3 ms·

You still had to do a coding test -- but it was pointing to the bug in the C++ linked-list implementation on a single sheet of line printer paper. Because nobo

You still had to do a coding test -- but it was pointing to the bug in the C++ linked-list implementation on a single sheet of line printer paper. Because nobody was going to carry a Sun workstation down to the meeting room just for your interview.

freedomben 2mo ago
I remember a Java job interview like that. "Tell us what you would do to improve this code" with a couple pages of code printed out :-D
- throwway120385 2mo ago
  I still do that because 75% of the work I oversee involves reading other peoples' code and spotting problems with it.
QuercusMax 2mo ago
I took a paper coding test in 2004 when I was job hunting. It was pretty hilarious to me, really, since it was so incredibly easy (multiple choice data-structures type questions) for anybody who had any skills at all. They finally offered me a job 3 months later after I already had started working somewhere else.
- 0cf8612b2e1e 2mo ago
  Three months! Do you know if that was their standard process or the original candidate fell through?
  - QuercusMax 2mo ago
    Wasn't the only company I heard from after that long a time. I assume their hiring process was just very broken and slow. Even Google in 2015 took their sweet time getting back to me after my interviews. At one point the recruiter told me that my offer letter took a week going thru interoffice mail waiting for a signature, and then it took 2 more weeks before they actually sent me the offer.
    - deleted 2mo ago
      [deleted]
eloisant 2mo ago
Or coding on a white board. God I hated it.
- leetrout 2mo ago
  The core of the idea is great. Sketch out an idea with someone else. Interviewing with average interviewers ruined it.
xtracto 2mo ago
My first full time programmer job I got in early 2003. I had only 1 year left in University and a friend of mine was working in this "hotel reservation website" company owned by some gringos (this was in La Paz, BCS back in the day). My friend told me he will talk with the boss there and see if they wanted to have me. They were a "Microsoft" shop, mainly doing Visual Basic. This was early .NET days. Because I was a student with all time in my hands, I taught myself C#. Anyways, they invited me to the small office, I arrived, my friend introduced me to the "boss" (a guy who had got out of University maybe 4 years before) and he gave me a programming challenge. Basically to implement a CRUD in C# for some random domain that I have forgotten. This was in a PC that they lent me (Laptops were not common in Mexico in those days) It took me about an hour to finish it and handle it in. They then thanked me and told me they will be in touch later. Apparently, they had scheduled around 4 or 5 hours for the problem and I blazed through it (humble bragging I know hehe). After a couple of days, I asked my friend about the job, and he told me to call to the boss, as it will show interest. I called later that week, apparently exactly at the moment they were having a meeting about me and the position. They basically told my friend I will be his "protege", so he would be my boss. In hindsight it was a nice place. We were like 8 people max in the team (including devs and designers, doing Flash, and the accountant lady that also sold us Burritos for breakfast). Golden years now that I think of it (the office was just by the broadwalk, so we would go out to the beach). But yeah, the interview process was completely personal and down to earth. Not the crazy stuff that you see nowadays. It marked me, as every time I have to hire people I try to replicate the feeling I had at that time. I was hell nervous, but excited to show what I knew. Sorry for the long Abe Simpson story-rant, it's cool to remember.

freedomben 2mo ago

I remember a Java job interview like that. "Tell us what you would do to improve this code" with a couple pages of code printed out :-D

throwway120385 2mo ago
I still do that because 75% of the work I oversee involves reading other peoples' code and spotting problems with it.

QuercusMax 2mo ago

I took a paper coding test in 2004 when I was job hunting. It was pretty hilarious to me, really, since it was so incredibly easy (multiple choice data-structures type questions) for anybody who had any skills at all. They finally offered me a job 3 months later after I already had started working somewhere else.

0cf8612b2e1e 2mo ago
Three months! Do you know if that was their standard process or the original candidate fell through?
- QuercusMax 2mo ago
  Wasn't the only company I heard from after that long a time. I assume their hiring process was just very broken and slow. Even Google in 2015 took their sweet time getting back to me after my interviews. At one point the recruiter told me that my offer letter took a week going thru interoffice mail waiting for a signature, and then it took 2 more weeks before they actually sent me the offer.
  - deleted 2mo ago
    [deleted]

eloisant 2mo ago

Or coding on a white board. God I hated it.

leetrout 2mo ago
The core of the idea is great. Sketch out an idea with someone else. Interviewing with average interviewers ruined it.

xtracto 2mo ago

My first full time programmer job I got in early 2003. I had only 1 year left in University and a friend of mine was working in this "hotel reservation website" company owned by some gringos (this was in La Paz, BCS back in the day). My friend told me he will talk with the boss there and see if they wanted to have me. They were a "Microsoft" shop, mainly doing Visual Basic. This was early .NET days. Because I was a student with all time in my hands, I taught myself C#. Anyways, they invited me to the small office, I arrived, my friend introduced me to the "boss" (a guy who had got out of University maybe 4 years before) and he gave me a programming challenge. Basically to implement a CRUD in C# for some random domain that I have forgotten. This was in a PC that they lent me (Laptops were not common in Mexico in those days) It took me about an hour to finish it and handle it in. They then thanked me and told me they will be in touch later. Apparently, they had scheduled around 4 or 5 hours for the problem and I blazed through it (humble bragging I know hehe). After a couple of days, I asked my friend about the job, and he told me to call to the boss, as it will show interest. I called later that week, apparently exactly at the moment they were having a meeting about me and the position. They basically told my friend I will be his "protege", so he would be my boss. In hindsight it was a nice place. We were like 8 people max in the team (including devs and designers, doing Flash, and the accountant lady that also sold us Burritos for breakfast). Golden years now that I think of it (the office was just by the broadwalk, so we would go out to the beach). But yeah, the interview process was completely personal and down to earth. Not the crazy stuff that you see nowadays. It marked me, as every time I have to hire people I try to replicate the feeling I had at that time. I was hell nervous, but excited to show what I knew. Sorry for the long Abe Simpson story-rant, it's cool to remember.