3 ms·

Overall it’s a very good read, really enjoyed the author voice and style > I don’t think she was laughing two years later when I was TAing the class and we obs

by dgellow 6mo ago

Overall it’s a very good read, really enjoyed the author voice and style > I don’t think she was laughing two years later when I was TAing the class and we observed a fairly distinct gap of about 40 percentage points between the take-home test and the one administered in-person. 40pp is massive. Take homes are pretty much dead at that point. And not just in schools, but also for interviews. I don’t see how you can get a meaningful signal, it’s guaranteed they will be made using AI.

ghaff 6mo ago
I had very few take-homes in school (discounting project courses which were very time consuming). One of the problems with take-homes in most interview situations is that, at least for developer jobs, the reality (whatever the stated guardrails are) is that this will be at least a weekend project. That said, I've spent multiple days traveling and doing related things for an on-site interview which I realize not everyone here would find acceptible.
jimbokun 6mo ago
The take home tasks are only useful for assessment if paired with an oral question and answer session with the instructor about the work turned in. It becomes apparent really fast which students just delegated the work to AI. Of course it’s also much more effort for the instructor.
nradov 6mo ago
Of course the take home interview assignments will be made using AI. Isn't that the point? For most white collar jobs we should hire candidates who can make effective use of AI.
hirvi74 6mo ago
Tangental, but is Leetcode dead too? Part of me could foresee Leetcode being believed to be a stronger indicator now, since it would be unlikely that someone that can answer those questions would know absolutely nothing about programming. Then again, with LLMs, learning to answer those questions is probably easier now than ever. I haven't applied for a job in a decade, so I am utterly clueless on the current landscape.
- dgellow 6mo ago
  I haven't considered that. I've been lucky enough that I never had to go through Leetcode. I have no idea how that will adapt to AI. That could be a stronger indicator, but I can also imagine that people will create tools that read the leedcode challenge and provide the answer. They likely already exist. If you have to do that live you can have a second monitor where the agent provides the solution and you fake writing it yourself during the interview. Not looking forward to interviewing people in the coming years. I went through a good amount of recruiting over the past year+ and it was already frustrating to see how much AI people were using when asked explicitly to limit usage (because that kills the signals we were looking for)

by dgellow 6mo ago

ghaff 6mo ago

I had very few take-homes in school (discounting project courses which were very time consuming). One of the problems with take-homes in most interview situations is that, at least for developer jobs, the reality (whatever the stated guardrails are) is that this will be at least a weekend project. That said, I've spent multiple days traveling and doing related things for an on-site interview which I realize not everyone here would find acceptible.

jimbokun 6mo ago

The take home tasks are only useful for assessment if paired with an oral question and answer session with the instructor about the work turned in. It becomes apparent really fast which students just delegated the work to AI. Of course it’s also much more effort for the instructor.

nradov 6mo ago

Of course the take home interview assignments will be made using AI. Isn't that the point? For most white collar jobs we should hire candidates who can make effective use of AI.

hirvi74 6mo ago

Tangental, but is Leetcode dead too? Part of me could foresee Leetcode being believed to be a stronger indicator now, since it would be unlikely that someone that can answer those questions would know absolutely nothing about programming. Then again, with LLMs, learning to answer those questions is probably easier now than ever. I haven't applied for a job in a decade, so I am utterly clueless on the current landscape.

dgellow 6mo ago
I haven't considered that. I've been lucky enough that I never had to go through Leetcode. I have no idea how that will adapt to AI. That could be a stronger indicator, but I can also imagine that people will create tools that read the leedcode challenge and provide the answer. They likely already exist. If you have to do that live you can have a second monitor where the agent provides the solution and you fake writing it yourself during the interview. Not looking forward to interviewing people in the coming years. I went through a good amount of recruiting over the past year+ and it was already frustrating to see how much AI people were using when asked explicitly to limit usage (because that kills the signals we were looking for)