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by bitcrusher 3081 days ago
The level of pure bullshit that is part of the hiring process these days is mind-boggling. An recent example:

I interviewed for company X, where I spent an entire day with more than a dozen engineers, answering the same types of questions over and over again: "Here's our platform, how would you fix it". At every turn, I would speak about X,Y,Z issues that would need to be solved and how this or that technology might be applicable in a broad case. Diligently, in every session, the interviewers were taking copious amounts of notes about what I was saying... NOT how I was doing on the interview, but rather, the content of what I was saying. "How do you spell Corfu?" (as an example).

At the end, they told me they really liked me, and would have an offer for me in the next day or two... Two days passed and they called with "We're sorry, but you're just not technical enough for us".

I basically gave them a free day of consulting.

I'm not sure HOW to fix the problem, but it is definitely getting worse.

3 comments

Encountered such situation couple of times. Pokerface interviewers asking in-depth questions (e.g. domain knowledge, not necessarily data structures or algorithm smartassery), with minimal feedback. Learning basically. Quite cynical because it's good to talk basically, exchange knowledge and experience - I've always taken it as a common sense. Once I detect pokerface jokers I answer "no clue" for the simplest questions.
You made me realize I’ve been in interviews like that too. This is frustrating to think about. I’m gonna try the “no clue” method with these people, the interview’s a wash at that point.
> I basically gave them a free day of consulting.

Exactly. (I mentioned this in my response to the OP.)

Now THAT is some straight up bullshit.
For the downvoters, I was talking about how fucked up the company was for tricking bitcrusher into doing consulting for free.
FWIW, I understood what you meant and I agree.