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Comment by IgorPartola | Hacker News Reader

Chances are there is nothing nefarious going on here, just incompetence. This company probably thinks they have stumbled onto the magic hiring formula. They are not the first or last to reinvent terrible hiring or management practices. Personally, I would refuse such an offer, and tell them why. Maybe they will learn.

As for being a bad interviewee and developer, shoot me an email. I am not in SF, but I am a strong interviewer/interviewee and if you want I can do a mock/practice interview with you. As for being a bad developer, the secret truth is that most of us are terrible until we learn enough to be less terrible. We usually learn on the job, not before it. There are brilliant programmers out there, but you don't need to be brilliant to contribute value to an organization.

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> As for being a bad interviewee and developer, shoot me an email.

Also, thank you for your very kind offer for doing mock interviews. That's very generous of you! :)

> Chances are there is nothing nefarious going on here...

I agree, and I should have probably mentioned that in my initial comment. I just don't know how common this sort of thing is. They seem like good people, and there's a lot of work to do.

maybe after doing some work like that I won't be so terrible. :)

Thanks!

A bit offtopic, but...

Can you give us any advice on how to solve interview challenges faster and unstick under the pressure?

Practice!

Sure there is not substitute for it, but I was looking for a more specific advice on how to practice.

Easy: Don't agree with it (unless you're really desperate for the job).

The amount of times when "quick thinking" and "fast-solution, now, give it, before this clock ticks!!" actually happens in day-to-day situations is ridiculously tiny. So testing for it in an interview is pointless, and I'd tell them just that.

I completely agree with you.

Unfortunately, the best companies use this interview process (at least for initial screening). Yes it is broken, but I think of it just as a set of hoops you have to jump through to show your ability to commit (i.e. in this case get better at algorithmic trivia).

I'm not desperate for any job, but I am desperate for a job in a breakout company.

My approach has been to treat it less like a "they are judging my technical abilities" and more like a conversation. I have only been in one interview where the people interviewing me really put on the pressure. Otherwis, it is usually my own interpretation that is putting on the pressure on myself. Once I started treating it like a friendly chat, it got a lot easier.

When you are asked technical questions, do your best to answer, but don't sweat it if you cannot answer fully. Know that with enough time you can most likely figure it out, then figure out as much as you can on the spot.

Lastly, know your stuff. Being a strong interviewee doesn't mean you can get any job. It just means that you can show off your own are of expertise well. Figure out what that is, and if need be improve on it. Side projects help a lot: to learn, to boost your own confidence and as a resume builder.

Note that this might not work in the google-style whiteboard coding questions. In these, you're usually judged on the output you manage to produce within the duration of the interview, and being chatty or even thoroughly explaining your thinking process will eat into those precious minutes.

That's debatable.

I actually had the same impression from my Google interview, but at the same time they claim that they actually judge you based on you cognitive skills, rather than the output.

Thanks you, that a great advice. I think you are right about applying pressure on youself, that might be the case. I'm getting very anxious trying to get things right from the first shot.

Another thing I noticed is that the less you care about the outcome of the interview, the more likely you are to succeed.

That said, it seems that the key to master those interviews seems to be the mind control, rather than raw experience and intelligence.

On your last point: I don't have any problems showing off expertise and I have a bunch of cool side-projects. The problem is that I'm weak at the low-pass filter of a basic technical screening.

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