Ask HN: How is hiring done in other industries? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How is hiring done in other industries?

7 pointsfreetonik8 comments

If you have experience working in industries unrelated to software engineering, could you describe how does the hiring process look like for regular and senior professionals?

I'm curious to know if endless rounds of interviews, take-home assignments, multi-month timelines, the need to prove you know the absolute basics after working in the field for decades, and extremely high chances of rejection are the norm anywhere else.

View on HN

I've hired many people for science and automation software positions at small and large US biotechs. We usually did a phone screen (both technical and HR), then an on-site interview. The overall process wasn't much different for Ph.D. vs. Bachelors/Masters, but of course we asked very different questions depending on the level. Ph.D.-level positions were usually required to give a brief talk (partly to probe their communication skills.)

For certain specific software automation positions, we did end up giving a coding test during the on-site interview. But no homework or multi-round stuff.

The present situation in software is mostly the result of an oversupply of labor. Companies are endlessly picky because they can be. I am old enough to remember other recessions where companies could make ridiculous demands (once had a company demand I come in early Sunday morning for an interview, just to make sure I was truly committed to working 24/7. No thanks!)

Recessions eventually end, although not always in a way that helps specific careers. Good luck!

Software hiring is chaotic and immature to the extreme. As a former JavaScript developer most employers have absolutely no idea what they want in a candidate. It’s a constant tug of war between competency, social compatibility, and ease of replacement. The result is a technically unqualified candidate barely mature enough to put text on screen in very narrow constraints and yet immature enough to believe it’s a form of mastery shaped by a decade of careful molding. In most cases the evaluation process is a series of basic literacy tests, code fashion assessments, and homework that exists more for testing gullibility than technical achievement.

In other industries it’s simple as there is only licensing, broker/agent model, or both. Everything else is a secondary evaluation of prior achievement and personality.

I suspect the real reasons software fails to adapt to any kind of industry standard is because software does not want to accept liability for its products and because it wants maximum freedom to hire/fire candidates of its choosing irrespective of costs.

I hire for marketing and design (all levels) and only remote roles. For ICs it’s this:

1. 15-minute or 30-minute virtual meeting w/ me.

2. Take-home exercise - I limit this to about one hour if unpaid. I end up paying for some kind of work sample in about 50% of cases instead of the exercise. For some roles I do a 30-minute mock meeting exercise where I role play a client and we go through common situations.

3. 45-minute or 1-hour discussion/interview with boss and at least one person from the team they’re joining. This includes 15 minutes of questions led by the candidate.

4. Reference check of 2 previous bosses/managers (negotiable to some extent).

For managers/leaders it’s roughly the same but they will also meet w/ other senior leaders and will meet the whole team they’re joining.

I can usually go from initial meeting to offer in 10 days or less if it works for the candidate’s schedule. I also don’t post jobs and solicit applications, I do outreach only. But if someone sees our careers page and writes and has a good story I take a very close look at them.

You go in, have a chat to the manager or hiring manager involved. They think you're "nice" and you're in.

Many years ago some tech roles in non-tech companies worked like this too.

Which industry is that?

Government, retail, etc...

I got my first internship ~16 years ago dev job after a single semi-technical interview. Sure it was just a fixed-term internship, but still.

Lower paying jobs tend to be a single in person interview. Some jobs have a phone interview and then an in-person. Some jobs have practical tests during the interview, such as with welding.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com