
Ask HN: Should I leave my company (Samsung)? - hauntedDev
Cause of frustration and pain :
Since some time, Samsung has started to conduct regular programming contests among its developers. The contests are categorized as Intermediate, Advanced, Professional and Expert levels, with increasing difficulty in coding problems posed.<p>The aim is that it will help to identify top talent within the organisation and also improve software developing skills. The tests are being conducted throughout all Samsung software centers around the world, except for the American ones, who just refused. I am an engineer located in Korea, with regular contact with co-workers in Poland, India.<p>The problems posed are of coding competition variety, with restriction to use any library apart from &lt;iostream&gt; for c++. STL, &lt;stdlib.h&gt; etc are not allowed.<p>As a developer clears a level, she gets tagged to that level. Right now, its absolutely necessary that each developer reaches the &quot;Advanced&quot; level. Regular trainings are conducted ( by employees who are already Advanced). Mock tests (full day ) are conducted twice or thrice , before each &quot;official exam&quot;,which is conducted once a month. Of course, employees are expected to perform and meet deadlines in their project work as usual, even though they have to attend the mock&#x2F;official tests full day.<p>Managers are under pressure too. Since, each one of them has to ensure that their teams reach the set level.<p>My opinion : I don&#x27;t know if its the right way.Even though i did reach the required level, It has left me frustrated.  I have seen excellent developers, who regularly produce clean, maintainable code failing at this exercise.
Some centers have seen group-rebellion in terms of entire teams going on a fortnight leave to prepare for the test.<p>I think many of us have already left and will leave. 
I think we should use this as a opportunity to prepare for future interviews.
What is your opinion ?
======
tshtf
1\. Samsung is indeed a megacorp and has 489,000 employees.

2\. Organizations this large traditionally have a huge problem with employee
performance. (Q: How many people work at IBM? A: Half of them.)

3\. Middle management will be forced implement Lean Six Sigma or techniques
like this to prove a certain level of control to upper management.

4\. Some things don't scale, like a company with 500k employees.

5\. At least American consumers have a negative view of Samsung: phones don't
get regular updates, your TV spies on you by recording everything in the
living room.

6\. You may be happier in a smaller organization that doesn't have to play
these HR games.

------
selmat
I worked at international corp. focused on outsourcing of networking services.
Local managers, in an effort to improve quality and technical expertise
developed "career plan" where everyone (L1 - L5) should visit at least once
per year test-center where you has been asked some technical and process
questions. After one attempt you had to wait at least 6 months for another
one.

The main issues of this plan has been:

1\. Tests and questions hasn't been standardized. It was too general created
based on corp. business path. Every account has been customized to customer
needs - does it mean process, technologies, infrastructure, used procedure to
solve issues etc. etc.

2\. Test case was developed by silly people strongly focused on commands and
totally useless knowledge like memorization of release notes and differences
between version 500s and 500x.

3\. If you fail, manager will cut your bonus. After one year, if you fail
again, you will get resignation letter. ( i don't know anyone who got
resignation letter, but this threat is totally unprofessional).

4\. If you pass you _can_ (not will be) promoted. Guys from L5 can't move
forward, because there wasn't any upper position or opportunity to move.
Management is very closed group where strangers are not welcome.

Edit: typos

~~~
hauntedDev
So, did they continue the practice or altered it to make it more relevant?

~~~
selmat
As far as I know they continue with this plan, maybe there are some minor
updates, but I don't have last details since I left year ago.

------
disposeofnick9
Sounds like NCBLA for software engineering... in this case, tests which dont't
add business value, measured as proof of value. F that bullshit. Mid-sized
companies may have less perks and less organization, but there's often less
bullshit because everyone has to deliver more... whereas megacorps tend to
optimize for job security and politics.

~~~
hauntedDev
I guess, they could have made it a bit relevant by at least allowing the
developers to use the basic libraries (e.g. C++ STL, std::string!!! ) they use
in their daily professional lives.

The official test environment ( which crashes far too often) has just a
notepad, a compiler ( Visual studio) and no access to command line and of
course no access to internet ( for fear of people cheating ). As another
poster said, Its really like a interview that never ends. Even worse. And
those who have passed, are forced to train and conduct mock tests. Well, I
know i am sounding pessimistic :(.

------
blackflame7000
Its like the interview that never ends.

~~~
hauntedDev
that's the nutshell :(.

Plus I think, It might be bad in long run to disallow usage of STL and other
standard libraries.

------
stupidsid
Well, go man. it will be stupid if you donot . best of luck

------
Zelmor
I bet you can find better companies than this. Have an open mind and relocate
if necessary. Believe in yourself.

