
Show HN: The Best or Worst way to decline a technical interview - chad_strategic
http://www.strategic-options.com/insight/the-best-or-worst-way-to-decline-a-technical-interview/
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goodoldboys
As a fellow self-taught developer, I feel your pain. I've been there, many
times.

However, there's no reason that you can't also teach yourself the necessary CS
fundamentals required to ace these types of interviews. There are plenty of
people out there who have done it. "Cracking the Coding Interview" is a great
book that if you dedicate enough time to it will help you totally nail those
questions (once you have the fundamentals down).

The real secret is to avoid the technical interview altogether. How, you ask?
Networking. And not the typical schmoozing type, either. A quick way to start
is just to connect with every single developer at your current job. As they
make their way to other companies, they're going to either be in a position to
hire or at the very least able to strongly recommend someone (and many
companies don't actually do these crazy white-board interviews).

~~~
chad_strategic
Thanks for the support!

------
whb07
If you know you're interviewing, you should at least review some concepts. But
you're excusing yourself for not studying/reviewing by saying that you are
self taught.

There are plenty of actual cs degree senior devs who fail just as hard as you
on technical interviews when they go in thinking "I got this. Been doing it
for X years". The only thing you and those cs senior devs have in common is
the lack of preparation.

btw, I'm self taught and I'm going to be spending the next few days or so
studying these things and key terms.

~~~
chad_strategic
I think really what it comes down to: Is that I really don't care enough about
the job to study for it. That's my issue not theirs.

I would much rather get paid to do a side project to demonstrate my work. I
believe that is the best way to decide if you want to work for the company and
if they want to hire you.

------
charsifood
If I received this email, I would be confused more than anything else.

Candidates turn down interviews all the time. You don't have to justify
anything to the company - all this looks like is an attempt to justify
something to yourself. Also seems like the email was hastily written given all
the spelling/grammar mistakes.

~~~
chad_strategic
Exactly. I wrote it clearly for myself. I stated 3 reason why I wrote it in
the last paragraph. One of the reasons, was not to fall in this trap again.

Yes, I wrote while I was frustrated at myself.

