| Didn’t end up going to work for the friend, but the situation still strained the friendship. An engineer I worked with for several years (and became friends with outside of work) started his own company, a couple of years later he recruited me to join as his business was taking off. He’d also brought in a business guy who seemed to put in lots of processes including a mandatory take-home coding assignment as part of their interview process. So anyhow, this guy who I’d worked alongside for years, who’d seen plenty of my code and wanted me to join his company, was going to make me do this homework to get an offer. So I did a verrry basic solution to this thing and sent it back. A bit later I got an email from someone in their office that they regretted they didn’t have any positions that fit my experience. Later my friend (and his wife) encouraged me to do the homework thing again but I laughed them off. I didn’t want to work for a small company that somehow had hamstrung itself with unnecessary processes that kept the founder from hiring someone he wanted to hire. A few years later they sold and a couple engineers I know made multiple millions. So yeah, I dunno, I felt good about my decision at the time, but in retrospect it would have been better to act like any job seeker and just go to work for my friend. Your mileage will certainly vary. |
Had your friend delegated the engineering hiring decisions/process to someone else, and was trying not to step on their toes?
Or friend had instituted the process, and didn't think it would go well with the other people, if you looked like a nepotism hire who bypassed the process?
Or friend was trying to put you in your employee place (where you had to meet his process), or otherwise was getting a bit full of himself, or a bit sleep-deprived and nutty?