Ask HN: Do you refuse to do coding challenges for software engineer interviews? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Do you refuse to do coding challenges for software engineer interviews?

5 pointspeterkonsz16 comments

Generally yes. I do this 10-12 hours per day, and I'm tired at night. Also, somebody once asked me to write a video game in 2-3 hours on a laptop that I'd never used. I did it, but they didn't really have a position. Was a huge waste of time-unless they've invested in the relationship, it feels exploitative

No, I lean in the opposite direction - I would be more inclined towards employment opportunities which have a reasonable coding challenge as part of the hiring process. In my experience, there is a strong correlation between how technically challenging the hiring process is and how good a place is to work as an engineer. A reasonable coding challenge is a signal that there are competent engineers within the organization (in order to be able to come up with and mark such challenges), and that the organization values engineering capability to some degree.

Of course, there are exceptions to this. I'm also explicitly excluding here employers who outsource the technical challenge to a third party like leetcode.

there is no correlation between passing leetcode type interviews and actual software development skills

That's ridiculous! Obviously not every software engineer knows algorithms and data structures, but if you do pass a leet code question you have at least some minimum of skill.

It's shocking how many interviews I've done where the candidate can barely code anything unfortunately, so it is absolutely worthwhile.

all it means is that you repeatedly practiced a set of problems and solutions and are able to quickly reproduce them.

it does not mean you have the experience, creativity and insight to create something new and innovative.

Having done many coding interviews I can assure you there is more to it than memorizing a problem and solution. I don't see how asking someone who is applying for a software engineer job to do a miniature software engineering task is controversial!

also your second paragraph makes it clear you are biased which is another reason to refuse to do coding interviews from my perspective.

Algorithms challenge? Yes. As long the interviewer is ok with explanations as I don't bother retaining syntax most of the time, if it's not the language I'm using for day to day work. I can come up with a solution in C or even Assembly, but only in rough terms.

I'm also ok with a take home challenge if the scope is small, the intent to hire me is clear, and it will take only a few hours to complete.

My advice is to be fine with coding challenges, just don't do non compensated take homes. Take homes trend toward being non-paid work; I've seen plenty that are asking for a frontend and a server and a DB, and it's just something I would charge for.

If it's something reasonable, I don't mind it at all. My GitHub profile is pretty sparse as everything I write is for work.

A 30-60 minute skills check is nbd, especially if it's used to understand how I approach problems.

Does leetcode count as skill check?

I figure as long as it's an hour or less it's fair? I once had one that was an hour and a half, but they actually compensated me for the time (sorta feels like zirp in hindsight tbh)

I'll do whatever I need to, as long as the total interviewing time isn't too long! I find coding the easiest to prepare for

only if they are boring, which probably is good feedback about the job.

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