5 ms·

Hiring for a junior dev position, and being disappointed seeing a Github repository filled with homework assignments? Ok.

ykevinator 6y ago
Yeah a little a snobby
mjfl 6y ago
When I was an undergrad I would post all my homework assignments on Github, but I later learned this was a mistake when I interviewed at Apple and a few of their engineers went over my homework code with a fine tooth comb and found a memory leak in one of my OS assignments. Reporting this to me, they asked me "why did you code this memory leak?". I didn't get the job. Now I have removed all this from my github. Unfortunately it's one of those things where "everything you say can and will be used against you".
- znpy 6y ago
  > Unfortunately it's one of those things where "everything you say can and will be used against you". Indeed. It kinda takes the fun out of programming. Sometimes you just don't bother with error-checking and with making code production-grade, because you just wanted to publish this small thing that other people might find useful. If people find it useful but find bugs, they might as well send pull-requests. And let's be honest: error checking is important and everything but it's quite a chore. Often in your toy project it's okay to be optimistic. And often the purpose for writing a project is to explore a topic, not to release a production grade project.
- quicklime 6y ago
  How did you answer the question? I would hope that something like the following would've been an acceptable answer: > Oh, that was a learning project (or prototype code). If I were to write this code again, I would do $X ...where X is something like "use a unique ptr" or "assign ownership of this object to this other object instead".
  - mjfl 6y ago
    I said almost exactly that.
- picks_at_nits 6y ago
  FWIW, I think that's terrible interviewing on their part. Literally looking for their wallet under the lamp post because it's easy to pick nits in your homework assignments, but difficult to determine whether you could be a productive team member today under completely different circumstances with complete different incentives and forces on your choices.
- pmiller2 6y ago
  How do you know that was the reason you didn't get the job? It sounds like they gave you an opportunity to say you made a mistake, and maybe figure out how you'd fix it.
- kthejoker2 6y ago
  This feels straight out of Kafka.
- yongjik 6y ago
  Haven't been to Apple but that sounds extremely unlucky for you - can't imagine 99% of Apple engineers wanting to spend their time reading random github repositories made by a candidate they aren't even going to approve.
- ayberk 6y ago
  I interviewed with Apple once and I promised myself to never go through it again. They must have no training for their interviewers or maybe a training specifically to make them hostile gatekeepers?
timkam 6y ago
I still think this post is insightful, because it shows a subjective and presumably rather honest perspective on reviewing CVs. Sure, it's no big deal that a recent graduate points to an unmaintained GitHub profile with only assignment code on it. But these applicants make whoever is considering hiring them look at something that's both irrelevant and boring. I wouldn't blame them too much, though. They've probably heard somewhere that you should have code on GitHub and link to your GitHub account in your CV, and they lack the experience to take this advise with a grain of salt.
- znpy 6y ago
  > I still think this post is insightful, because it shows a subjective and presumably rather honest perspective on reviewing CVs. I agree. The most important phrase here is at the end: one candidate just got bumped to the next stage based solely on the fact that in they had a “Making awesome pancakes” in the CV, which made me laugh. Which shows that your cv might pass a selection stage (or be rejected) for absolutely arbitrary reason. And, it's fine. Junior candidates have to be aware of this and don't get demotivated.
Antoninus 6y ago
Hiring is broken bro.
itsdrewmiller 6y ago
It reads a little like the last time he was hiring having a github profile at all was a differentiator. Nowadays almost every applicant has a profile but it's just full of forks and unfinished learn to code projects.

ykevinator 6y ago

Yeah a little a snobby

mjfl 6y ago

When I was an undergrad I would post all my homework assignments on Github, but I later learned this was a mistake when I interviewed at Apple and a few of their engineers went over my homework code with a fine tooth comb and found a memory leak in one of my OS assignments. Reporting this to me, they asked me "why did you code this memory leak?". I didn't get the job. Now I have removed all this from my github. Unfortunately it's one of those things where "everything you say can and will be used against you".

znpy 6y ago
> Unfortunately it's one of those things where "everything you say can and will be used against you". Indeed. It kinda takes the fun out of programming. Sometimes you just don't bother with error-checking and with making code production-grade, because you just wanted to publish this small thing that other people might find useful. If people find it useful but find bugs, they might as well send pull-requests. And let's be honest: error checking is important and everything but it's quite a chore. Often in your toy project it's okay to be optimistic. And often the purpose for writing a project is to explore a topic, not to release a production grade project.
quicklime 6y ago
How did you answer the question? I would hope that something like the following would've been an acceptable answer: > Oh, that was a learning project (or prototype code). If I were to write this code again, I would do $X ...where X is something like "use a unique ptr" or "assign ownership of this object to this other object instead".
- mjfl 6y ago
  I said almost exactly that.
picks_at_nits 6y ago
FWIW, I think that's terrible interviewing on their part. Literally looking for their wallet under the lamp post because it's easy to pick nits in your homework assignments, but difficult to determine whether you could be a productive team member today under completely different circumstances with complete different incentives and forces on your choices.
pmiller2 6y ago
How do you know that was the reason you didn't get the job? It sounds like they gave you an opportunity to say you made a mistake, and maybe figure out how you'd fix it.
kthejoker2 6y ago
This feels straight out of Kafka.
yongjik 6y ago
Haven't been to Apple but that sounds extremely unlucky for you - can't imagine 99% of Apple engineers wanting to spend their time reading random github repositories made by a candidate they aren't even going to approve.
ayberk 6y ago
I interviewed with Apple once and I promised myself to never go through it again. They must have no training for their interviewers or maybe a training specifically to make them hostile gatekeepers?

timkam 6y ago

I still think this post is insightful, because it shows a subjective and presumably rather honest perspective on reviewing CVs. Sure, it's no big deal that a recent graduate points to an unmaintained GitHub profile with only assignment code on it. But these applicants make whoever is considering hiring them look at something that's both irrelevant and boring. I wouldn't blame them too much, though. They've probably heard somewhere that you should have code on GitHub and link to your GitHub account in your CV, and they lack the experience to take this advise with a grain of salt.

znpy 6y ago
> I still think this post is insightful, because it shows a subjective and presumably rather honest perspective on reviewing CVs. I agree. The most important phrase here is at the end: one candidate just got bumped to the next stage based solely on the fact that in they had a “Making awesome pancakes” in the CV, which made me laugh. Which shows that your cv might pass a selection stage (or be rejected) for absolutely arbitrary reason. And, it's fine. Junior candidates have to be aware of this and don't get demotivated.

Antoninus 6y ago

Hiring is broken bro.

itsdrewmiller 6y ago

It reads a little like the last time he was hiring having a github profile at all was a differentiator. Nowadays almost every applicant has a profile but it's just full of forks and unfinished learn to code projects.