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TL;DR: the better results you want the better work as hiring manager you have to do. For example extremely experienced engineer with wide market exposure and h

TL;DR: the better results you want the better work as hiring manager you have to do. For example extremely experienced engineer with wide market exposure and hi empathy can manually review CVs that passed some basic filters for quality. Someone capable of quickly putting himself in each candidate shoes based on the line in CV. That will produce a small but hi quality bunch of candidates to talk to. Another thing (besides lack of portfolio being a weak data point) - some very strong engineers are very nervous and suck with live coding (rightfully so) they prefer take home assignments where they have time to carefully think about the solution. Also best engineers are often worst in selling themselves (because they spent their 10k hours engineering, not selling or leetcoding). Best engineers are also stack agnostic. Emphasizing specific new shiny thing in job posting can be a deterrent, and in their cv you would rarely find “nextjs”, because for them it’s just another library. Not something to brag about or even mention in cv. To attract them - spend more time describing the problem, the challenge, the value you gonna create and less - tech stack and constraints. What and why, not how.

programjames 2y ago
> they prefer take home assignments Proof or it didn't happen. I have never met--or even heard of until now--a developer that preferred this.
- aristofun 2y ago
  I do. Few of my friends. Few strangers that +1 my comments on this matter in the past on HN. What’s so surprising? And what other alternative can even remotely represent actual work conditions that a candidate would have?
- giantg2 2y ago
  That's a tough one. I would perfer to work without people looking over my shoulder, using my own equipment, etc. However, I would not want to dedicate that much time to something that might not workout.
  - aristofun 2y ago
    That is the key part on hiring side - take home must be reasonably scoped and relevant to future work experience. Id say anything ~1 work day is a good upper limit.
    - giantg2 2y ago
      But the time limits won't be even. Give people 24 hours to turn it in and you'll have some doing the expected 8 hours of work and others who might do 16 hours of work. Still, I don't want to spend 8 hours on an interview task. If you want to see work that I've created for personal projects, just look at Github and websites I provide on the resume. Don't make me spend a full day doing busy work for a job that I statistically won't get.
      - aristofun 2y ago
        1. That should be one of the last steps only for someone you want to hire but just want to make sure he’s not a fraud 2. ~8h of work should be an estimated task scope for average developer on position you hiring for, or for candidate’s experience 3. Ideally it is an option to choose from (“you want live coding sessions or take home assignments?”)

programjames 2y ago

> they prefer take home assignments Proof or it didn't happen. I have never met--or even heard of until now--a developer that preferred this.

aristofun 2y ago
I do. Few of my friends. Few strangers that +1 my comments on this matter in the past on HN. What’s so surprising? And what other alternative can even remotely represent actual work conditions that a candidate would have?
giantg2 2y ago
That's a tough one. I would perfer to work without people looking over my shoulder, using my own equipment, etc. However, I would not want to dedicate that much time to something that might not workout.
- aristofun 2y ago
  That is the key part on hiring side - take home must be reasonably scoped and relevant to future work experience. Id say anything ~1 work day is a good upper limit.
  - giantg2 2y ago
    But the time limits won't be even. Give people 24 hours to turn it in and you'll have some doing the expected 8 hours of work and others who might do 16 hours of work. Still, I don't want to spend 8 hours on an interview task. If you want to see work that I've created for personal projects, just look at Github and websites I provide on the resume. Don't make me spend a full day doing busy work for a job that I statistically won't get.
    - aristofun 2y ago
      1. That should be one of the last steps only for someone you want to hire but just want to make sure he’s not a fraud 2. ~8h of work should be an estimated task scope for average developer on position you hiring for, or for candidate’s experience 3. Ideally it is an option to choose from (“you want live coding sessions or take home assignments?”)