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by agitator
3076 days ago
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So I've been to a few interviews recently to feel out the market, and I thought they went well, but it turns out they didn't. I was wondering why and realized that as a senior engineer I seem to be confident in my abilities, and don't really worry about not knowing something, because given a minute, I could do some research and come up with a great solution. I realized though, that interviews are not tuned for this. It's almost as if they are tuned to new grads and filtering them out based on what academic knowledge they retained, not pure problem solving skills. At least this is the vibe I got from the large companies out there. If I was determined to get another coding job in a large company, I realized I simply need to conform, study, and prep. It only makes logical sense for them to have this system to filter out the huge number of applicants, but for me its like a waste of my time, reviewing and memorizing the specifics of a bunch of stuff that I may continue to never use. It's almost like my "imposter syndrome" early in my career lead me to put on a veil of self-confidence and to "try hard" to prove myself. Which actually led to positive interview outcomes (I used to ace each one I went to). Now I am confident in my skin, and don't feel the need to compensate, which, I'm realizing, actually has a negative effect on people's perception of me as an engineer. |
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If they're interviewing people and giving them trivia questions, they fundamentally don't understand the job.
We keep docs open all day. That's what browser tabs are for. Even seemingly basic stuff. Too much to keep fresh in memory.
I don't remember libtmux's API (a library I created). How do you expect me to remember python standard libraries I never used?
It's futile to explain to the interviewer - no matter how gently - that it's not the way it's done. That's being a prima donna. That's upstaging them, and going to be taken as a slight.
Part of the reason I'm passive in interviews is they already googled me (even if they don't mention it). They know I can program. If they're throwing curve balls at me, I ask myself if this is someone I want as a colleague. Is this someone who would take my technical advice.
I leave the interview with a sense of relief I don't have to live through the hell of a nightmare boss or toxic environment. Like a MoBA game, this is the chance to dodge early.
Screening can works both ways.