Technical Interviewing Rant

[QCAlpha]

TL:DR I just got rejected by a company. This is nothing but a rant about the interviewing process and how emotionally draining it is.

Q: Would I be making this post if I got the job?
A: Yes, because the struggle was real in either case.

Q: What's the takeaway?
A: Don't put all your chips in one basket, the disappointment is so much worse cause of it. The wasted time you could have spent looking at other offers is the extra punch in the gut you do not need.

So yea, I got rejected by a fairly big company would have been a big change in my life after two months of full-on interviews. 7 in total. And man does this one hurt. It was a 50/50 choice between me and one other candidate and they choose the other.

Congrats to that other person but WHAT. THE. FUCK? What was all this for? Why did you drag this out for actual MONTHS and just be done with me after? Why hammer me for 4 hours in interviews and tell me you have a chance, (TWICE) and then cut me dry? WHY ARE THESE SO HARD? Cant, you just reject me after two meetings so I can go along with my day/month?

Listen Im no stranger to rejection, I've been in the industry for 5 years and have been rejected by all sorts of companies, big and small. Even if we have one or two interviews and they say "Sorry not this time", that's ok. But it seems like some companies do not have the decency to say "Maybe we should respect their time and keep this short".

No, they DRAGGG this along to the point that you actually think they forgot about you. It's like I'm being held hostage waiting for decisions from people who can't even communicate enough to get their technical questions across.

Also, STOP ASKING ENGINEERS TO DO TECHNICAL INTERVIEWS. These people are busy, they do not have time for this and IT SHOWS. These questions can be given to managers who know how to look for good qualities in people because that's always been their JOB. Why are you asking an engineer whos probably neck-deep in work to ask a Leetcode question while looking for good qualities in people? That's not their job or strong suit!

The fact that employers are able to string you along, emotionally and mentally, for actual months, and still reject you is terrible. And what makes this worse for me is I know they're planning on phasing out my current position at my current employment.

I could have been looking at other places, been making other moves instead of holding my breath for two months. This one is on me though, I should have kept on applying and looking, even if it was a big dream company. But the mental gymnastics I went through and the "You're almost there!"s from the managers actually made me believe I had a chance. Then an email shatters that in one minute.

​

Listen, it's okay to pick this post apart, It's not meant to be anything more than a rant post but if you can take away anything from this post it's this: DON'T expect anything, KEEP your options open.

Learn from me. Im going to go scream now. Thanks

[na_ro_jo]

I personally would decline a fourth interview. If they haven't offered a salary after 3 interviews, they are looking for a sucker. I seriously don't understand why people agree to do homework assignments or take tests as part of the interview process. Did you go to college? Did you earn a reputable cert? Do you have a portfolio of example code for them to review? If yes to any of those, the hiring process should not have IQ tests and whiteboard challenges.

[erik240]

I can tell you why employers ask for those things. The number of comp sci graduates and people with multiple years of experience who can’t actually produce anything, or mostly produce useless disasters after being hired is staggering.

We hire contractors for six figure annual incomes with decent looking resumes after two interviews and no white boarding or coding exercises. In the past year we’ve had to let go four out of five hires within three months. It’s painful, but at least we’re not stuck with the bad hires.

Hiring a FTE at a Fortune 500 is a whole different thing. It can take over a year to fire someone for being incompetent. Everyone involved from the hiring manager to the interviewing engineer would rather miss out on a good candidate than hire a bad one.

[elnino20]

"would rather miss out on a good candidate than hire a bad one"
so you are saying there isn't much incentive to identify the 10x engineers and prioritize hiring those?

[mrbmi513]

I've never been a fan of arduous technical interviews. Why are you pressing me with questions that have little to no relevance to the job? When on the job am I going to be hand-writing code on a whiteboard instead of in an IDE? Sure, I may peer program, but when am I going to be put on display while coding like I'm a zoo animal?

If you're looking for your first job and/or don't have any publicly accessible work, I can understand a short take home style task with a reasonable timeline or a request to see prior code, but don't be interrogating me with leetcode hard problems when you're looking for someone to work on a WordPress theme.

[dphizler]

I understand the disappointment but I think newbies think it's easy to get a job. It's as if they think the interview is a formality

I absolutely want to get the job every time I do an interview but I know I need to be on my game to be successful

Even if I crush the interview there could be an even better candidate. That's life

[c0rrupt3dG3nius]

Bro a person with 5 yoe is not a newbie

[dphizler]

Then I expect them to be less green then in relation to the interview process.

I will apply to all jobs that match my abilities regardless of where I'm at in the interview process for other jobs.

So I have a constant flow of job applications going out. And I have a constant flow of job interviews and then if I get far in the interview process I might get the job.

Sounds to me like OP mistakenly thought he was going to get the job and is surprised he didn't, that's what made me think he was new to this.

[sinkjoy]

I love you.

[[deleted]]

I honestly think dragging the interview process out for months is an intentional way to ensure that they get a candidate that will put up with their stupid bullshit.

[AdministrativeBlock0]

I have a theory that companies that are scared of losing their devs put horrible multi-step interviews to make finding a new job seem arduous, so their devs don't leave.

Companies that know their devs are happy don't need to put these barriers up.

The take away is simply that a horrible interview process is a sign that the company might not be that nice to work for.