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from the prove-Fermat's-last-theorem-using-only-a-protractor-and-straight-edge dept.
Saw this discussion on Reddit, and thought it might be of interest here, too (as such things perennially are):
I've been a successful software engineer for 10 years at various startups and small businesses. I do a lot of contracting on the side too. I've recently had cause to start looking for work again.
What the hell is up with these interview questions? They don't really have much to do with the ins and outs of clean code, architecture or collaboration. I had hoped they'd stop with this bullshit already. There's a lot of companies that promise 'No whiteboard interviews' like Triplebyte, only for that to be a complete and total lie.
They're more like annoying riddles I'd find in an Sierra adventure game or D&D. I'm just not very good at these types of 'riddle questions'. I know they always wind up having to do with binary trees, graph algorithms or something like that, but the dress-up and time constraints are unrealistically stressful.
I honestly wasn't very good at these questions when I'd graduated and I'm still not good at them now. How screwed am I? Are companies willing to hire based on projects and seeing live code?
I'm always careful to speak with my employers and convince them to write a 'portfolio' clause in my contract that allows me to keep code for the purpose of seeking further employment.
I really don't want to spend 3 months of my life learning how to solve riddles just to get another job.
I also suck at these kinds of questions, despite having designed and written a lot of software and systems. What say you, Soylentils, are these kinds of interview questions necessary to find good software engineers?
(Score: 4, Interesting) by xpda on Tuesday March 07 2017, @11:49PM (5 children)
When I interview someone, I almost always try to find a question or problem that they can't answer. I'm not looking for their ability in a particular niche. I want to see how they handle it, and how they communicate. "I don't know" is what I'm looking for in many cases, either with or without some supporting information or guesses. If you don't know an answer, don't get flustered. Give clear, concise, accurate answers. If it's "I don't know", say "I don't know" and then explain how you'd find out.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Snotnose on Wednesday March 08 2017, @12:31AM (1 child)
When I used to interview people I'd start with dirt simple questions and get progressively harder. After about 40 minutes or so I didn't expect you to be able to answer the question, I wanted to see how you handled it. When your face falls and you say you have no clue I explain you weren't expected to, the fact you got that far meant you got a thumbs up from me, and let the interviewee interview me.
Had 1 guy who ran me out of questions. Hired the guy, he was the most brilliant engineer I've ever worked with.
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 2) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Wednesday March 08 2017, @02:29AM
That reminds me of:
My First BillG Review [joelonsoftware.com]
(Score: 4, Funny) by e_armadillo on Wednesday March 08 2017, @12:54AM (2 children)
That reminds me of a colleague's story about how he got hired at our company. They gave him 20 minutes to study the features of the product and then he was to pitch the product. After he was done pitching, the lead interviewer said, "Half of what you just said was completely wrong . . . but I believed you!"
"How are we gonna get out of here?" ... "We'll dig our way out!" ... "No, no, dig UP stupid!"
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 08 2017, @06:09AM (1 child)
Trump?
(Score: 3, Funny) by FatPhil on Wednesday March 08 2017, @09:36AM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves