Hacker News Reader

Comment by PragmaticPulp | Hacker News Reader

It’s funny that our industry lets anyone, from any background have a fair shot at top paying jobs with only a few weeks or months of practice against freely-available practice problems that can be done from the comfort of your home. If you struggle, there is an endless supply of tutorials and YouTube videos to help you out. Did I mention it’s all free and you can do it on your own time?

When I tell my doctor, lawyer, and finance friends about this they literally can’t believe it’s that easy. It’s bizarre that so many people would rather replace this with selecting people by pedigree or credentials.

View on HN

This has been my take on it as well. Sure it sucks having to jump through these hoops and sometimes even being evaluated by people you know don't understand the topic as well as you and are looking for specific answers/solutions, but this same process also helped me, a "C/D student" from a no-name school and a poor family with 0 connections in the tech industry end up with job offers in the $300k+ range.

The only thing I'm salty about is that I can only get these offers in the US and not in Canada and that my options for permanent residence in the US seem to be gated behind an 80+ year wait... https://medium.com/@happy_sushi_roll/the-endless-wait-for-a-...

The fatigue is over having to run the same gauntlet again, and again, and again. Proving yourself over and over gets really old.

I once interviewed a candidate with 10 years of experience who failed a rendition of fizz buzz.

After being asked the coding question, they even asked if I had been provided with their resume.

Leet code mediums and above I agree are pretty much testing if you know leet code. But the vast majority of 'easy' level questions are extremely basic coding challenges that anyone with experience should be able to solve.

Of course, this is great for people on the outside trying to break in, but less so for people already in the industry. I can honestly see both sides of this. The fact is, once you've earned credentials, you would like to see them respected, rather than having to prove yourself again and again. Furthermore, it is widely acknowledged that these coding puzzles have little to do with the actual work. I'm sure your medical doctor friends would change their tune if they were forced to answer undergraduate organic chemistry questions (or whatever) every time they wanted to change jobs.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com