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I work for a big tech co, and our interview training explicitly says to not ask candidates about systems they have built in the past, but to ask them to build b
by angarg12 4y ago
I work for a big tech co, and our interview training explicitly says to not ask candidates about systems they have built in the past, but to ask them to build brand new systems from scratch.
This seems completely backwards to me. Is like saying "hey, do you know that relevant on the job experience that you have? we don't want to hear anything about it, here you have a made up scenario".
Ok ok, that is a bit cynical. Asking to design novel systems can give you some good insights about the candidate, or help with people who don't have experience building systems yet. Still it seems to me that asking candidates to describe real world systems that they have actually built is much more useful at checking their skills than building imaginary systems.
One argument against this is that candidates can "cheat" by preparing in depth a made up example. But how is that much different than the current approach?
- travem 4y agoI imagine a concern is that for many candidates who are under NDA with the current and past gigs, sharing detailed system design info is not something that they would be willing to do. Do you want to penalize candidates who are careful about leaking confidential IP. Given that case the fair evaluation is to start from a blank slate to see what they would build given the requirements and constraints shared in the interview.
- lightbendover 4y agoAlso big tech, we ask senior candidates both hypothetical systems and ones they have experience with.
- rednerrus 4y agoWe don’t ask people to describes systems the worked on previously. We ask them to diagram a technical system that they understand well.
- kridsdale1 4y agoIf you are an expert one one system that you have built and maintained for ten years, then that’s all you know.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- HWR_14 4y ago> asking candidates to describe real world systems that they have actually built is much more useful at checking their skills than building imaginary systems. Except those systems are owned by other companies and I have signed agreements not to talk about them.