[joshstrange]

I can't post the exact tests but these aren't difficult tests, they are smoke tests and representative of the type of work we do every day (I'm not asking anyone to invert a b-tree or <insert any other stupid "look how smart we are"-type test>).

Our interview process is 4 steps:

1. Get to know you interview, talk about your resume a little, go through a set of questions we ask all applicants - 1hr

2. Very basic test where you need to fetch data from an endpoint, and render content based on what your retrieved. It's very straightforward and simple (HTML/JS), after this we run you through a real issue we ran into giving you all the background information and ask you to talk through how you would solve it (and you can ask any/all questions). We guide you as you go and it's not a "gotcha" question at all. You don't need to guess exactly how we solved it to "pass". - 2hr

3. Simple debugging test, existing HTML/JS + PHP code with a few bugs scattered through it. We are talking raw PHP here and a TLOC of <300. None of these bugs are "gotchas" either. You can find them all by looking at the logs and/or the server response (basic debugging skills for this kind of job). After this you meet some more of the team - 1.5hr

4. Meet the owners, talk compensation, etc - 1hr

[eska]

Consolidate step 2 and 3 into one and cut it down from 4 hours to 1 or you’ll have a lot of people “fail” because they don’t want their time wasted (usually companies pay for extensive tests with programming). You can still kick people out during their trial period even in countries with strict labor laws too.

[joshstrange]

> Consolidate step 2 and 3 into one and cut it down from 4 hours to 1 or you’ll have a lot of people “fail” because they don’t want their time wasted

That’s not been our experience at at all. We did not have a single candidate drop out of their own accord. Our interview process is not long and the coding is minimal (most the people we hired finished in less than half the allotted time, even that can be attributed to stress, these aren’t hard tests).

> usually companies pay for extensive tests with programming

2hrs of coding is not “extensive” by any stretch of the imagination. This isn’t a 4-8hr+ take home test.

> You can still kick people out during their trial period even in countries with strict labor laws too.

Spoken like someone who has never hired/managed. Firing, even with cause, is never quite so simple. I’ll gladly take a couple hours (HOURS! You act like I’m asking for weeks of people’s time) to confirm they will be a good fit upfront instead of going through the onboarding and off-boarding hassle. Not to mention it’s a super asshole move to hire people that are considering letting go just because it makes for an easier interviewing process. Honestly that’s kind of fucked up, especially if they are leaving another job to come work for you. I would absolutely fire someone new if they lied or if their work ethic did not match what they said/did in the interview process (probably after a couple warnings) but hiring with a high chance of firing? No, I won’t do that just to save a couple of hours upfront.

[eska]

It’s not even firing, it’s “not continuing employment after the trial period formally agreed to in the contract and national law” in my country. There’s nothing dishonest or fucked up about it. There is also no legal hurdle.

Meanwhile your candidates go to multiple companies, spend “just” 4 hours at each uncompensated, without any guarantee to get hired. You should be aware that there are a lot of HR departments doing window shopping as well as issuing fake job openings due to legal reasons when they already have an internal candidate due to nepotism.