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After years of upping the ante by ratcheting up what is expected for a technical interview, only to realize you've merely attracted people who are good at cramm

After years of upping the ante by ratcheting up what is expected for a technical interview, only to realize you've merely attracted people who are good at cramming for technical interviews, we're told now all that is overrated. Maybe the whole time, people should have considered what adds value to the company instead of treating it as an entrance examination. A coding problem is appropriate if they're right out of school and you can't get a good feel for them, but usually, holding a conversation for an hour or so is enough to get a feel for whether or not this person can do the job you have in find, or think of a job they could do. If having the disposition of a golden retriever is good for a particular role, then that's what you look for. A better soft skill, in my opinion, is knowing where to pick your battles and not arguing endlessly about everything else.

the_snooze 3y ago
>A coding problem is appropriate if they're right out of school and you can't get a good feel for them, but usually, holding a conversation for an hour or so is enough to get a feel for whether or not this person can do the job you have in find, or think of a job they could do. Facebook tried to recruit me once. They told me I needed to study Leetcode. I'm a researcher with a pretty good publication record and some bit of media coverage of that. I offered to give a "job talk" in lieu of the Leetcode and field their questions live. They insisted on the coding challenges. I told them to take a hike.
- ok123456 3y ago
  Unfortunately, I've heard similar stories from a Ph.D. in distributed databases applying to Google. At first, it seemed like a match. They were looking for someone with that exact knowledge. Then, a few emails later, the recruiter sent them "study material" for their interview. He just declined at that point.
  - skellington 3y ago
    Leetcode is a form of hazing that no other professional class endures. I'm surprised they don't make programmers solve problems for 36 hours straight to see how they do when massively sleep deprived. Just because... EVERYONE in the tech world knows that nobody does leetcode like things in their daily jobs. The vast majority of actual software dev at large companies is untangling complex messes and dealing with cross team integrations (when relevant). Actual hard problems in real domains might take years to solve and involve very large systems.
    - bradlys 3y ago
      It’s used primarily as cargo culting and also as a way of suppressing salaries. Big tech and other companies use it to keep H1B candidates from easily switching jobs and having to do indentured servitude in hostile work environments. That’s all it is - along with the entire industry being massively overqualified as a whole and needing a way to cull the recruiting pipeline to only the most desperate. (People on visas)

the_snooze 3y ago

>A coding problem is appropriate if they're right out of school and you can't get a good feel for them, but usually, holding a conversation for an hour or so is enough to get a feel for whether or not this person can do the job you have in find, or think of a job they could do. Facebook tried to recruit me once. They told me I needed to study Leetcode. I'm a researcher with a pretty good publication record and some bit of media coverage of that. I offered to give a "job talk" in lieu of the Leetcode and field their questions live. They insisted on the coding challenges. I told them to take a hike.

ok123456 3y ago
Unfortunately, I've heard similar stories from a Ph.D. in distributed databases applying to Google. At first, it seemed like a match. They were looking for someone with that exact knowledge. Then, a few emails later, the recruiter sent them "study material" for their interview. He just declined at that point.
- skellington 3y ago
  Leetcode is a form of hazing that no other professional class endures. I'm surprised they don't make programmers solve problems for 36 hours straight to see how they do when massively sleep deprived. Just because... EVERYONE in the tech world knows that nobody does leetcode like things in their daily jobs. The vast majority of actual software dev at large companies is untangling complex messes and dealing with cross team integrations (when relevant). Actual hard problems in real domains might take years to solve and involve very large systems.
  - bradlys 3y ago
    It’s used primarily as cargo culting and also as a way of suppressing salaries. Big tech and other companies use it to keep H1B candidates from easily switching jobs and having to do indentured servitude in hostile work environments. That’s all it is - along with the entire industry being massively overqualified as a whole and needing a way to cull the recruiting pipeline to only the most desperate. (People on visas)