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Comment by mattgibson | Hacker News Reader

A week??

Our interview code test is to make a URL shortener (two endpoints: create and redirect, use any tech you like). I'd never expect more than 2 hours max to be spent on it. If you can't work out whether you want to employ someone based on that (and discussion of it with the candidate) then you're probably not worth working for.

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I feel like two hours for something like this is still too little if you want to actually see a ~relatively~ prod level app. The business logic is obviously straight forward, but starting a new app, adding unit/integration tests, (maybe proper logging), caching etc, and basically anything showing that you're a competent dev will easily eat up 5 hours of your time in my opinion. And if you don't expect anything close to a prod level system, then why ask to build a system like this in the first place as opposed to some basic domain logic functions vs a whole e2e system? Maybe I'm just a shitty/slow dev.

I think that's the test though and a perfect lead in to the interview. Build the MVP. Then in the interview explain to me what it lacks and what you think the next steps are to get it production ready... The task isn't build me a URL shortener that's ready to take bit.ly's load.

well i never said anything about bitly's load, but the ability to write readable tests is a skill in itself. same with caching strategies, etc

You certainly don't need caching for an interview test. And if you want to add tests, how many do you think such an app needs? One to check that data goes in and second that urls come out should be enough to know it works.

Also the really smart people tend to have a lot of choices. Anything too tedious actually puts off the people who have a lot of choices, so you're left with people who really want the job or just enjoy the challenges.

But how long do you give them to finish this 2 hour task? Less than a week? Or is this a task you expect them to do during the interview? Some people are busy doing other things and may need a week to be able to find two hours of spare time.

If you're applying for a jobs you should probably make sure you have at least 2 hours of spare time to do an interview... Take home or not, it's an interview, and if you want the job you can find 2 hours - it's a completely reasonable amount of time for an interview to take.

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