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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: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday March 08 2017, @04:05PM
I took a different tack than what most have talked about here. I suck at those kind of gotcha tests in interviews, so I avoid them. I know I can build solid systems because I have done so many times. (There's even one guy at Kaplan, the test-prep company, who has built an entire division and his career there on some CLI perl scripts I wrote there 20 years ago when they brought me in to run QA on an online test-prep product; I know he did because 15 years later he emailed to ask me to do some more work for them, and when I went in to talk to him about the job he asked me to update the scripts I had written and introduced me to his lackies who were still using the CLI scripts I had written with the ReadMe that I threw in with it.) So I know I can deliver.
I realized that the pop quiz shit is what the HR drones and low-level coders use to play gotcha with candidates. It's an ego trip they enjoy meting out because normally they're the low man on the totem pole in the office. It's much better to get directly in front of the hiring manager, who typically does not give a shit about ego trips and is much more interested in what you can do to solve his problem. There are two sure-fire ways to do that.
First, come in as a consultant. HR people handle employees, managers handle consultants. Second, find a good agency and use them. They almost always work directly with the manager, not through HR. Very few places, even very big ones, take the time to be so process-driven that managers will route everything through HR to cross all the t's and dot all the i's. They have real issues to resolve that have millions of dollars at stake, that are weeks behind schedule, and will directly affect their personal bonus and career prospects. They want the answer now, now, now. And because they want the answer now, now, now it's very easy to employ a simple social hack once the interview has begun: ask them what their needs are and connect the parts of your resume to a solution they need.
They actually really appreciate it because who has the time & patience to run you through a panoply of bullshit gotcha questions like, "Where do you see yourself in 5 years," when there are a dozen fires burning outside the door of their office that they're not tending to while they're talking to you. And if you, having turned the interview around, find that you really don't have the background necessary to solve their problems, or don't feel like faking it until you do, you can candidly tell them that you're not the right fit. That wins you big points with them, and they might remember you when something else comes along later that might be a fit. If you know somebody else who would be a fit, offering to connect them to the hiring manager deepens their good impression of you (especially since in that case they wouldn't have to pay an agency's high fees, if you came through the door that way).
Also, another reason to avoid these kinds of gotcha quizzes in interviews is that walking into them is a mistake. Rank-and-file coders get quizzed like that. If they pass and get hired, they are treated like cattle, like a commodity. You live a marginal existence of abuse and contempt, of seething while the marketing jerks add 50 requirements after the code base has been finalized and the manager nods because the head marketing jerk told a funny joke and surely he's right--do what you're told, code monkey. Much better to come in as an exceptional talent who can think outside the box and electrify a team. It's sexy, and the PHBs will pay top dollar for it. That's where the margin is. Also, it insulates you to a large degree from being victimized by the H1-B scam we all know about. Better than that is to come in as an exceptional talent at a managerial level, because the margin on that is even better.
Finally, if you approach the job search process that way, using these vectors to get in at a more lucrative and satisfying level, then the psychology of the process switches from your being a beggar at the banquet, hoping to be found worthy to receive the crumbs they brush off the table, to a self-directed adventurer with a jaunty cap on your head, a whip in one hand, a pistol on the other, and a witty remark at the ready. The former is supine, the latter glowing with confidence.
Which one would you hire for a lot of money?
Washington DC delenda est.