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And yet, the engineering interviews still typically revolve around Leetcode algorithms instead of the messy but hardly CS-intensive day to day work that enginee

And yet, the engineering interviews still typically revolve around Leetcode algorithms instead of the messy but hardly CS-intensive day to day work that engineering typically involves.

ljm 3y ago
The more experience you rack up in your career, the more likely you are to walk away from jobs with laborious hiring processes too. I will politely decline any opportunity that requires me to do multiple code and architecture tests and several other lengthy meetings, usually spread out over the course of months, because it’s not worth my time to jump through so many hoops. It signals to me that there is already a tendency to implement process for the sake of process. What will really sell me on a company is a more in depth conversation with the leadership and the team where we learn more about what we value and how we like to operate. And that’s how I would interview anyone who was referred by someone I trust.
- sph 3y ago
  Very true, because an experienced engineer had internalised that the hard part of this field is not writing code. A company that focused all on that in their hiring process means they're either misguided, or are looking for inexperienced "coding monkeys." In a productive day as a solo dev, hitting keys on my keyboard is the easiest part, the hardest part is thinking about a problem in front of my notepad, usually staring out my living room window or while taking a shower.
- voidnap 3y ago
  It isn't about experience in your career as much as just being marketable. I'm being a little pedantic, but it's a meaningful distinction because marketing yourself to a HR department is a skill to be worked at for some.
- armitron 3y ago
  That's all well and good if you're willing to leave a lot of money on the table. All the companies that hand out half-a-million to a million-dollars/yr total compensation packages operate using similar hiring processes. That's a lot of money over the span of even a few years to miss out on.
  - ljm 3y ago
    I'm in the UK so that kind of compensation package is completely unheard of. In London it's still feasible to pull in 100k+ without running the gauntlet.
  - seabird 3y ago
    That sort of compensation is largely limited to places with exorbitant costs of living. It's nowhere near as lucrative as it sounds.
drewcoo 3y ago
That's (very charitably) because those are weed-out questions for early-stage engineers. Lots of companies feel they need weed-out questions because they're swamped with applicants. How does applicant approach a problem? Does applicant describe their thought process figuring it out? Can applicant figure it out? Did that tell anyone how good the applicant is at the job? No. It just provided some gates for the interviewer to say "no hire." It's hard to differentiate the applicants' skills so early in their careers - not enough work history to go on. I have no idea why these would be used for senior positions except that "senior" is this year's "junior."
- scme0 3y ago
  I was recently looking around at jobs in a different country and at least one place had a FAANG style interview process. I currently have 10 years experience in software engineering so I wasn't too keen to do it but I am considering doing it because they offer higher salaries than other companies.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]

And yet, the engineering interviews still typically revolve around Leetcode algorithms instead of the messy but hardly CS-intensive day to day work that engineering typically involves.

ljm 3y ago

The more experience you rack up in your career, the more likely you are to walk away from jobs with laborious hiring processes too. I will politely decline any opportunity that requires me to do multiple code and architecture tests and several other lengthy meetings, usually spread out over the course of months, because it’s not worth my time to jump through so many hoops. It signals to me that there is already a tendency to implement process for the sake of process. What will really sell me on a company is a more in depth conversation with the leadership and the team where we learn more about what we value and how we like to operate. And that’s how I would interview anyone who was referred by someone I trust.

sph 3y ago
Very true, because an experienced engineer had internalised that the hard part of this field is not writing code. A company that focused all on that in their hiring process means they're either misguided, or are looking for inexperienced "coding monkeys." In a productive day as a solo dev, hitting keys on my keyboard is the easiest part, the hardest part is thinking about a problem in front of my notepad, usually staring out my living room window or while taking a shower.
voidnap 3y ago
It isn't about experience in your career as much as just being marketable. I'm being a little pedantic, but it's a meaningful distinction because marketing yourself to a HR department is a skill to be worked at for some.
armitron 3y ago
That's all well and good if you're willing to leave a lot of money on the table. All the companies that hand out half-a-million to a million-dollars/yr total compensation packages operate using similar hiring processes. That's a lot of money over the span of even a few years to miss out on.
- ljm 3y ago
  I'm in the UK so that kind of compensation package is completely unheard of. In London it's still feasible to pull in 100k+ without running the gauntlet.
- seabird 3y ago
  That sort of compensation is largely limited to places with exorbitant costs of living. It's nowhere near as lucrative as it sounds.

drewcoo 3y ago

That's (very charitably) because those are weed-out questions for early-stage engineers. Lots of companies feel they need weed-out questions because they're swamped with applicants. How does applicant approach a problem? Does applicant describe their thought process figuring it out? Can applicant figure it out? Did that tell anyone how good the applicant is at the job? No. It just provided some gates for the interviewer to say "no hire." It's hard to differentiate the applicants' skills so early in their careers - not enough work history to go on. I have no idea why these would be used for senior positions except that "senior" is this year's "junior."

scme0 3y ago
I was recently looking around at jobs in a different country and at least one place had a FAANG style interview process. I currently have 10 years experience in software engineering so I wasn't too keen to do it but I am considering doing it because they offer higher salaries than other companies.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]