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It's fair to ask people to do work, but they should be paid for it if it goes beyond an hour or so. I've turned down opportunities with a ridiculous recruiting

It's fair to ask people to do work, but they should be paid for it if it goes beyond an hour or so. I've turned down opportunities with a ridiculous recruiting process, I couldn't imagine what it would be like when you actually worked for them! When I was managing the software division of an IT services company, we would send all candidates a fizz-buzz type programming assessment that should only take 5-10 minutes to complete. After that, we would do a 15 minute phone screen then had someone come in for a 1-2 hour long interview with some live programming. The point of the exercises in the interview was to see someone's thought process, not if they could actually "complete" the exercises. At that point, we'd have a pretty good idea of where a candidate's skill were at and we could start the process of extending an offer if the team agreed they were a good fit. There were a few occasions where the candidates had no experience with any of the tech we were using, but were obviously capable developers. We'd usually make an offer at the lower end of the salary range for that position with a raise being guaranteed in 10 weeks if they met the requirements. There was the expectation that they'd do a bit learning outside of work hours if needed. Everyone who was given that offer accepted it and was given the raise.

endemic 4y ago
> There were a few occasions where the candidates had no experience with any of the tech we were using, but were obviously capable developers. We'd usually make an offer at the lower end of the salary range for that position with a raise being guaranteed in 10 weeks if they met the requirements. This is great. Makes sense for the business, and the results spoke for themselves.
uvnq 4y ago
> then had someone come in for a 1-2 hour long interview with some live programming. The point of the exercises in the interview was to see someone's thought process, not if they could actually "complete" the exercises. I don't know much about industry and interviews yet. Do you think this is the case for most interviews? That they care about your thought process, not just if you can complete the problem? Is it necessary to learn/memorize all algorithms and data structures, or is it better to practice and focus on improving my problem solving skills and thought process?
- tpxl 4y ago
  Everyone says they care about the thought process, but almost nobody actually does. The GP seems to, but there's plenty of stories where they ask an open question (What happens when you put some text in the search bar and press enter), then fail you for that question if you don't discuss the specifics they want (http/DNS/routing/whatever the interviewer likes).

endemic 4y ago

> There were a few occasions where the candidates had no experience with any of the tech we were using, but were obviously capable developers. We'd usually make an offer at the lower end of the salary range for that position with a raise being guaranteed in 10 weeks if they met the requirements. This is great. Makes sense for the business, and the results spoke for themselves.

uvnq 4y ago

> then had someone come in for a 1-2 hour long interview with some live programming. The point of the exercises in the interview was to see someone's thought process, not if they could actually "complete" the exercises. I don't know much about industry and interviews yet. Do you think this is the case for most interviews? That they care about your thought process, not just if you can complete the problem? Is it necessary to learn/memorize all algorithms and data structures, or is it better to practice and focus on improving my problem solving skills and thought process?

tpxl 4y ago
Everyone says they care about the thought process, but almost nobody actually does. The GP seems to, but there's plenty of stories where they ask an open question (What happens when you put some text in the search bar and press enter), then fail you for that question if you don't discuss the specifics they want (http/DNS/routing/whatever the interviewer likes).