11 ms·

The hoops you have to jump through to snag one of these jobs make it seem like everyone there must be on top of their game. The truth seems to be that once you'

The hoops you have to jump through to snag one of these jobs make it seem like everyone there must be on top of their game. The truth seems to be that once you've got the position you can coast, these organizations are just too large, too bureaucratic and too rich to solve the problem of poor performance effectively

NullPrefix 5y ago
>everyone there must be on top of their game On top of their hoop jumping game.
clint 5y ago
The hoops, to me, make it seem like you're going to be working with puzzlemaster trivialords, which sounds like the definition of hell on earth.
zamalek 5y ago
> The hoops you have to jump through to snag one of these jobs This right here is exactly the problem. In the interview you are expected to write a fault tolerant k-way distributed sort and publish it to production, in 3 hours. Once you are embedded in your team they'll have you fixing typos on the landing page. "Our interview process is good at finding people who are good at interviewing, not good at their job." ~ Someone I follow on Twitter
- jnwatson 5y ago
  I just got 4 offers from 3 FAANG companies, and I agree completely. None of the interviews had any filter for finishing tasks on time, writing good tests, improving team cohesion, or any of the many important characteristics of a great software developer. But, gosh, I can definitely explain how Aho-Corasick works.
  - rectang 5y ago
    You'd think that interviewers would investigate "designing for testability", which is in some ways similar to algorithm design — it's an architectural and optimization problem. You could even present open-ended programming exercises such as "design tests for this system". Similarly, you could test for ability to architect a Git commit history. Git uses some important algorithms (e.g. content addressable store, tree traversal) and people who demonstrate an understanding of how to leverage it well are likely to be more effective candidates.
    - taylodl 5y ago
      You're making the assumption the interviewers at FAANG companies know this stuff. Many don't. The FAANG companies cast a wide net filtering out below-average engineers, knowing that there are some rock stars in what remains. The average FAANG employee isn't unlike your average coworker in any software development shop. Besides, if you really want to "change the world" you'll quickly realize you're not going to be able to do it at a FAANG.
      - DoreenMichele 5y ago
        FAANG already changed the world into what it is today. Now they want to preserve the status quo that keeps them rich and powerful.
  - ripper1138 5y ago
    IMO a huge missing piece is references. That part isn’t a new idea, it’s been part of hiring forever. A good reference from a past manager would mean a lot more to me than a 60 min coding challenge from leet code.
    - telotortium 5y ago
      Who is going to be able to get a reference from anyone at their current workplace? You generally don't tell your manager you're interviewing before you have an offer in hand.
- dreen 5y ago
  Thats why I love the only tech question we give to people: Write me a stopwatch. Pick a tech, define the features yourself, and make it while explaining what you're doing. There is actually an incredible amount of technical nuance in this question and you can ask this both on junior interviews and senior ones.

NullPrefix 5y ago

>everyone there must be on top of their game On top of their hoop jumping game.

clint 5y ago

The hoops, to me, make it seem like you're going to be working with puzzlemaster trivialords, which sounds like the definition of hell on earth.

zamalek 5y ago

> The hoops you have to jump through to snag one of these jobs This right here is exactly the problem. In the interview you are expected to write a fault tolerant k-way distributed sort and publish it to production, in 3 hours. Once you are embedded in your team they'll have you fixing typos on the landing page. "Our interview process is good at finding people who are good at interviewing, not good at their job." ~ Someone I follow on Twitter

jnwatson 5y ago
I just got 4 offers from 3 FAANG companies, and I agree completely. None of the interviews had any filter for finishing tasks on time, writing good tests, improving team cohesion, or any of the many important characteristics of a great software developer. But, gosh, I can definitely explain how Aho-Corasick works.
- rectang 5y ago
  You'd think that interviewers would investigate "designing for testability", which is in some ways similar to algorithm design — it's an architectural and optimization problem. You could even present open-ended programming exercises such as "design tests for this system". Similarly, you could test for ability to architect a Git commit history. Git uses some important algorithms (e.g. content addressable store, tree traversal) and people who demonstrate an understanding of how to leverage it well are likely to be more effective candidates.
  - taylodl 5y ago
    You're making the assumption the interviewers at FAANG companies know this stuff. Many don't. The FAANG companies cast a wide net filtering out below-average engineers, knowing that there are some rock stars in what remains. The average FAANG employee isn't unlike your average coworker in any software development shop. Besides, if you really want to "change the world" you'll quickly realize you're not going to be able to do it at a FAANG.
    - DoreenMichele 5y ago
      FAANG already changed the world into what it is today. Now they want to preserve the status quo that keeps them rich and powerful.
- ripper1138 5y ago
  IMO a huge missing piece is references. That part isn’t a new idea, it’s been part of hiring forever. A good reference from a past manager would mean a lot more to me than a 60 min coding challenge from leet code.
  - telotortium 5y ago
    Who is going to be able to get a reference from anyone at their current workplace? You generally don't tell your manager you're interviewing before you have an offer in hand.
dreen 5y ago
Thats why I love the only tech question we give to people: Write me a stopwatch. Pick a tech, define the features yourself, and make it while explaining what you're doing. There is actually an incredible amount of technical nuance in this question and you can ask this both on junior interviews and senior ones.