[bitL]

Alright, imagine you worked for top engineering company, have github full of bleeding edge stuff anyone can observe, wrote books, have patents under your belt, do public speaking, teaching at universities etc. and some HR person comes in and wants you to do trivial HackerRank stuff. She basically interrupted you from working on something benefiting humanity just because she was lazy to check your CV and ignorant of the industry. Then you see the same company awarding their good jobs to friends of higher ups and all they have left are generic jobs they need to fill that would end up with all the work, complaining "where have all the good programmers gone?". And then you read on HN post like this and wonder why there is so much resistance to acknowledge one's qualification from what they provided in their CV. Imagine the same doing in other areas of industry - we don't care you won these multi-million law cases in the past, all we care is how the history of US North-East affected common law between years 1870-1893.

[dahart]

FWIW, I have a patent and do public speaking, recently sold a startup, and I gladly take the coding quizzes for all my interviews.

They are fun, and they give me a chance to shine. The coding quizzes actually saved me once when I did really badly in another part of the interview. That company hired me, and gave me what others there thought was the good job.

I also administer coding quizzes to people I hire, and I find them a small but useful part of the larger interview process. I'm giving an assembly language coding quiz to someone later today.

> She basically interrupted you from working on something benefiting humanity

That seems a little hyperbolic. Do you want the job? You have to spend time interviewing. Simple as that. Don't do the quizzes if you don't want the job.

> Then you see the same company awarding their good jobs to friends of higher ups

Most companies try to promote from within, and many people think that's a good thing. The alternative is you hire unknowns from outside the company over people who've been there putting in the time and know the system.

> just because she was lazy to check your CV and ignorant of the industry

It's both presumptuous and pessimistic, and also likely wrong, to assume that a coding quiz implies any laziness on anyone's part.

> Imagine the same doing in other areas of industry

Other jobs have it much worse, you have to get bureaucratic certifications for a lot of jobs that are a lot less fun than Hackerrank, and take months and months. Or you could be a lawyer or doctor, and you have to raise money and bring in clients in order to get the good jobs.

What jobs are you thinking of that have it so much better than programmers?

[bitL]

It was about accomplished people getting the same treatment as newbies or wannabes that have no clue what they are doing. You don't see it in other industries. E.g. I wrote this new language/library everybody uses, but I am forced to solve some crappy puzzles I probably was solving when I was 14 and match the current mood/skills/tunnel vision of the interviewer. As a consequence, I rather start my own company and charge you much more for the same service you'd get if you employed me with a bit of a good will on your part, or by simply reading my CV and clicking on the links there.

[dahart]

You do know there are a lot of "accomplished" people according to their own CV who can't actually code their way out of a paper bag, right?

The more senior someone gets, the more expensive. It's worth the company's time to screen for basic aptitude, especially when someone claims greater expertise.

> As a consequence, I rather start my own company

By all means, you should definitely do that and stop worrying about job interviews!

> if you employed me with a bit of a good will on your part

Good will is something you earn. And you earn it by doing things the company needs without complaining. For starters, they need to be able to compare candidates against each other when hiring. Fighting that, and asking the company to evaluate something you've done that doesn't allow comparing you against other people, isn't something that will benefit the company.

> or by simply reading my CV and clicking on the links there.

You're expecting people to spend time reading your projects before they screen you? If you got the call, it's probably because someone read your CV. That's all you can expect at this stage. If you want them to click the links and read the rest, then you take 30 minutes to do the phone screen, and another 30 to do the coding quiz. Then you get to have a conversation about your projects.

If they never ask you about your projects, then yeah, maybe you shouldn't work there. The coding quiz is only one small part of a many-part process.

[palerdot]

> You do know there are a lot of "accomplished" people according to their own CV who can't actually code their way out of a paper bag, right?

Are you saying, the recruiters are just treating everyone (accomplished/non-accomplished who happened to have a great CV) the same? I think your point just supports the view instead of refuting it.

[Caveman_Coder]

> "...working on something benefiting humanity..."

I think you forgot to add the "/s" to this statement.

[bitL]

Maybe you are idealistic and work for non-profit dealing with human trafficking in your spare time and have to cut it to take a silly HackerRank test?

[mywittyname]

Why are you interviewing if you're working your dream non-profit job?

[bitL]

You mean you do service to other people for no salary in your spare time and you are asking why do you need a job to pay bills? Seriously?

[mywittyname]

The phrase, "work for a non-profit" implies some level of compensation. Had you instead said, "volunteer for a non-profit," then I would have understood that you were working in your spare time and for no pay.

[Caveman_Coder]

More likely it is watching Netflix and reading HN...let's not pretend we're all out there saving the world and volunteering our free time for selfless causes...

[bitL]

It's just an example of course. But even downtime from work is massively important for your mental health, why it should be interrupted by a constant treadmill on recruiter's rat race?

[Caveman_Coder]

> "why it should be interrupted by a constant treadmill on recruiter's rat race?"

Isn't this self imposed if you are the one applying for the job??? I don't get it, if some rando recruiter emails me a Hacker Rank test, I delete the email if I'm not interested...pretty simple. If I am interested, then I apply and that is no longer an "interruption"...or at least it is self imposed so there is no real reason to complain.