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I've done a 5 1-hour round interview once, and have refused to do them since- including actively turning down a second interview when the process wasn't clear p

I've done a 5 1-hour round interview once, and have refused to do them since- including actively turning down a second interview when the process wasn't clear prior to the initial screener call. I've the good fortune of pretty much being able to pick and choose between jobs, but I also essentially have written off working at a FAANG and at companies run by former or wannabe FAANG engineers. Fortunately, there are still lots of good startups, small and medium sized companies that pay well and actually respect your time.

ramraj07 4y ago
What was your ideal interview experience that you also considered to be very effective?
- ornornor 4y ago
  Personally, 30–60 min HR screen/people stuff and 1h tech interview, with maybe an other hour or two of paid take home assignment. Along with past experience on CV this should be enough to assess whether a candidate is suitable for the 3 or 6 months probation employment. If after all this you still can’t decide whether the candidate is a match and worth keeping permanently post probation, your hiring and working processes are seriously broken. I don’t understand then need for multiple, hours long, dozen interviewers processes.
- zdragnar 4y ago
  To respond to both you and the sibling comment, a short take home assignment which is used to guide a final interview is fine for junior positions. For senior positions, I would rather spend an hour or two talking through hypothetical scenarios, including design decisions and teamwork. I want to hear deeper knowledge from a candidate, not "do they know valid syntax and are they able to solve trivial problems". As in all things, it depends on the company that is doing the hiring and the role they are being hired for. In some cases, "senior" roles are basically individual contributors with a few years of experience. In others, a senior should be able to translate business requirements into a big picture technical solution, break down the portions of the stack they are familiar with, and explain what assumptions are made and what unknown factors need to be sussed out in order to plan a proper implementation. The latter portion is difficult to do with a take home assignment without careful planning for the follow-up interviews. 5 hour round-robin interviews typically (in my experience) end up being "live leet code" sessions that don't represent day-to-day work at all.

ramraj07 4y ago

What was your ideal interview experience that you also considered to be very effective?

ornornor 4y ago
Personally, 30–60 min HR screen/people stuff and 1h tech interview, with maybe an other hour or two of paid take home assignment. Along with past experience on CV this should be enough to assess whether a candidate is suitable for the 3 or 6 months probation employment. If after all this you still can’t decide whether the candidate is a match and worth keeping permanently post probation, your hiring and working processes are seriously broken. I don’t understand then need for multiple, hours long, dozen interviewers processes.
zdragnar 4y ago
To respond to both you and the sibling comment, a short take home assignment which is used to guide a final interview is fine for junior positions. For senior positions, I would rather spend an hour or two talking through hypothetical scenarios, including design decisions and teamwork. I want to hear deeper knowledge from a candidate, not "do they know valid syntax and are they able to solve trivial problems". As in all things, it depends on the company that is doing the hiring and the role they are being hired for. In some cases, "senior" roles are basically individual contributors with a few years of experience. In others, a senior should be able to translate business requirements into a big picture technical solution, break down the portions of the stack they are familiar with, and explain what assumptions are made and what unknown factors need to be sussed out in order to plan a proper implementation. The latter portion is difficult to do with a take home assignment without careful planning for the follow-up interviews. 5 hour round-robin interviews typically (in my experience) end up being "live leet code" sessions that don't represent day-to-day work at all.