4 ms·
This is going to probably bite me in the ass because I'm looking for work at the moment and occasionally apply to interesting YC companies but since this has co
by geuis 13y ago
This is going to probably bite me in the ass because I'm looking for work at the moment and occasionally apply to interesting YC companies but since this has come up, I'm going to share my story here because of the negative experience I had with the company in question.
I had a phone screen with 500friends recently. They were late calling me, and the person I was scheduled to talk with wasn't even on the call. They had pulled some poor engineer off of whatever he was doing, shoved my resume in front of him, and said "go".
The list of things that our "interview" contained:
1) Late in calling me at our scheduled time.
2) Scheduled person was not present on our interview call.
3) Engineer that was put on the call was ill-prepared for the conversation.
4) Questions asked of me were a combination of very basic and others being completely unrelated to the nature of the position being interviewed for.
5) The scheduled person appeared at the end of the call barely long enough to say his name before hanging up on me.
6) Hung up on me suddenly.
#6 was what really got me. It was literally, "Hi this is <x>, we're out of time, click."
If you advertise a position as requiring a certain set of skills, then ask prospective employees about those skills! Go through their experiences and see if they're a good engineer outside of the narrow scope of "solves logic puzzles well". You might be surprised that someone who doesn't normally write linked lists in javascript or implement 2500 year old prime-solving algorithms on a weekly basis actually has skills and experience to contribute.
My personal recommendation for anyone considering 500friends is to skip over them. There's much better companies more deserving of your time and consideration, and you'll certainly be treated better.
## Just to add on, I don't have a problem with logic problems. But too many people only ask them and don't do real interviews. Yes, I can do linked lists in javascript. Does that tell you anything useful about what kind of engineer I am? No, it doesn't.
- rdouble 13y agoNot to excuse that sort of behavior, but this is a pretty typical HR experience in the Bay Area. Late calls, no-shows, awkward questions, either too easy or too hard, abrupt endings, obviously haven't read the resume, etc. Happens all the time, unfortunately.
- speeder 13y agoI had a interview failed like that from Amazon... Granted, I think it was accidental on their part (ie: the person that interviewed me was newbie at Amazon himself and quite lost, but seemly the person that was going to interview me had a serious problem of sorts and could not do it)
- brown9-2 13y agoThe good news for the candidate is this type of behavior is a great leading indicator of what working for the company will be like.
- __--__ 13y agoIs it, though? Every company in the Bay Area I've ever worked for (and a few that weren't in the bay area) has hit multiple items on the parent's list. Even the ones who have their shit together and were a blast to work at gave horrible interviews. Interviews are hard.
- rhizome 13y agoEven the ones who have their shit together and were a blast to work at gave horrible interviews. Fundamental attribution error. It was luck that they turned out to be a compatible work situation.
- __--__ 13y agoAre you saying that my personality is the reason other people can't conduct an interview? I agree I don't interview well, but that has nothing to do with a third party I've never met being able to show up on time.
- rhizome 13y agoIt was not a personal comment. The fundamental attribution error is that it turned out to be a compatible working relationship despite bad interviewing on the company's part. Aside from giving you an interview, nothing the company did during the recruiting process put the right person in the seat. It was just luck that it worked out, and just as often, if not more, it doesn't.
- nugget 13y agoA friend of mine had a very similar experience with this company and their C level team. Maybe some public feedback will help them reflect and improve.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- nayefc 13y agoI believe the person is saying that it is okay to asked linked lists questions, but you must also ask practical questions. In your case, why not ask about linked lists, and then ask why in a CRUD app the models are ending up in a mixed up state when you add a second application server?
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- teh_klev 13y agoParent was in no way suggesting he/she was "too good to implement a linked list". The point being made was that being a logic problem solving performing monkey doesn't really say much about your practical abilities in real world apps.
- el_fuser 13y agoNot to mention having negligible relevance to your ability to lead an engineering staff.
- dlss 13y agoI didn't get the impression OP thought that he was too good to implement a linked list in JS. Rather, he was looking for a company that was too good to spend interview time on a question containing low signal. Like, the question itself is boring and cookie cutter. Why not implement a linked list or a tree in SQL (much more interesting for everyone)? Or a simple query language in JavaScript (a bit more practical)? Or tell have them do a code review of a simple webapp, have them critique it, then have them refactor it with you (much higher signal overall question)? If your goal with an interview is to see how much bureaucratic bullshit a programmer is willing to put up with, by all means have them write linked lists. Have them write 5, one for each person interviewing them. If not, think about what you're trying to figure out about the person and craft the questions to suss out who it is you're talking to. "Program a linked list" is uncreative, and won't let you know very much.
- applecore 13y agoTheir behavior sounds terrible, but I'd expect any decent programmer to be able to write a linked list or prime number solver.
- jpalioto 13y agoCargo cult interviewing at its best. It seems like they may be more experienced interviewing for jobs rather than properly interviewing candidates and building solid teams.
- justinY 13y agovia 500friends founder/CEO. As I mentioned to you in my initial apology, we had a fire drill. That being said, the tardiness was inexcusable, and I talked to the developer about that. Regarding our interview questions, they were meant as an "initial screen." We do ask more practical questions in person. However, we figure that most smart software engineers can write a linked list or prime number solver.