

Ask HN: Is this normal during applications? - egowaffle25

Hey HN.<p>I'm a graduating senior in college and I've recently applied to a startup and I had a phone conversation. However, now they want me to complete a "task" and submit all my code for it by Monday. This task seems very similar to what I would be doing for them, and it seems like a lot of work for an application test (I'm estimating about 3-5 hours on it).<p>I was just wondering if this is normal or if I should be more skeptical about this company.
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ayers
Yes this is quite normal. By normal I don't mean that every company or even
every second company uses this practice. I just mean that it is nothing to be
skeptical of.

I have completed a few of these for companies over here in London (UK).
Sometimes they organise a set time to send you the instructions and expect you
to send the working solution by a certain time. I have done this twice and I
was given 2 hours to complete the task. The other ones I have completed were
not timed, they just advised that I send the working solution within the next
few days.

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devs1010
I did this for the first "real" job that I got and then again for a startup
that I got a job with I did something similar. In the first case, the company
was a few years old and the task they gave was very obviously just to gauge
skills (not a real-world task). In the second, the startup was fledgling,
actually the previous "main" developer wasn't getting things done and was
essentially being shuffled out the door so I agreed to basically take a part
of the project he was struggling with and spent a day getting it working as I
was told if I could do this I would get the job. I doubt I would ever do that
again but at the time it made sense because it was a step up for me and I
hadn't proven myself enough yet. I would be willing to do something like the
first job again, however, as I think its fair for them to give a test if its
obviously not something they are using as part of their business.

For my current job, for which I'm a contractor, the only thing that I did as
far as skill evaluation was take a basic language-specific evaluation test
from the recruiter.

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tocomment
Yes this can be normal. Give it your best shot. If nothing else you'll learn a
lot.

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dangrossman
I've never been asked to something like that for a company in my region
(northeast), but from what I've read in the many interviewing threads on HN,
this is not uncommon in Silicon Valley. Braintree just had a front page post
about their interview process here last week and it said they also have a
several hour coding task which they review with the applicant in the next
interview.

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proexploit
It's not necessarily the norm but I don't think you should be skeptical based
off of this one factor either. The company has to figure out how to evaluate
you and decide whether you're a good fit for the job. Talking on the phone and
viewing past projects is great but perhaps they're newer to hiring and doing
their best to realistically evaluate you.

When you say the task seems similar to what you'd be doing for them, do you
mean you're concerned you might be doing some actual work for free that they'd
use even if they didn't hire you?

I did a 2-3 hour evaluation for my job and had similar reservations but it
turned out great. Assume that they're acting in good faith to evaluate you
even if the actual method seems less than ideal.

You're the only one who has all the information to make this decision though,
so make one you can be happy with.

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alexhawdon
I did this for my last job, although I went into the office and they did pay
me for the day.

When I apply for my next job, I'm hoping they do this too as it's a chance to
demonstrate my skills. I wouldn't be bothered if they expected me to do this
remotely and unpaid (of course, massive difference if it's a week's work).

A popular alternative is that they call you into the office and basically give
you an exam on a certain language/technology which you have to pass in an
interview situation without being able to refer to the Internet. I'd hate this
and argue that it's a pretty false way to estimate productivity - there's gaps
in everyone's knowledge, good coders are people bright enough to Google for
solutions, determine which are actually 'good' and implement them quickly.

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Zev
How long/detailed was the phone conversation?

A small coding question isn't too unusual — at least, not for startups. What
does surprise me is that the coding question came after they spoke to you on
the phone, not before, as a filter.

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bmm6o
3-5 hours seems on the high side, but other than that I wouldn't say it's
strange. And what are you skeptical about? That they are getting free work out
of you? Out-sourcing a 3 hour job to a college senior simply doesn't make
sense.

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petervandijck
Pretty normal. Are you saying that you can't be bothered to spend 3-5 hours to
get a job?

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pdufour
Quite normal.

