3 ms·

So let me ask this. What is the perfect mix of inerviews and durations? If you ask my blue collar friends, the answer is one and however long it takes to drink

by -warren 5mo ago

So let me ask this. What is the perfect mix of inerviews and durations? If you ask my blue collar friends, the answer is one and however long it takes to drink three beers. If you ask any married person, the onboarding process (courtship) may last YEARS and consist of many interviews (dates). As an EM, ive always struggled with this one. Im about to invest some serious coin and brainspace for you, so I tended towards a max of 3-6 total hours and a takehome assignment. As an IC, I preferred short and sweet. Heres my portfolio (github), heres my resume. Lets make this work. Maybe 1-2 hours; its not like we're getting married. The happy place has to be in there somewhere. Whats your take?

Gigachad 5mo ago
I’ve never worked at big tech but the usual interview process I’ve seen is one initial phone call to check both sides are on the same page and it’s worth scheduling an interview. Then a technical interview, sometimes a take home task, then a non technical interview with management. There’s no reason you need longer than that.
- AlotOfReading 5mo ago
  The "usual" process in big tech is a recruiter call, 1-2 technical screening calls (sometimes an EM call), then the main series of 3-6 domain knowledge interviews are done over 1-2 days. The latter are pretty grueling, especially when conducted on-site. Apple recommends you show up 1-2 hours ahead so you have enough time to get through security, for example.
  - Gigachad 5mo ago
    That might be fine if they are offering incredible pay and conditions at a highly desirable company. But you get so many mid tier companies looking at Apple and Google and replicating their process without the pay or reason to put up with that process. I just eject from the interview process when I hear it's going to be so many rounds because I know there will be another company that's just as good that will get it done with less.
    - 999900000999 5mo ago
      I had a 6 interview + take home ( which realistically took 2 days because I intensively studied for it ) loop. Didn’t get the job. Got the vibe they were full of crap anyway. The salary range was never given. The business model, extremely easy to replicate. The job I’m at now had a single 30 minute chat. Verbal offer 2 days later. And my co workers and boss are awesome.
      - davidw 5mo ago
        Most of the best places I've worked have had the least process.
      - svieira 5mo ago
        Every single crew member of the Endurance was selected based on Shackleton's vibes on them, sometimes before they even said anything. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Trans-Antarctic_Expedition#Personnel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Trans-Antarctic_Exped...
dnnddidiej 5mo ago
What does a pilot or doctor or cop do in terms of interviews, take homes etc.?
- cloverich 5mo ago
  > doctor Rigorous formal education, multiple rigorous exams, then years of shadowing and training. I went through this process, and tech interviews are a breeze by comparison.
  - shreyansj 5mo ago
    I think he meant - what's the interview process for a doctor while switching jobs.
    - fc417fc802 5mo ago
      That's presumably what he meant but the response is highly relevant nonetheless. Comparing credentialed and noncredentialed professions is apples to oranges here because the credentialed professions effectively consist of pools of prescreened candidates. Among those, MDs in particular have an absolutely grueling process before they can get started. Imagine if your surgeon (versus backend dev) was proud of being self taught.
- lbreakjai 5mo ago
  Pilots and doctors are exhaustively certified for a very narrow set of work. A cop gets a title, to perform a job that's identical in every part of the country. Software development is neither exhaustively certified, nor narrow, nor perfectly transposable. Developers want a 15 minutes interview, but also scream "Would you ask a builder if he has experience with blue hammers specifically?" when they get denied an interview because they do not have experience with the exact tech stack of a company. Because that's how pilots and doctors work. They not only need to have experience with a blue hammer specifically, but it needs to be exact same make and model. Imagine if a GP claimed to be neurosurgeon because they cured a headache. Developers get to call themselves fullstack the day they modify an API route.
_heimdall 5mo ago
At my last job we generally had 3 interviews beyond the initial screening. One was a coding challenge (1 hour with 45 really working on the challenge), one was an architecture discussion, and one was more of a culture fit and similar with the hiring manager. It worked very well for us, I was a bit surprised with some of the red flags that showed up that I wouldn't have expected to be caught in the hiring rounds done at previous jobs.

by -warren 5mo ago

Gigachad 5mo ago

I’ve never worked at big tech but the usual interview process I’ve seen is one initial phone call to check both sides are on the same page and it’s worth scheduling an interview. Then a technical interview, sometimes a take home task, then a non technical interview with management. There’s no reason you need longer than that.

AlotOfReading 5mo ago
The "usual" process in big tech is a recruiter call, 1-2 technical screening calls (sometimes an EM call), then the main series of 3-6 domain knowledge interviews are done over 1-2 days. The latter are pretty grueling, especially when conducted on-site. Apple recommends you show up 1-2 hours ahead so you have enough time to get through security, for example.
- Gigachad 5mo ago
  That might be fine if they are offering incredible pay and conditions at a highly desirable company. But you get so many mid tier companies looking at Apple and Google and replicating their process without the pay or reason to put up with that process. I just eject from the interview process when I hear it's going to be so many rounds because I know there will be another company that's just as good that will get it done with less.
  - 999900000999 5mo ago
    I had a 6 interview + take home ( which realistically took 2 days because I intensively studied for it ) loop. Didn’t get the job. Got the vibe they were full of crap anyway. The salary range was never given. The business model, extremely easy to replicate. The job I’m at now had a single 30 minute chat. Verbal offer 2 days later. And my co workers and boss are awesome.
    - davidw 5mo ago
      Most of the best places I've worked have had the least process.
    - svieira 5mo ago
      Every single crew member of the Endurance was selected based on Shackleton's vibes on them, sometimes before they even said anything. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Trans-Antarctic_Expedition#Personnel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Trans-Antarctic_Exped...

dnnddidiej 5mo ago

What does a pilot or doctor or cop do in terms of interviews, take homes etc.?

cloverich 5mo ago
> doctor Rigorous formal education, multiple rigorous exams, then years of shadowing and training. I went through this process, and tech interviews are a breeze by comparison.
- shreyansj 5mo ago
  I think he meant - what's the interview process for a doctor while switching jobs.
  - fc417fc802 5mo ago
    That's presumably what he meant but the response is highly relevant nonetheless. Comparing credentialed and noncredentialed professions is apples to oranges here because the credentialed professions effectively consist of pools of prescreened candidates. Among those, MDs in particular have an absolutely grueling process before they can get started. Imagine if your surgeon (versus backend dev) was proud of being self taught.
lbreakjai 5mo ago
Pilots and doctors are exhaustively certified for a very narrow set of work. A cop gets a title, to perform a job that's identical in every part of the country. Software development is neither exhaustively certified, nor narrow, nor perfectly transposable. Developers want a 15 minutes interview, but also scream "Would you ask a builder if he has experience with blue hammers specifically?" when they get denied an interview because they do not have experience with the exact tech stack of a company. Because that's how pilots and doctors work. They not only need to have experience with a blue hammer specifically, but it needs to be exact same make and model. Imagine if a GP claimed to be neurosurgeon because they cured a headache. Developers get to call themselves fullstack the day they modify an API route.

_heimdall 5mo ago

At my last job we generally had 3 interviews beyond the initial screening. One was a coding challenge (1 hour with 45 really working on the challenge), one was an architecture discussion, and one was more of a culture fit and similar with the hiring manager. It worked very well for us, I was a bit surprised with some of the red flags that showed up that I wouldn't have expected to be caught in the hiring rounds done at previous jobs.