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by quietbritishjim
2205 days ago
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Maybe there are some places that require everything you've listed (open source repos, take-home project, whiteboard coding). But I think many, or maybe most, only require one of them. At the end of the day, I'm sure we've all met someone that justifies requiring sight of some sort of code of the candidate before hiring them. But different people will find different types of coding test better or worse ("I don't want to spend loads of my free time on a take-home project" vs "I can't code under pressure in front of a white board even though I'm great at coding in general"). So Hacker News will always be filled with endless debate trashing all forms of assessment with no agreement on what to use instead. |
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My experience is that almost every place I've interviewed requires both a coding project and at least one whiteboard interview, with open-source as a huge plus in your favor.
Maybe it's not an either-or thing and just requires a little bit more consideration of how it's affecting the industry as a whole.
- If someone has stellar experience on what's desired, they shouldn't have to jump through the other hoops.
- If they have a strong open source portfolio that reflects exactly what's desired, they shouldn't need the other hoops.
- If there's a whiteboard interview, don't ask about anagrams or anything that an experience dev wouldn't already be using in their day-to-day. Ask something relevant, like their understanding of databases, networking, etc if they are going to be Senior Backend dev. Ask about something a strong, experience dev actually knows that a junior doesn't. If you suspect possible gaming, then go deeper into the questions to filter out bs.
- If there's a coding exercise, keep it timed to a max of 1 hour if it's a screening test, up to 3 hours if it's a final interview. Have the project already set up for them so they're spending time on the problem and not on config. Clarify exactly what you're looking for in the results.
It's basic common sense.
I've heard on other threads a lot about being 'too old' to code. This doesn't happen in other engineering disciplines, where age is highly valued because of the experience it brings.
I'm suspecting this kind of hazing ritual to be screening out very good older devs that have a lot to bring to the table, but don't have the time to do all this extra stuff because they have a family.