Comment by mihaitodor | Hacker News Reader

Comment by mihaitodor | Hacker News Reader

5 years later, I still refuse to do them and I don't want to put myself through that process ever again. I got bullied, harassed, laughed at and taunted by people who use this as a one-hour game of kicking people around and I'm not interested in entertaining them any more. I have the following disclaimer both on my LinkedIn [1] and GitHub [2] profiles because I had plenty of surprise-leetcode interviews, so I want to make it clear up front what's acceptable and what isn't.

> I have a personal policy against any type of live coding or online coding tests during interviews and I don't enjoy or engage in any form of competitive programming. Otherwise, I am happy to work offline on coding assignments with reasonable goals and deadlines and to have in-depth technical discussions about software architecture and design as well as relevant technologies.

[1] https://www.linkedin.com/in/mtodor

[2] https://github.com/mihaitodor

Seems like seeking devs could collectively hammer out a TOS. HR could then familiarize themselves with it and reconsider their ways.

I like the idea of your approach. Can you share anything about how well it's worked out for you?

My main concern is that with the allegedly rampant cheating on take-home assignments, the number of employers willing to use them may drop precipitously.

I can't say this will work for everyone given the scarcity of jobs. I can afford to miss out on certain opportunities and I'm perfectly happy to invest longer stretches of time in networking and doing whatever homeworks if the assignment makes sense and it's something I am interested in. Let me put it this way: I'd very much rather change professions than go through another Leetcode-style interview again. So far it hasn't come to that, thankfully. There are enough opportunities out there once you spend some time building a portfolio and people in the open source space get to know you.

PS: What this approach gives me is piece of mind since I know I won't get a surprise-Leetcode if I go through an interview. It has happened to me in the past, where the recruiter wasn't really aware what the process is and I haven't told them up front what I'm not OK with. Once I'm there in front of people, it's very awkward and frustrating for me to have to get up and walk out and I'd very much rather avoid that situation. Also, it's a waste of my time.

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