6 ms·

Some people have good resumes and can present themselves well. But they can't write very basic code, no matter how much handholding they get. How do you make s

by fl7305 3y ago

Some people have good resumes and can present themselves well. But they can't write very basic code, no matter how much handholding they get. How do you make sure you don't hire these people?

HarHarVeryFunny 3y ago
You don't need leetcode challenges to weed out people who are lying or totally incompetent. I simple whiteboard test such as reversing a list will do the trick!
- water9 3y ago
  list.reverse() Hey ChatGPT how to reverse a list? Why are you hiring the guy if the job is that easy? Just because someone can do leetcode questions doesn’t mean that they can design a system or even design an API. That actually requires creativity not memorization.
  - HarHarVeryFunny 3y ago
    I wouldn't recommend hiring someone (except perhaps for an entry level job) based on ANY kind of whiteboard test. For a senior person it's their experience that counts, which is why the interview should be around what's on their resume. The list reverse (or anything similar - count word occurrences in a list) doesn't qualify someone for the job, but is a good way to quickly tell if someone is lying about their experience, which unfortunately some do, especially for low paying contractor jobs. For stuff this simple I'd expect people to just write it down in 30 sec once they've asked any clarifying questions (such as can I use list.reverse() - no).
    - water9 3y ago
      I completely agree with you, but it seems like even for senior or staff software positions they still whiteboard interview you. Here’s the problem though: most software development is done alone and most software engineers are introverts. They do not like to be put on the spot and be the center of attention. When you ask them to do things under pressure (which basically means your company is always having fires to put out - management problem) they can’t think straight because half their mind is focused on how you’re judging them because the interview matters to them much more than it matters to you. You’re not giving them a fair test.
      - HarHarVeryFunny 3y ago
        I don't think it's fair to give any kind of challenging test in an interview, but something really simple like this is different - they are not really being asked to solve anything, just to show that they can indeed use the language they've got listed on their resume.
- fl7305 3y ago
  >>> Whiteboard tests are not a good way to evaluate people >> How do you make sure you don't hire these people? > I simple whiteboard test such as reversing a list will do the trick! Agreed. I did a lot of hiring interviews of experienced embedded C programmers. A few of the applicants could not read two bytes from memory and combine them into a 16-bit integer, no matter how much handholding they got. But they had good resumes and interviewed well other than that. So some kind of check of their actual technical skills is valuable. We spent a much larger portion of the interview having them explain things like "how would you implement a firmware upgrade architecture where the power can be lost at any time during the upgrade?"

by fl7305 3y ago

Some people have good resumes and can present themselves well. But they can't write very basic code, no matter how much handholding they get. How do you make sure you don't hire these people?

HarHarVeryFunny 3y ago

You don't need leetcode challenges to weed out people who are lying or totally incompetent. I simple whiteboard test such as reversing a list will do the trick!

water9 3y ago
list.reverse() Hey ChatGPT how to reverse a list? Why are you hiring the guy if the job is that easy? Just because someone can do leetcode questions doesn’t mean that they can design a system or even design an API. That actually requires creativity not memorization.
- HarHarVeryFunny 3y ago
  I wouldn't recommend hiring someone (except perhaps for an entry level job) based on ANY kind of whiteboard test. For a senior person it's their experience that counts, which is why the interview should be around what's on their resume. The list reverse (or anything similar - count word occurrences in a list) doesn't qualify someone for the job, but is a good way to quickly tell if someone is lying about their experience, which unfortunately some do, especially for low paying contractor jobs. For stuff this simple I'd expect people to just write it down in 30 sec once they've asked any clarifying questions (such as can I use list.reverse() - no).
  - water9 3y ago
    I completely agree with you, but it seems like even for senior or staff software positions they still whiteboard interview you. Here’s the problem though: most software development is done alone and most software engineers are introverts. They do not like to be put on the spot and be the center of attention. When you ask them to do things under pressure (which basically means your company is always having fires to put out - management problem) they can’t think straight because half their mind is focused on how you’re judging them because the interview matters to them much more than it matters to you. You’re not giving them a fair test.
    - HarHarVeryFunny 3y ago
      I don't think it's fair to give any kind of challenging test in an interview, but something really simple like this is different - they are not really being asked to solve anything, just to show that they can indeed use the language they've got listed on their resume.
fl7305 3y ago
>>> Whiteboard tests are not a good way to evaluate people >> How do you make sure you don't hire these people? > I simple whiteboard test such as reversing a list will do the trick! Agreed. I did a lot of hiring interviews of experienced embedded C programmers. A few of the applicants could not read two bytes from memory and combine them into a 16-bit integer, no matter how much handholding they got. But they had good resumes and interviewed well other than that. So some kind of check of their actual technical skills is valuable. We spent a much larger portion of the interview having them explain things like "how would you implement a firmware upgrade architecture where the power can be lost at any time during the upgrade?"