3 ms·

A friend of mine made it through the initial interview stages at SoundCloud. He was then given three days to build an iOS app using the SoundCloud API that show

A friend of mine made it through the initial interview stages at SoundCloud. He was then given three days to build an iOS app using the SoundCloud API that showed off his experience and skill. I like that approach because three days is a nice length of time to build something you can be proud of. He was interviewing for the iOS team, of course.

Iftheshoefits 12y ago
Was he paid for his work? If he wasn't, he's part of the problem in hiring processes in our industry.
- marktangotango 12y ago
  Agreed, I did a coding exercise for the Nerdery once, I epended about 8 hours on it, no one even reviewed it. Total waste of time. Yes I am naming them intentionally, I felt that behavior was antagonistic and exploitative.
  - Iftheshoefits 12y ago
    This industry is filled with what I've come to call the "Naive Narcissist". There is a very large percentage of developers who are so eager for "kudos," renown, and other intangibles that they will happily subvert their own livelihoods and contribute to the culture of relegating programmers to second-class commodity labor in the pursuit of overcoming a (usually arbitrary, artificial) challenge. I come from academia. I know what its like to work toward a goal for the sheer pleasure the challenge brings without expecting (much) compensation. But that's academia. This is (typically) private, for-profit industry. There is no good reason to not demand fair compensation and respectful treatment that includes not being given unpaid monkey-work to "show off" for some ass with a superiority complex.
jacobr 12y ago
That filters for people who have three days to spend on a coding challenge with no guarantees at all. If you're unemployed, straight out of school, or very dissatisfied at your current job (perhaps due to conflicts), you're much more likely to take such a challenge than if you have a lot of experience but a full time job and a family. You might not mind that filter (hiring cheaper but talented young people), but it's surely a bias.

Iftheshoefits 12y ago

Was he paid for his work? If he wasn't, he's part of the problem in hiring processes in our industry.

marktangotango 12y ago
Agreed, I did a coding exercise for the Nerdery once, I epended about 8 hours on it, no one even reviewed it. Total waste of time. Yes I am naming them intentionally, I felt that behavior was antagonistic and exploitative.
- Iftheshoefits 12y ago
  This industry is filled with what I've come to call the "Naive Narcissist". There is a very large percentage of developers who are so eager for "kudos," renown, and other intangibles that they will happily subvert their own livelihoods and contribute to the culture of relegating programmers to second-class commodity labor in the pursuit of overcoming a (usually arbitrary, artificial) challenge. I come from academia. I know what its like to work toward a goal for the sheer pleasure the challenge brings without expecting (much) compensation. But that's academia. This is (typically) private, for-profit industry. There is no good reason to not demand fair compensation and respectful treatment that includes not being given unpaid monkey-work to "show off" for some ass with a superiority complex.

jacobr 12y ago

That filters for people who have three days to spend on a coding challenge with no guarantees at all. If you're unemployed, straight out of school, or very dissatisfied at your current job (perhaps due to conflicts), you're much more likely to take such a challenge than if you have a lot of experience but a full time job and a family. You might not mind that filter (hiring cheaper but talented young people), but it's surely a bias.