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The real TL;DR: "I have no patience for jumping through your hiring hoops. Now, here's a list of my hiring hoops you'll need to jump through before I consider w

by 54mf 14y ago

The real TL;DR: "I have no patience for jumping through your hiring hoops. Now, here's a list of my hiring hoops you'll need to jump through before I consider working for / hiring you." I would never, ever hire this guy. With his hubris and self-centered worldview there's no way he'd work well with a team, and with his apparent aversion to writing code under any circumstances other than inside his own delicately-crafted bubble, I'd have serious doubts about his ability to hit a deadline. Nor would I trust him as a manager. He walks out of an interview (multiple!) because they asked him to code (how dare they), then interviews the guy who responds to (an incredibly ridiculous) code test with a jokey response? Sounds like a great way to make friends, and a terrible way to find job candidates with strong skills. Even if he was the greatest programmer/manager in the world, unless you're looking for a solo developer who doesn't need to produce within a given timeframe or a manager who values a "cold call with attitude" over a first-class résumé, you're in for a world of hurt.

raverbashing 14y ago
That's a very accurate portrait of that article "I hate technical interviews and I waste the recruiter's time because I can't be bothered to write a little bit of code in an interview. But when I hire I don't want to read resumes, just code, well, BECAUSE" Talk about being a self-centered, idiosyncratic prick. Thank you very much, but this is one thing I won't accept in a job.
donw 14y ago
I'm not sure I get all of that out the article, but there were a couple of red flags for me as well. Assuming that Credit Suisse surprised him with the coding section of the interview, I can't necessarily fault him for walking out, because at that time, he realized that he didn't want to work for that company. The response to the riddle is arrogant. So you don't like riddles, that's fine. Extend the same courtesy to the interviewer that you would want to see as an interviewee; if you don't want to work there, politely thank them and leave. Asking to see open-source contributions is fine, but I don't agree with the idea of giving somebody homework. They could easily ship that work out to a friend or hire a cheap contractor. More importantly, it's the company investing almost nothing in the interview process, and yet asking the candidate for a substantial amount of return. During my interviews, I have candidates pair up with team members and work on code. This is subtly different from homework, in that my company invests as much in the interview process as the candidate, which pays off as members of you team get a test-drive of what the candidate will be like on his first day.
tptacek 14y ago
This is a little silly. What is a discussion of hiring practices if not a debate about which hoops are valuable and which aren't? Hiring hurdles aren't all intrinsically valuable. I had the same initial response to the tone of the post; I thought it was a little self-important sounding. But then I reread it, and a lot more of it made sense on the second read than the first.
makmanalp 14y ago
Eh. I think he complains a bit too much, but consider the reverse direction. Why do employers get to be such dicks? This doesn't happen very often, but every once in a while I get one of these "oh we're so interested, you're so great, you did so well in the interviews ... <silence on the line for 3 weeks>". Or, when I bother to write you a cover letter, you can bother to write me back 2 sentences, even if you don't want to hire me. "I'm too busy" is not an excuse. I'm busy too! If you can't take the 30 seconds to copy-paste a nicely written canned message and edit it up to let me know you want / don't want me, then you suck. It's just common courtesy, and you're not exempt from it. You also can't pressure me to make a decision once you've made an offer. I'm going to shop around, just like you shop around. You probably don't have a hiring emergency for the one junior position you're hiring me for, so shove it. Or just hire someone else, but quit calling me to pressure me. I understood the first time. I almost fell for this when I was fresh out of college. You also really shouldn't be claiming IP rights on unrelated things I work on out of office. That's my business and my work, and I shouldn't need permission from you to own it myself. Where is the decency? I see this post as a reaction to that frustration.
onemorepassword 14y ago
I may have a problem with his personality if this blog is anything to go by, but I can't help agreeing with him on most of the points he brings up. If I had to choose between hiring someone with an attitude or the kind of sheep that will jump through pointless hoops I think I prefer to gamble on the former.
hakaaaaak 14y ago
Thanks for the tl;dr. The type was too small for me, so I couldn't read it, and I didn't feel like making it bigger. I know that sounds lazy, but there is a reason most sites don't have small type.

by 54mf 14y ago

raverbashing 14y ago

That's a very accurate portrait of that article "I hate technical interviews and I waste the recruiter's time because I can't be bothered to write a little bit of code in an interview. But when I hire I don't want to read resumes, just code, well, BECAUSE" Talk about being a self-centered, idiosyncratic prick. Thank you very much, but this is one thing I won't accept in a job.

donw 14y ago

I'm not sure I get all of that out the article, but there were a couple of red flags for me as well. Assuming that Credit Suisse surprised him with the coding section of the interview, I can't necessarily fault him for walking out, because at that time, he realized that he didn't want to work for that company. The response to the riddle is arrogant. So you don't like riddles, that's fine. Extend the same courtesy to the interviewer that you would want to see as an interviewee; if you don't want to work there, politely thank them and leave. Asking to see open-source contributions is fine, but I don't agree with the idea of giving somebody homework. They could easily ship that work out to a friend or hire a cheap contractor. More importantly, it's the company investing almost nothing in the interview process, and yet asking the candidate for a substantial amount of return. During my interviews, I have candidates pair up with team members and work on code. This is subtly different from homework, in that my company invests as much in the interview process as the candidate, which pays off as members of you team get a test-drive of what the candidate will be like on his first day.

tptacek 14y ago

This is a little silly. What is a discussion of hiring practices if not a debate about which hoops are valuable and which aren't? Hiring hurdles aren't all intrinsically valuable. I had the same initial response to the tone of the post; I thought it was a little self-important sounding. But then I reread it, and a lot more of it made sense on the second read than the first.

makmanalp 14y ago

Eh. I think he complains a bit too much, but consider the reverse direction. Why do employers get to be such dicks? This doesn't happen very often, but every once in a while I get one of these "oh we're so interested, you're so great, you did so well in the interviews ... <silence on the line for 3 weeks>". Or, when I bother to write you a cover letter, you can bother to write me back 2 sentences, even if you don't want to hire me. "I'm too busy" is not an excuse. I'm busy too! If you can't take the 30 seconds to copy-paste a nicely written canned message and edit it up to let me know you want / don't want me, then you suck. It's just common courtesy, and you're not exempt from it. You also can't pressure me to make a decision once you've made an offer. I'm going to shop around, just like you shop around. You probably don't have a hiring emergency for the one junior position you're hiring me for, so shove it. Or just hire someone else, but quit calling me to pressure me. I understood the first time. I almost fell for this when I was fresh out of college. You also really shouldn't be claiming IP rights on unrelated things I work on out of office. That's my business and my work, and I shouldn't need permission from you to own it myself. Where is the decency? I see this post as a reaction to that frustration.

onemorepassword 14y ago

I may have a problem with his personality if this blog is anything to go by, but I can't help agreeing with him on most of the points he brings up. If I had to choose between hiring someone with an attitude or the kind of sheep that will jump through pointless hoops I think I prefer to gamble on the former.

hakaaaaak 14y ago

Thanks for the tl;dr. The type was too small for me, so I couldn't read it, and I didn't feel like making it bigger. I know that sounds lazy, but there is a reason most sites don't have small type.