Ask HN: Besides technical interviews, how would you want to be evaluated? - kearneyandy
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ioddly
I enjoyed reading Thomas Ptacek's hiring post:
[https://sockpuppet.org/blog/2015/03/06/the-hiring-
post/](https://sockpuppet.org/blog/2015/03/06/the-hiring-post/)

I've never had an interview like that personally, but I have had interviews
that were a bit more practical. Like instead of solving an algorithmic
problem, it was: how would you lay out the database for a clone of popular
website X, how would you handle stuff like pagination. Those are a bit less
nervewracking than the typical "implement binary search in a chamber slowly
filling with sand" interviews.

~~~
tudelo
For a jr dev, those questions might be a bit more nerve-racking :) Although...
an interview in a chamber filling slowly with sand might trump the former.

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tabeth
Ideally a company would have an open source code base and very clear issues
with tags. With this, any sufficiently good pull request would automatically
get you the job (a pull request to an appropriately difficult issue).

~~~
matt_the_bass
This is a really interesting idea. Even if the initial code was “staged”. It
would demonstrate that the applicant could grok existing code, respond to an
issue ticket and implement a solution.

Great idea!

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dizzystar
Sometimes, I'm just told there is a problem, here's a bit of code. Can I fix
it? About 30 minutes later, I have a solution or I cry uncle.

If I don't have a solution, I have no work from the company.

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mslate
I would love to be judged by my references earlier in the interview process,
however this is not meritocratic.

In fact it's the opposite since it favors nepotism and disadvantages people
from historically disadvantaged backgrounds. This is the same reason CA
introduced the recent law prohibiting employers from asking about salary
history.

But what is a "reference"? Often, it's a free-form phone call from the hiring
manager to a person you've previously worked with. I think there's a lot of
room to improve LinkedIn's "recommendations" feature--they clearly de-
prioritized it, as well as endorsements.

In a nutshell, I want my social proof to precede me in my job search.

Why do fizz buzz when you can get several of your friends to confirm "this
person can do fizz buzz, and also these things that you are expressly hiring
for."

~~~
muzani
I dislike references because:

1\. People can lie in support of their friends, or be bad judges of ability. A
project manager might vouch that this guy is godlike when the reality is that
they've just been working late whenever the boss is around and hacks
everything together clumsily.

2\. Some people don't want their best employees to leave, so they won't want
to give a strong recommendation to someone, especially if that person is
currently employed.

3\. Whatever circumstances that causes one to leave a job might not put them
on the best terms.

I feel that recommendations are sometimes like asking someone's ex about their
character.

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EnderMB
I had an idea a while back around inverting the interview/recruitment process,
but a lack of resource/willpower/ability means I won't ever follow through
with it. Regardless, I like the idea of it.

If a third-party recruiter is involved, they will get in contact with a
developer that they deem to be sellable. Once they've got his/her details,
they'll pass them on to an employer, who will then interview them for the
role.

The flaws with this approach are:

1\. The recruiter doesn't know if you're any good or not. They probably don't
care, but a good developer can be sold for a high commission.

2\. The interviewee has to interview when it is convenient for the employer

3\. The employer has to run a ton of interviews to find a viable candidate,
and (probably) come up with a proper interview process to replace their crappy
one.

If, instead of having a skills-based interview with the employer, you had one
with the recruiter, who would only take you on as a client if you matches a
certain level of skill/talent, in theory everyone's problems are solved.

Recruiter: Adds real value to the developer, can sell a provable talent to a
company quickly, and ideally with no worry about commission being lost by an
employer rejecting an obvious dud.

Developer: Gets to "interview" whenever is convenient for them. Can be
evaluated in multiple ways (take home test, face-to-face interview, etc), and
can be given real technical feedback as the interview is not for employment,
but to sign up for a service.

Employer: Can hold a shorter interview process, and get someone in quickly.

In terms of actual technical interviews, there are so many different ways of
doing them that all I ever really want from an employer is some heads-up on
what I'll be asked. Interviews are convenient at the best of times, so if I'm
going to try and make time when I should be working I want to at least be
prepared for the experience.

~~~
jaredsohn
>If, instead of having a skills-based interview with the employer, you had one
with the recruiter, who would only take you on as a client if you matches a
certain level of skill/talent, in theory everyone's problems are solved.

There are a few recruiters that try to approximate this; see a list here:
[https://github.com/vchernoy/dreamjob](https://github.com/vchernoy/dreamjob)

~~~
EnderMB
It's not an original idea, but I think there's a gap in the market for this to
be done at a more local level, and for the other 90% of jobs that aren't at
big tech agencies.

A lot of these platforms are trying to solve the process for huge companies
that offer whiteboard algorithm-based interviews, whereas a local agency down
the road just wants a Rails developer with ecommerce experience, or a .NET
developer with Umbraco experience. It's these companies that are more likely
to want to use a recruiter, and it's tech bosses at these companies that are
often wary of not only other peoples interview processes, but their own.

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psyc
Ask me about what I've accomplished in the past, and have a technical
conversation with me about the subject matter that's directly relevant to the
role right now.

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billconan
I want the interview be a form similar to hackathon. Given a software request
(or a topic), design and implement it within 8 hours.

For example, implementing a chat app.

~~~
fitpolar
Anything longer than 2 hours is too long unless you get paid. You're
automatically disadvantaging people who aren't in a position to dedicate a
large amount of time to free work. Plus if say they're only offering 5%
interviewees a role, for 95% of interviewees it's a complete waste of time. 2
hours is a lot more acceptable as a waste of time vs 8+ hours.

As a general rule, if I'm asked to spend time on one of those coding
assignments, I assume I have the job unless I really F it up. Only the top 2-3
contenders should be asked to spend more than half a day on one of these
assignments, and they typically take half a day or more.

The best coding assignment I had from an interviewer is one where I got paid.
It was part of their process, and wasn't a complete waste of time.

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muzani
I'm still a fan of technical questions that don't involve low level
implementation of code.

Things like "How would you create minesweeper on the iPhone" or "How would you
make an app that's Airbnb for dogsitters?"

Just try to see how people would approach the question.

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framebit
Conceptual problem questions that test my knowledge of data structure and
algorithm _application_ rather than detailed implementation. Do I know how
computers work? Can I apply Big-O conceptually in this problem space? Can I
discuss how this problem changes when n goes from 1Kb to 1Tb?

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dasmoth
Programming. Blank file or modify something existing, I don’t really mind.
Ideally something reasonably open-ended, though. Evaluation which emphasises
results more than “ways of working” stuff.

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zerr
Paid (regardless of outcome), relevant to the job project .

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IpV8
Write code really really drunk. People reveal the worst in themselves when
they code drunk.

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tedmiston
On a whiteboard solving classic algorithm puzzle problems that have nothing to
do with the work I do... oh wait, wrong thread.

~~~
ccachor
Ha! I've had to do a few of those recently. Unfortunately, they were the ones
where you write code as the hiring manager watches.

Not a fan of those...

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ccachor
Based on previous work experience, like-ability, references, and a take home
exercise.

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mars4rp
If you want to make sure I am not lying just polygraph me!!! don't make me
memorize useless algorithms that I will never use! looool

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thaumasiotes
By a written test, of course.

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SirLJ
the good old hard cash will do just fine...

