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> Are tech job interviews really such a nightmare? Compared to other professions with similar pay? Yes, much worse. The main problem in software is that compan

by jjav 3y ago

> Are tech job interviews really such a nightmare? Compared to other professions with similar pay? Yes, much worse. The main problem in software is that companies don't value experience at all, you're always interviewed as a fresh grad with endless leetcoding. Compare that to say an experienced surgeon. From some I know, interviews are about cultural fit and trying to convince them to join. Their career experience is already proof they know how to do the job. If doctors had to interview like software engineers, a heart surgeon with 20 years experience would be told to do a hip replacement (you should remember how hips work from medical school!) with one hand tied behind their back and only allowed to use a scalpel. And then mocked for clearly not knowing anything about medicine.

TimPC 3y ago
The other thing is most employers of surgeon's are highly reputable and held to regulatory standards. You kind of know what the minimum quality bar is for someone's employment. Compare that to a random tech company and realize there are people out there who have the same one year of experience twenty times and you start to realize why we have more rigorous interview vetting. I kind of feel like the alternative to interview processes that evaluate in depth is top employers only hiring people with extremely reputable companies on their career trajectory and I feel that would be a loss for many people in tech.
- jjav 3y ago
  > the same one year of experience twenty times I dislike this meme and how it's supposed to be bad somehow. That heart surgeon with 20 years experience? Yes, been doing heart surgeries for 20 years. That's a good thing. We don't ask surgeons to switch to a different body part every year so that they can avoid having multiple years of experience in the same thing! What would you call someone with 20 years experience in 20 different things? A rank beginner in all of them. That's not a good thing. If I need someone with experience in something, I want the person with the 20 years doing that thing.
cloverich 3y ago
If software engineers had to train like a surgeon, they would have an additional 4 years of school, then 5 years of on the job training where they frequently work 80+ hours a week (for less pay than new grads get today). They would also have to apply for the training and the vast majority would not be accepted. Tech interviewing really sucks, but it is still far easier than anything a physician goes through.
- jjav 3y ago
  > Tech interviewing really sucks, but it is still far easier than anything a physician goes through. Except doctors can go through that once, when they are still young and then they're done with that part. Software engineers need to do the leetcode dance every single time for their entire life. Which gets harder and harder when you have a family and then kids.
  - cloverich 3y ago
    Its 7-11 years of additional school, exams, training, and internships. You often work 60-80 hours a week. Most have to move across the country more than once, and apply at every level to work in the field they want -- most are rejected outright at the start, and many won't get into the specific field they want -- ever. I graduated medical school. It is incomparably more challenging than software engineering interviewing. I get it and agree, it really sucks, especially once you have kids. But trust me, people that struggle to survive the leet code grind are most likely the people that would not get into something akin medical school to begin with.

by jjav 3y ago

TimPC 3y ago

The other thing is most employers of surgeon's are highly reputable and held to regulatory standards. You kind of know what the minimum quality bar is for someone's employment. Compare that to a random tech company and realize there are people out there who have the same one year of experience twenty times and you start to realize why we have more rigorous interview vetting. I kind of feel like the alternative to interview processes that evaluate in depth is top employers only hiring people with extremely reputable companies on their career trajectory and I feel that would be a loss for many people in tech.

jjav 3y ago
> the same one year of experience twenty times I dislike this meme and how it's supposed to be bad somehow. That heart surgeon with 20 years experience? Yes, been doing heart surgeries for 20 years. That's a good thing. We don't ask surgeons to switch to a different body part every year so that they can avoid having multiple years of experience in the same thing! What would you call someone with 20 years experience in 20 different things? A rank beginner in all of them. That's not a good thing. If I need someone with experience in something, I want the person with the 20 years doing that thing.

cloverich 3y ago

If software engineers had to train like a surgeon, they would have an additional 4 years of school, then 5 years of on the job training where they frequently work 80+ hours a week (for less pay than new grads get today). They would also have to apply for the training and the vast majority would not be accepted. Tech interviewing really sucks, but it is still far easier than anything a physician goes through.

jjav 3y ago
> Tech interviewing really sucks, but it is still far easier than anything a physician goes through. Except doctors can go through that once, when they are still young and then they're done with that part. Software engineers need to do the leetcode dance every single time for their entire life. Which gets harder and harder when you have a family and then kids.
- cloverich 3y ago
  Its 7-11 years of additional school, exams, training, and internships. You often work 60-80 hours a week. Most have to move across the country more than once, and apply at every level to work in the field they want -- most are rejected outright at the start, and many won't get into the specific field they want -- ever. I graduated medical school. It is incomparably more challenging than software engineering interviewing. I get it and agree, it really sucks, especially once you have kids. But trust me, people that struggle to survive the leet code grind are most likely the people that would not get into something akin medical school to begin with.