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Comment by dagw | Hacker News Reader

All companies (regardless of size and paycheck) make competent developers go through grueling 4–7 rounds of interviews.

I've interviewed at many companies of all sizes in several countries in Europe and never faced anything closed to that. My current job I was invited by a former colleague to apply and the interview was mostly them convincing me to quit my job and work for them.

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That's the new standard at least for companies in Canada and US. Everyone says the market is hot but with 6 rounds of interviews where the companies nitpick on every little thing is not a signal that they actually really need more developers.

The market is hot, and because companies are hiring so much,they now have to rely on people (engineers) who in the past didn't have to conduct interviews; people who are not particular skilled in, or hired for their knowledge of conducting interviews. Hiring is one of those things that scales poorly.

Who is doing more than a couple rounds of interviews outside of (pardon the scare quotes) "tech companies"? Has anyone run into, say, a bank pulling 4+ rounds of interviews, or is this limited to FAANG(M), SV companies and startups that seek to emulate them?

Sorry, you are right. Non-tech companies totally slipped out of my radar. I never interviewed with one so I have no idea how it works there. I don't know what is more depressing an interview with a tech company or working on a legacy Java enterprise system at a bank.

Banks are so much more than legacy Java systems. Name a cutting edge research domain or a a 'cool' programming language and banks will be at the forefront of work with that.

Maybe you need to find a different class of folks to hang out with? I just started a new programming job in the Midwest. I had one Teams interview with a bunch of people and a "pre-interview" questionnaire before that.

That was sum total of my interaction with the company before being hired (other than telling the recruiter to send in my resume).

Sure I think they do exists somewhere? Should we start a list of companies that do sane interviews? I mean no take home "4 hours" assignments or one weeks test work arrangement or 7 rounds of virtual on site....

Simpler to clearly tell them, no, I'm not doing that. Enough people refuse and the practice stops.

I think that's mostly US corporation thing, all five jobs I've had in EU - including two in current fintech unicorns - had at most 2 rounds of technical interviews, then one with manager/director of department.

Unless you count 15 minute call with recruiter at the beginning as "interview round", there was nothing more.

In my entire career in the US, including at multinational software companies, I have never had to go through more than 2 rounds of interviews. If I were faced with that prospect, I'd probably just pass on the position.

I created AirTable spreadsheet to collect all the companies that have sane interview practices

https://airtable.com/invite/l?inviteId=invtzMOjpyMmmowAK&inv...

HN is very silicon valley-focused but i've never experienced in europe anything remotely like these horror stories about hiring you see every week here.

pays quite different too no?

the 4-7 rounds of interviews is just a time staller while they pick and choose alternative candidates. unethical.

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