6 ms·

> They had a _full_ pipeline, interviewing every day for three weeks straight. I honestly think I'd be physically incapable of doing this. I'm on the HSP side

• nsxwolf 4y ago
  This is incredibly common. I hate running interviews - we do the leetcode whiteboard pressure cooker crap - it's a policy I have no say in unfortunately. I've had candidates with strong backgrounds go to pieces right in front of me - it's awful to watch and I hate that I had anything to do with making someone experience that. More people than you might imagine take Xanax to get through interviews.
  • mixmastamyk 4y ago
    Don't do it, unless you are also under surveillance? Say yes and then run your block more humanely.
    • robryan 4y ago
      Or if there is some freedom around questions pick something that can be worked through. The worst are questions where if you don't know the algorithm or data structure there is no way to work it out from first principles.
  • gymbeaux 4y ago
    Hmm Xanny… that’s not a bad idea.
  • nvarsj 4y ago
    > More people than you might imagine take Xanax to get through interviews. You know, that's actually a great idea I never thought about. I'll see if I can get a script next time I go through interview loops. Might make the process less hellish for me, I hope.
  • Traubenfuchs 4y ago
    Propranolol can work equally or better without the reduction in mental performance benzos and benzolike drugs bring.
  • Aeolun 4y ago
    I don’t know whether it’s more disturbing that our interview process is structured so that Xanax is necessary in the first place, or that so many people in the comments jump in to say what a great idea it is…
    • neilv 4y ago
      I had the same thoughts. Some people need various kinds of medication, and that's fine. But if a normally functioning person needs to start Xanax for the purpose of getting through (let's admit it) a power-play hazing ritual that has little to do with the job, then maybe that person and the rest of us should go tell those companies to take a hike. The EEOC should, as well.
  • throwaway2037 4y ago
    Someone posted on HN recently that they slowly drink wine from a mug during remote interviews to calm themselves. People also recommended a light beta-blockers (which are incidentally used to cheat in some concentration sports like bow+arrow shooting). It sounds like a good strategy.
• ojbyrne 4y ago
  Maybe it's just me, but when I have done that, the first one or two are the hardest, then you get in a groove, and become more aware that its just a numbers game.
  • nvarsj 4y ago
    I think we're all affected to different degrees. I've done a few interview loops in the space of a couple weeks and it never got easier. It just got worse as my insomnia got worse. I feel it's a miracle I can pass interviews at all since I'm operating at like 10%.
  • Falkon1313 4y ago
    I don't understand the numbers game approach. It's like a war of attrition - you're definitely going to suffer if you pick a fight with everyone you see. I prefer the 'choose your battles' approach. Interviewing at 3-5 places (not 35), and being prepared to 'win' before I start, as well as possible. I do find the marathon interviews are difficult, but the difficult parts for me are front-loaded - the initial anxiety, gradually building to being desperate for a break (or to escape) around halfway through. But then like a runner in the zone or coasting through the second half of a double shift on sleep deprivation, the latter part is relatively smooth.
    • hgsgm 4y ago
      What fight? Suffer how? Interviews are conversations, not fights.
• philjohn 4y ago
  I feel you - last time I decided to move jobs, back in 2019, I had a week where I had an onsite every day, and by the end I was just done.
  • ketzo 4y ago
    The “just done” thing can be kinda dangerous too - I did the same thing, and at the end of my hell week, I was getting close to accepting an offer I knew was subpar, just to be done interviewing. Hard to find the right balance.
    • philjohn 4y ago
      Definitely - in this case though, I didn't make the decision until about a month later as I had a few more final rounds scheduled for the weeks after.
• yamtaddle 4y ago
  Shit I'm brain-dead by about 3 hours into an interview or set of interviews, even if it's not the leetcode type. It's draining in a way that no actual work, even hair-on-fire emergency work, is (except maybe sitting in very-tense meetings—that's got a similar effect on me). Doing that more than once or twice in a single week might make me consider applying to clerk at a gas station instead.
  • grugagag 4y ago
    Haha, I feel the same. Luckily it’s not everywhere like that and you could do much better than a gas station clerk, the biggest hurdle is to find the best place where you’d be the best fit at, the interview would likely run well and everything fall into place after that
    • yamtaddle 4y ago
      Yeah, I've had the bad kind that's long enough in a day to totally wreck me, like... twice. Failed one of those two hard, too, LOL. Rest of my experiences have been way more chill in my ~23 years in the industry. I can't imagine targeting a segment where such processes are the norm—which is why, even if I have the talent to work there (and, who knows, maybe I don't) I'd never even try to apply to FAANG and friends, since there's a 0% chance I'd make it through one of their about-a-whole-day processes without bombing the entire back half, no matter how much I prepped.
    • UncleOxidant 4y ago
      It could take a lot of harrowing interviews before you find the peaceful place that doesn't basically haze interviewees. I think probably you've gotta be willing to just walk out of a bad interview situation. Maybe even having that mindset (that there's a way out) would help with the nerves?
• wikibob 4y ago
  Look into beta blockers. Also used by stage performers for similar reasons. https://www.goodrx.com/conditions/generalized-anxiety-disorder/propranolol-for-anxiety https://www.goodrx.com/conditions/generalized-anxiety-disord...
  • wildrhythms 4y ago
    Or maybe the hiring process is broken beyond repair when engineers who are perfectly qualified need to inhibit parts of their brain just to 'perform' at an artificially inflated level.
    • UncleOxidant 4y ago
      This right here. If there are more and more of us who do just fine in an actual engineering job but need beta-blockers or other anxiolytics just to make it through an intense set of interviews maybe something's broken with the hiring process?
      • mattgreenrocks 4y ago
        And yet it persists, unfortunately. The amount of signal gleaned from these is very low, and they’re still super common. Kind of says something about the amount of cultural sway technologists actually have.
        • epicureanideal 4y ago
          Exactly. If there were ever truly a tech talent shortage it wouldn’t be this way.
    • deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
• UncleOxidant 4y ago
  Same here. I've been known to have panic attacks during interviews where I have to excuse myself and get out of the room ASAP. > Maybe I'm in the wrong industry... I wonder this as well for myself. I really like software development, but the interviewing is just getting to be too much. It would suck to have to change careers away from something you're pretty good at and really like just because of what basically amounts to hazing.
  • RobRivera 4y ago
    It's more than lame, its an awful bastardization of how our trade should be evolving. The only real accountability that can be made is to become financially independent and just start building your own things. Ship to market and not fret about revenue growth.
• 6gvONxR4sf7o 4y ago
  That's actually exactly why I do such a grind when I'm interviewing. The first set of interviews affects me like you said, but if I keep at it, I get used to it. Which means the only way for me to do well is to keep at it until it's routine.