<story><title>Leveling up in job interviews for software engineers (2022)</title><url>https://phauer.com/2022/leveling-up-job-interviews/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>reactordev</author><text>What kills me is the fact that the interviews (especially the technical ones) go in depth into topics that aren’t ever pertinent to the job. It’s simply so the interviewer can rank you vs themselves. You need to be good but not too good you’re a threat.&lt;p&gt;The best interviews I’ve ever taken and in turn, host, are the ones where we break down a problem with low code, no gotchas, little examples of specifics just to make sure they know how to write it in language of their choice. That they understand the problem, can satisfactorily break it down into actionable tasks, and come up with a solution to the problem.&lt;p&gt;Everything else: tech stack, jira, agile, culture - is company specific and should be taught to your employees and not be made the bar. If you need someone who can hit the ground running you can focus on a tech stack but ultimately it’s up to you, the company, to ensure they fit. Not the new hire.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>softfalcon</author><text>Yeah, I try and background check my interviewer thoroughly because of the “threat” issue. I always ask who will be interviewing me and look them up.&lt;p&gt;I specifically try and answer their questions and “hold back” a bit when answering if I can. I also sometimes will drop a nugget of knowing more and study their reaction. Some interviewers react quite poorly if you hint you know considerably more about a subject than they might want you to know.&lt;p&gt;I have friends with a lot more education than myself (PhD, masters, very senior) and they say they have to do this A LOT.&lt;p&gt;The goal is to see how the interviewer handles not being the smartest in the room about everything. This is a big deal because it can suss out whether the other person is “on good behaviour for the interview” but otherwise has an enormous ego during regular work hours.&lt;p&gt;No one wants to work for an ego maniac vetting out all the A+ candidates out of fear of competition.</text></comment>
<story><title>Leveling up in job interviews for software engineers (2022)</title><url>https://phauer.com/2022/leveling-up-job-interviews/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>reactordev</author><text>What kills me is the fact that the interviews (especially the technical ones) go in depth into topics that aren’t ever pertinent to the job. It’s simply so the interviewer can rank you vs themselves. You need to be good but not too good you’re a threat.&lt;p&gt;The best interviews I’ve ever taken and in turn, host, are the ones where we break down a problem with low code, no gotchas, little examples of specifics just to make sure they know how to write it in language of their choice. That they understand the problem, can satisfactorily break it down into actionable tasks, and come up with a solution to the problem.&lt;p&gt;Everything else: tech stack, jira, agile, culture - is company specific and should be taught to your employees and not be made the bar. If you need someone who can hit the ground running you can focus on a tech stack but ultimately it’s up to you, the company, to ensure they fit. Not the new hire.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>rewmie</author><text>&amp;gt; What kills me is the fact that the interviews (especially the technical ones) go in depth into topics that aren’t ever pertinent to the job. It’s simply so the interviewer can rank you vs themselves. You need to be good but not too good you’re a threat.&lt;p&gt;Story time.&lt;p&gt;A few years back I was in hiring loops as an interviewer. Half a dozen engineers in my company interviewed a candidate during a morning. Everyone had their notes and we were discussing if we should hire the guy or not. Everyone gave thumbs up except one engineer. It turned out he tested the candidate on data structures and algorithms, and the candidate hadn&amp;#x27;t memorized the computational complexity of some bullshit algorithm that only shows up in lame trivia games no one cares about.  Based in that, that particular interviewer gave thumbs down. We discussed everything, went through all notes, and ultimately based on all feedback the hiring leader gave a thumbs up. The data structures engineer threw a tantrum. In his opinion, we would be lowering the hiring bar if we hired a candidate that failed to meet his bar on what he felt were basic competences. The hiring leader asked how many times he used that algorithm in his everyday work. The data structures engineer answered that alas he never used it at all, but still he felt that everyone working in his org should know that.&lt;p&gt;I feel some companies don&amp;#x27;t have good hiring managers and give free reign to bad engineers who have no idea what it takes to deliver production code.</text></comment>