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Comment by entee | Hacker News Reader

That assumes the interview accurately measures something useful. The more I read about this area the more I think a 1-2h pre-interview practical coding assignment, then a 1 on 1 discussion during the interview is better. You then get to understand how they think, how they design solutions, and some sense of how they interact. In other words, how they'd do the job.

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Good design instincts takes lots of hard earned real world experience to develop. I wouldnt expect the average 21 year old programmer to really know how to design stuff maybe they can provide me crammed textbook answers but that is as "irrelevant" as whiteboarding.

I think a good approach is to not emphasize the whiteboard as much for senior hires, so people with good work experience can mostly get in on their resume and design questions and people with lesser experience still have the opportunity to break into these top companies by grinding algo questions.

I once hired a senior programmer because of his perfect resume and it was one of the worst choices I made while hiring. He was probably a net loss for the company. What difference can be in CV of two people, who both have 15 years of experience in the industry?

Many interviews are not pure whiteboard algos. And many interview processes are different, each company is unique.

When I interviewed a couple of years ago, I saw various kinds of interviews at companies:

* 1-2hr on site coding exercise, with the internet, alone.

* 'Here is a 100loc piece of code, fix all the problems with it'.

* Chat with product / manager / team lunch. ('Are you an asshole' test / 'culture' interview / scenario testing)

* Design / outline an app that does X, with boxes and lines on a whiteboard.

* Solve this algorithmic problem on a white board / on your computer.

The reason why everyone freaks out about the algo interview it's the only interview type that most engineers have to prepare for. The other 4 usually you don't have to do much prep work at all.

> a 1-2h pre-interview practical coding assignment

then you'll only select for people who have nothing better to do with their time than to donate it to your fun programming escapade. Experienced devs will say it's not worth their time and wont apply.

No, it's just moving those 1-2 hours to home instead of at the interview. If you can take time off for an hours-long interview, you have the time to complete that kind of task.

It's asymmetrical though. A reviewer can yea-or-nay my 1-hour assignment in a minute or two. If I'm desperate for work, sure I'll do it. But my position is in high enough demand that I can choose another position that doesn't require me to do homework. If they made some attempt to get to know me, talk to me, and then give me homework, I might bite. But I'm not going to do hours worth of work just for the chance to get a job.

Why would you apply for a job that you don't want? And if you want it, why wouldn't you put at least some effort into getting it?

Effort does not only include writing a cover letter that will be appealing for the company you apply to instead of just forwarding HR your resume. It also includes small activities like these.

You sound more like a spoiled brat, pardon my French, than an artist looking for new opportunities to make a difference.

> an artist looking for new opportunities to make a difference.

The only "difference" I want to make is in my checking account. I want the deposits from my employer to "differ" by greater margins as time advances.

You sound like someone who doesn't realize this isn't 2006 anymore and people stopped pretending to change the world with every new job.

You don't need to change the world, you need to make a difference. Without making a difference, you're no better than the next person of equal skill who wants a bigger TV and a fancy car.

To make some tech company rich ? Is that what "making a difference" means to you ? To help fund the CEO's golden parachute ?

No he sounds like a skilled artisan who is bringing his unique skill set to the table in an equal trade. He doesn't need to doff his hat and thank the kind Master for this opportunity.

Im good at my job. I solve problems that provide business value. It has nothing to do with art. If you ask me to work for 2 hours, I'm sending you an invoice.

Do you not put honor in that piece of work? If no, carry on. If yes, you're an artist who cares.

We give these assignments but if we give you one you're already coming in for an interview. What I dislike are the companies who use it as a screen like you describe.

> then you'll only select for people who have nothing better to do with their time

1-2 hours on a practical assignment vs 3 months cramming suggested by the parent comment. Which of those has nothing better to do with their time?

> Experienced devs will say it's not worth their time and wont apply.

Will they? I'm an experienced dev and think this approach sounds great.

The problem is that in reality, what can you code in 1-2 hours? Of the coding assignments I've seen, many have started to bleed into requiring 5 hours or more.

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