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I decided a while ago that I wouldn't study for interviews, and it's served me well. I either know enough to get the job or I don't. Convoluted interviews whe
by jeremymcanally 6y ago
I decided a while ago that I wouldn't study for interviews, and it's served me well. I either know enough to get the job or I don't. Convoluted interviews where I fell on my face weren't necessarily always jobs I would have done badly at, but preparing a "tricky" interview like that with brain teasers and dumb algorithm questions was a strong enough negative signal to tell me I very likely wouldn't like working there much anyhow.
If I go into an interview without studying and fail legitimately on questions that relate to the job (and who hasn't done that?), then it's a good thing because I obviously wouldn't be able to handle the day-to-day work and therefore am a poor fit. :)
Really, to my mind, it's a win-win for everyone.
- gamache 6y agoYes. If you're not interviewing your potential employer, you either _really_ need a job (no shame) or you're blowing it.
- AnimalMuppet 6y agoAgree. And if your potential employer is the kind that will make you jump through arbitrary, irrelevant hoops to get the job, then what's working there going to be like? And if working there is going to be full of arbitrary hoops, do I really want to work there? No, I don't.
- giantg2 6y agoThen where do you work? Seems like all the ones I've experienced play some sort of game. Even just the grossly inaccurate or over the top job descriptions places post.
- MontyCarloHall 6y agoHere’s a good place to start: https://github.com/poteto/hiring-without-whiteboards https://github.com/poteto/hiring-without-whiteboards
- giantg2 6y agoThanks! It seems like I haven't seen job posting from most of these companies.
- Nextgrid 6y agoI hate to suggest toxic social platforms but I've had good results with LinkedIn. I pretty much never have to reach out to potential clients/employers - they reach out to me which gives me leverage and the ability to set terms such as no take-home tests or tricky algorithmic questions. Maybe give it a try?
- vmception 6y agoyour priorities are different than basically everyone else you are shortchanging yourself or wealth is not important to you, we are not the same and your reality is not relevant to anyone similar to me
- irvingprime 6y agoYou sound like someone I wouldn't want to hire.
- vmception 6y agowhen the third party recruiter shops my resume to your inbox, you’ll see a qualified candidate that will be pretending to be enamored by your startup’s “unique” vision, thinks earning the privilege to buy 0.001% of the company is the most generous thing ever, and knows all the code words for culture fit by having no interests outside of coding and hiking and you will never know it was vmception on hackernews
- irvingprime 6y agoFair point
- AnimalMuppet 6y agoNot "different than basically everyone else". Different from you, which is fine, but jeremymcanally speaks for a lot of us. > you are shortchanging yourself You seem to have the idea that a job at "that kind of place" is the only real fulfillment of our employment destiny. That seems a bit narrow-minded of you. > or wealth is not important to you This assumes that jobs at "that kind of place" pay much better than jobs at "other kinds of places". That may in fact be true, or at least mostly true. (Or it may be that, to get to the stratosphere of income, you have to jump through those hoops, but other places will make you jump through those hoops and still not pay that kind of money.) Money is important to me. I am a for-profit enterprise. But it's not the only important thing. It's worth some money to me to work in a sane environment with non-toxic people.
- doggodaddo78 6y agoTrivia and minutia quizzes are pointless, non-value-add hazing ritual business theater. The only interviews that make sense are asking about common problems, or specific current problems and paying people for their time.