
Why I’m still using “Fizz Buzz” to hire Software-Developers - rbanffy
https://hackernoon.com/why-im-still-using-fizz-buzz-to-hire-software-developers-7e31a89a4bbf
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tboyd47
Everyone should use FizzBuzz and teams should come up with similar challenges
that are novel enough not to be memorized.

The reason why FizzBuzz exists is because a lot of people apply for
programming jobs who can't write code. It's not just that they don't know
framework X or have an outdated approach to problems. They literally cannot
produce anything remotely recognizable as working code.

~~~
vonmoltke
> The reason why FizzBuzz exists is because a lot of people apply for
> programming jobs who can't write code.

I question how soon this actually is. I was assured that once I got involved
with interviewing I would be hitting these people regularly. After a couple
dozen interviews, I have only encountered one person who was _that bad_. They
vast majority pass the "write a simple, working program" test then fail
miserably on the problem solving parts. What are you hiring for, and where,
such that you (and others) get so many of these people?

~~~
pushthecannon
It will probably depend on your hiring pipeline. In an established pipeline an
engineer interviewing someone who can't code FizzBuzz is kind of a disaster.
The recruiter asks their questions for the purposes of filtering out these
types of people.

However, if you're in an early stage startup just getting started hiring
you'll probably see a lot of these people. It will also depend on what type of
engineer you're hiring. Most people with a couple years of software
engineering experience under their belt can probably code FizzBuzz. If you're
interviewing recent graduates it's a different story.

~~~
vonmoltke
> It will probably depend on your hiring pipeline. In an established pipeline
> an engineer interviewing someone who can't code FizzBuzz is kind of a
> disaster. The recruiter asks their questions for the purposes of filtering
> out these types of people.

Our pipeline is run by the individual teams. All our recruiting team does is
coarse filter the resumes for obvious rejects and collect basic information.
All screening is done by actual members of the team.

I don't think it is a particularly burdensome, though it does get tedious if a
req sits open for a while.

> It will also depend on what type of engineer you're hiring. Most people with
> a couple years of software engineering experience under their belt can
> probably code FizzBuzz. If you're interviewing recent graduates it's a
> different story.

I have only been involved in experienced hires, but the claims I read indicate
the problem is just as widespread in the experienced people. That I cannot
corroborate with personal experience. I can buy the new grad claim, though. It
is disturbingly easy it get through a BSCS without being able to write a
functioning program in _some_ language.

