this is exactly the issue - if you cannot take a moment to look at a candidate’s work but can waste 10 hours in leetcode
zoom bullshit calls your system is broken, sorry
People making non-trivial contributions to open source projects or coding in their free time are an exception. Most candidates (>99%) have no work you could actually look at.
> Most candidates (>99%) have no work you could actually look at.
Most inexperienced candidates...
One of my favorite pastimes, is following up on GitHub, with people from this joint, or others, that pique my interest.
There's a lot of really awesome stuff out there! You guys rock!
Of course, many of these folks, are...chronologically challenged, let's say. If you've already decided that you will only be hiring folks right out of school, then I can see the problem.
And...to answer the inevitable "You're likely an insufferable bastard" canard, that the conversation ends up at, after we've worked through the other things, I have a LinkedIn profile, packed with testimonials, from managers, former employees, and project partners.
Turns out, I'm actually a really decent human being, and play well with others.
I also worked for decades, for a Japanese company. You won't last long at a Japanese company, if you don't "team" well.
Most people have various interests and obligations. The number of people who after a day of work in software engineering go on to continue to do that in their free time instead of pursuing other interests is vanishingly small.
Additionally you have people who also just can’t do this, even if they wanted to, due to other obligations.
Obviously there are people who have a very narrow set of interests and leave their office to go to a hacker space but that is such an absurdly small group that it’s ridiculous to even consider them in hiring.
In fact you probably want to avoid having an entire team of people like this in favor of a more diverse group of people.
You are correct. I made a statement that expressed opinion as fact.
It is, however, an advantage that some folks have, and my suggestion is that we should not be required to deliberately hobble ourselves, just because everyone does not have the same advantage.
Of course, a hiring corporation has every right to ignore things like this, and they likely won’t go out of business, as a result. They, may, however, miss talent that could take their business to “the next level,” and risk hiring folks that have become expert at “gaming the system,” and presenting style, over substance.
After my day in software engineering I cannot grind leetcode. Why is it OK to demand people grind leetcode and pass ridiculous circus interviews, but it's not OK to demand they show a personal project they worked on? Both our equally time consuming to pull off.
I am not writing anything about small coding project vs cover letter. Tool that I used in my comment is comparison to show common traits of both ... like "white as snow".
Bad - small coding project will show that candidate is a bad coder, even if the code works.
Bad - cover letter will show that candidate has bad grammar, even if person put in the effort.
Good - small coding project will show that candidate can get anything done.
Good - cover letter will show that candidate is willing to put extra effort to get the job.