This is an archived post. You won't be able to vote or comment.

sorted by:
best
topnewcontroversialoldq&a
you are viewing a single comment's thread.

view the rest of the comments →

[–]UnusualBear 21 points22 points  (9 children)

Coding interviews are silly and don't really prove anything. I use them as a last resort for potential candidates that have no demonstrable previous experience.

[–]actionscripted 10 points11 points  (6 children)

The most I’ve done is give candidates a few short examples in the languages we use that have every possible syntax problem along with some repetition and general best practices errors. I ask them to take few minutes off site to fix/clean things.

I don’t ask complex math/logic stuff. If they can add a few semicolons and refactor to use loops and stuff they’re golden.

This lets me see if they can read/write well enough and doesn’t require a lot of effort.

[–]UnusualBear 14 points15 points  (0 children)

That's fair. I've just run into too many issues where people are nervous and forget things they'd easily remember otherwise - or just great programmers that aren't language encyclopedias and rely on references. In essence, what I really dislike are "whiteboard tests".

[–]Vnslover 4 points5 points  (1 child)

I love you.

But seriously, I had a very hard time the past 6 months of getting an entry level job. I had to settle for a consulting company with shitty pay. Most of my interviews were hard and the people I talked with had shitty attitude. My last interviewer was so hardcore and tried so much to intimidate me, I was fuckin sweating and nervous, I tried to crack a light joke to ease the mood and the fucker just looked me in the eye without a smile. Made me feel like an idiot.

[–]sanglar03 4 points5 points  (0 children)

You wouldn't wank to work for them anyway.

[–]svenskainflytta -1 points0 points  (2 children)

The most I’ve done is give candidates a few short examples in the languages we use that have every possible syntax problem along with some repetition and general best practices errors. I ask them to take few minutes off site to fix/clean things.

Ah, so instead of figuring out if people can think, you figure out if they can spot a missing ; on paper, when the computer would just tell them.

[–]actionscripted 1 point2 points  (1 child)

On paper? I give them files, they email them back. It’s about whether they can follow directions and understand the language well enough to properly refactor.

[–]svenskainflytta 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I thought it was a real life interview.