
Web app for interviewing technical candidates in the browser - paf31
https://github.com/paf31/initialround
======
neur0mancer
Great idea! I hope others will follow your example.

Btw, could you clarify exactly which type of licence you are using
([https://github.com/paf31/initialround/blob/master/LICENSE](https://github.com/paf31/initialround/blob/master/LICENSE)).
Is it something like BSD?

~~~
paf31
Yes, I finally decided to go with the BSD license, since I'd like to enable
people to benefit from this, which might mean being able to add new tests
without revealing the model answer :)

~~~
neur0mancer
"Distributed under the terms of the BSD 3-clause License."

It was clarified in the README. My bad.

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pkfrank
While building Texts.com, my CTO and I learned a ton by studying the path of
GetchaBooks. They had shut down and decided to open source their code
([http://getchabooks.com/open-source.html](http://getchabooks.com/open-
source.html)), which is a generous and noble thing to do.

I see it as good coding karma; and you never know the contacts you might make
(I initially wanted to hire one of the creators; but I settled for buying him
a few beers since he had just accepted another offer).

~~~
mwhite
Hi Frank, I wrote most of the backend for GetchaBooks. Glad you got some value
out of the source.

Even though I invested a fair amount of time in continuous refactoring while
actively developing it, refactoring and documenting to a point where I wasn't
embarrassed to make it public and could realistically say that someone else
would be able to use (which ended up happening with tuftstext.com) and perhaps
modify or extend it was a significant learning experience.

IIRC I spent a few weeks on that, but I think it was worth it. Instead of
setting aside the project with a vague idea of the right way to do some
things, I ended up actually having done them the right way, so now when I
encounter a similar problem I know how to do it the right way the first time.

This is basically the same situation you would face if you were handing off
code when leaving a company. This experience is one reason why I think it's
important to develop and document your project to open source quality
standards throughout the lifetime of the project.

And what better way to do that than to open source your code even for an
active company? Usually you're probably not competing on tech, and I bet any
community contribution you'd get is greater than the likelihood that someone
will actually manage to maintain an instance of your code.

The books-by-course space is a perfect example of this. So many "startups"
have duplicated so much work building these sites, when what you actually need
to succeed is marketing. (The thing we took away from it, I think, is that you
need per-school branded sites.) They should start sharing resources more.

What do you know, here's the college bookstore part of GetchaBooks extracted
into an HTTP API, now with parallel scraping, that I just made public on
Github: [https://github.com/mwhite/bookstore-
api](https://github.com/mwhite/bookstore-api) Maybe it wouldn't be too hard to
get working. But expect to get sued.

------
jcampbell1
It is very cool to open source your software. That being said, I'd recommend
you work with a native English speaker on your marketing if you plan to pursue
another startup. The copy writing on the marketing site is bad enough that
your code never mattered.

~~~
paf31
I am a native English speaker. I appreciate that the marketing site is lacking
in a lot of ways, but I didn't see my English as part of that problem.

~~~
jcampbell1
Even if you are a native speaker, some outside advice would help.

> "Recruit Top Developers with Feedback-Driven Interviews"

That doesn't make logical sense. Recruiting is about finding candidates. "with
interviews" makes no sense in this context.

"Feedback Driven Interviews" means nothing to anyone. Google doesn't know what
it means. It is not an industry term. It is bullshit bingo. That never works.

Why not start with "Improve your hiring process by ..."?

I am no copy writing pro, but you need to learn to invert. Become the customer
and sell yourself. Write in the active voice.

~~~
michaelt
Native english speaker here. I consider CV reviews, phone screens, in person
interviews etc to be part of the 'recruiting' process which encompasses
basically everything before the candidate signs a contract and becomes an
employee.

So 'recruiting with interviews' makes sense to me.

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eksith
I feel bad your startup failed, but I'm grateful you decided to open source
the project. I wish more people did the same since there are plenty of lessons
to be learned. Plenty of public bulletins and blog posts discuss -- sometimes
at length -- over what part management difficulties and other obstacles have
played, but very few actually release technical details. Even more rare to see
the source released.

Hope you fare better in your next venture. If you haven't started, you should.

Good luck!

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evolve2k
Nice one! And it's probably good for you also as it helps you draw a line
under it by giving it away.

~~~
paf31
That's the idea. The plan is to move anyone who wants to keep data onto
private Azure instances, and then to close up shop. Maybe if anyone is
interested in developing a customized version of the code, then I'll work on
that in the future.

~~~
praveenster
Can you also share insights on how/why the startup failed? Also, do you plan
to keep the site operational for the free customers or completely shut it
down?

~~~
paulftw
because developer.

I should be a target customer, since I periodically interview candidates for
programming positions. However, landing page and screenshots failed to explain
to me what the unique selling point was. How many people here know what
"Feedback-Driven Interview" is?

Whole product seems to be about providing an online testing tool ala
topcoder.com. But coding tasks are usually only a small part of the interview
process (not that I agree with that, but that's what happens at 90% of
companies I've applied for).

~~~
paf31
I think you've hit the nail on the head here. For one thing, I didn't put
enough energy into any of the non-dev aspects of the project. Also, I started
writing the code before I had really validated the product properly. I had
some recruiters which were interested, but most eventually turned out to
dislike the idea of scaring away their prospects with tests, and didn't see it
adding enough value. It was even harder to market to individual companies
looking to hire.

~~~
paulftw
Yep, it's easy to spot those mistakes in others', when you look from a side.
It's much harder for me to do boring work myself, instead of playing with new
frontend libs and writing code. At least you'll be more self-aware next time,
few people have this luxury.

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sourc3
I thought I was the only person who attempted at creating startups with
asp.net/azure before I switched to RoR. It looks like I was not alone! Kudos
to the OP for open sourcing it.

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cfontes
Would be awesome to get some screenshots of it.

~~~
paf31
There are some on the actual homepage here:
[http://initialround.com/#Tour](http://initialround.com/#Tour)

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dodyg
Thanks for open sourcing this. It looks like a useful web application.

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chatman
SQL Azure? Bwahahaha..

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Sovietaced
azure? lol

~~~
kalagan
what's funny with azure?

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icedog
Indeed, nothing is funny about azure. However, using ASP.net Web Forms is
hilarious.

~~~
kalagan
Yes I found this weird as well. I had a look at the code behind files and at
least they all seem to be almost empty.

~~~
paf31
I actually used MVC on the second part of this project, which is not included
here. To be honest, my requirements were so small (and ASP.NET MVC seemed
quite heavyweight for my needs) that I just went with the first thing that
worked, and webforms were just the path of least resistance.

