shouldn't give up your dreams on the grounds of failing one interview.
  - bird_monster 6y ago
    Sorry, usually when people say "Just someone trying to do their job", it means "Don't give this person shit because they're just trying to get through the day."
chrismcb 6y ago
At regular interviews, like every few years. And they will almost always announce them ahead of time. Not to the second, but I've always known when a test was coming. Of course they weren't always tests.
- baq 6y ago
  Sounds like you've got it easy. At my $DAYJOB it's once every ~6 months and they always measure time for the building to empty, so they don't want people to leave or not come in on that day.

techsupporter 6y ago

> It was a pretty gutting way to interview with, at the time, the company of your dreams. My god, I'm terribly sorry that happened. I know you're probably not looking for apologies at this point but, as someone who has conducted countless interviews as the interviewer and I've had some really bad candidates on my phone and in person...I cannot fathom doing that to a person. If we're booked for a 30-minute interview, the candidate is getting all 30 minutes of my time. If I guess fairly early on that the candidate is not the right fit or simply didn't pass, we will talk about general tech topics or I will ask more professional background questions than I usually do (I try to keep to a 50/50 split of technical questions and "tell me about yourself"-style). If we're booked for an hour, the candidate gets a minimum of 30 minutes, and I shoot for a bit longer. Heck, I've had some candidates turn it around in those last few minutes. The candidate has already slogged all the way to this point. I feel that the minimum level of decency I can offer is to give most or all of the time I've already said I would give. This applies even if the fire alarm goes off; the candidate is going to get each one of those minutes because it's the respectful thing to do.

bird_monster 6y ago
Yeah I mean, it was a decade ago and I've definitely done fine, but it definitely shaped how I approached giving interviews to candidates when I had the opportunity. I always tried to remember the gravity of being on either side of the table, and the amount of stress that usually went into being a candidate deserves an amount of respect that most FAANG companies, in my experience, do not provide.