I found myself interviewing for programming ("coding") and related management positions again this past summer - in small/mid-size networking and device companies to the massive corporations you know and love/hate (e.g. FAANG) and whom employ more software engineers than all the rest combined!

Here is a summary of the lessons I learned through the proces: http://wiki.synchro.net/wiki:user:digital_man#interviewing_in_2019

digital man

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Re: Are you a programmer? These interview tips may help
By: Digital Man to All on Thu Oct 31 2019 08:12 pm

I found myself interviewing for programming ("coding") and related managemen positions again this past summer - in small/mid-size networking and device companies to the massive corporations you know and love/hate (e.g. FAANG) an whom employ more software engineers than all the rest combined!

so how do you feel about jumping through hoops at interviews? is this something new in your field?
do you think it's because google was known to ask odd questions?

i have picked up some part time jobs and even for jobs that dont pay well it seems like they try to get you off guard with interview questions.

i was a professional job jumper from 18-28 because i worked regular jobs during the winter and then worked at my family's motels during the summer so it didnt faze me much. i thought it was funny when they asked what my boss would say bad about me. like i would tell them. i told them all my reviews have been good for over 15 years so i must be doing something right and i didnt lie.

i'm supposed to be a tech for a weather station for a solar farm soon. they are dragging their feet with building the station. i just applied because it seemed interesting and it was super flexable.
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Re: Are you a programmer? These interview tips may help
By: MRO to Digital Man on Thu Oct 31 2019 11:10 pm

Re: Are you a programmer? These interview tips may help
By: Digital Man to All on Thu Oct 31 2019 08:12 pm

I found myself interviewing for programming ("coding") and related managemen positions again this past summer - in small/mid-size networking and device companies to the massive corporations you know and love/hate (e.g. FAANG) an whom employ more software engineers than all the rest combined!

so how do you feel about jumping through hoops at interviews?

Not too fun, but that's the field you have to run through these days.

is this something new in your field?

The CS/algo-focused questions are relatively new to me - I first encountered them during a job search 2.5 years ago, but mainly at the bigger firms (FAANG). Now, it seems that method of interviewing has trickled down to everyone else, probably because they learned it from their experience interviewing at or working for the big names (e.g. Google) and now it's just the norm.

do you think it's because google was known to ask odd questions?

I think Google and the other biggest tech companies' style has a definite influence on other companies (copy success, why not?). I'm not a fan of riddles and word problems, especially. Most people are stressed while interviewing and not on their best game, so it's not really fair to be asking them tricky riddles while in that state and judging their intelligence based on their answer. But it happens, so you have to prepare and practice for it. <shrug>

i have picked up some part time jobs and even for jobs that dont pay well it seems like they try to get you off guard with interview questions.

Oh, I've had weird experiences going all the way back to the late 80's. I remember one interviewer just stopped talking and stared at me for a solid minute. I just stared right back. I guess I passed that test because he made me a job offer (which I declined). But I've been asked some weird questions over the years.

i was a professional job jumper from 18-28 because i worked regular jobs during the winter and then worked at my family's motels during the summer so it didnt faze me much. i thought it was funny when they asked what my boss would say bad about me. like i would tell them. i told them all my reviews have been good for over 15 years so i must be doing something right and i didnt lie.

You *told* them you didn't lie, or you actually didn't lie? :-)

i'm supposed to be a tech for a weather station for a solar farm soon. they are dragging their feet with building the station. i just applied because it seemed interesting and it was super flexable.

Good luck!

digital man

This Is Spinal Tap quote #25:
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Digital Man wrote to All <=-

I found myself interviewing for programming ("coding") and related management positions again this past summer - in small/mid-size
networking and device companies to the massive corporations you know
and love/hate (e.g. FAANG) and whom employ more software engineers than all the rest combined!

Did your reputation precede you at any of the interviews?



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Digital Man wrote to MRO <=-

do you think it's because google was known to ask odd questions?

I think Google and the other biggest tech companies' style has a
definite influence on other companies (copy success, why not?).

I'm in IT management and went through a period of job-seeking recently. In
my field, old-school is back. "Behavioral Interviews" were the norm.

On at least 3 occasions I'd be in a room with a panel. They'd have pre- written self-evaluative questions provided to them that, if vague, the panel wasn't really able to answer (because they didn't write them).

So, each person would take a turn, you'd have a set number of minutes to answer a question, and run out of time trying to cover the ambiguity.

I later had to do the same as part of the panel and while I felt it was good to get an equal comparison of the candidates, wasn't able to get detail on
the individual skills I'd want to learn more about.

The other side of the coin was companies who googled "Technical questions
for IT Managers" and asked the same handful of questions. Describe what happens when you enter a URL into a browser, asking what port DNS uses, then whether it uses TCP or UDP (the answer: both - UDP for normal queries, TCP
for larger transactions like zone transfers)

I usually knew those places weren't interested. If you have a team of 20 people and you're more concerned about technical minutae than my management style and skills, you're focused on the wrong skillset.







I'm not

a fan of riddles and word problems, especially. Most people are
stressed while interviewing and not on their best game, so it's not
really fair to be asking them tricky riddles while in that state and judging their intelligence based on their answer. But it happens, so
you have to prepare and practice for it. <shrug>

i have picked up some part time jobs and even for jobs that dont pay well it seems like they try to get you off guard with interview questions.

Oh, I've had weird experiences going all the way back to the late 80's.
I remember one interviewer just stopped talking and stared at me for a solid minute. I just stared right back. I guess I passed that test
because he made me a job offer (which I declined). But I've been asked some weird questions over the years.

i was a professional job jumper from 18-28 because i worked regular jobs during the winter and then worked at my family's motels during the summer so it didnt faze me much. i thought it was funny when they asked what my boss would say bad about me. like i would tell them. i told them all my reviews have been good for over 15 years so i must be doing something right and i didnt lie.

You *told* them you didn't lie, or you actually didn't lie? :-)

i'm supposed to be a tech for a weather station for a solar farm soon. they are dragging their feet with building the station. i just applied because it seemed interesting and it was super flexable.

Good luck!

digital man

This Is Spinal Tap quote #25:
Viv Savage: Have... a good... time... all the time. That's my
philosophy. Norco, CA WX: 60.7öF, 9.0% humidity, 0 mph SW wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs
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Re: Are you a programmer? These interview tips may help
By: Digital Man to All on Thu Oct 31 2019 08:12 pm

I found myself interviewing for programming ("coding") and related management positions again this past summer - in small/mid-size networking and device companies to the massive corporations you know and love/hate (e.g. FAANG) and whom employ more software engineers than all the rest combined!

Here is a summary of the lessons I learned through the proces: http://wiki.synchro.net/wiki:user:digital_man#interviewing_in_2019

Thanks for posting this - This comes at a good time for me, as I am in the job market myself now.

Nightfox

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Re: Are you a programmer? These interview tips may help
By: Digital Man to MRO on Thu Oct 31 2019 10:21 pm

The CS/algo-focused questions are relatively new to me - I first encountered them during a job search 2.5 years ago, but mainly at the bigger firms (FAANG). Now, it seems that method of interviewing has trickled down to everyone else, probably because they learned it from their experience interviewing at or working for the big names (e.g. Google) and now it's just the norm.

I've had some algo type of questions in my interviews recently, and 10+ years ago or so. And sometimes they'll ask you to write a bit of code at the interview. Similar to what you said about the puzzle/riddle quesitons, sometimes I feel like it's difficult to answer such questions & exercises on the spot because you're stressed and not at your best game. Also, I've found people often take an iterative approach to writing software, where you write some code and get it working, and improve it later (and there are companies that do code reviews during code check-ins too) - so to expect you to write good code on the spot during an interview seems a little unfair in that regard.

It's a little better when they send you a coding exercise to work on in your own time and send it back to them.

Oh, I've had weird experiences going all the way back to the late 80's. I remember one interviewer just stopped talking and stared at me for a solid minute. I just stared right back. I guess I passed that test because he made me a job offer (which I declined).

That sounds pretty weird. I haven't had anyone do that to me (yet).

Nightfox

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Re: Re: Are you a programmer? These interview tips may help
By: poindexter FORTRAN to Digital Man on Fri Nov 01 2019 06:20 am

Digital Man wrote to All <=-

I found myself interviewing for programming ("coding") and related management positions again this past summer - in small/mid-size networking and device companies to the massive corporations you know and love/hate (e.g. FAANG) and whom employ more software engineers than all the rest combined!

Did your reputation precede you at any of the interviews?

I assume some interviewers perform some amount of due diligence and look at my LinkedIn profile or maybe google my name, but I've never encountered a prospective employer / interviewer that knew of my existence (or Synchronet for that matter) prior to my application. I usually don't mention Synchronet specifically either; I try to keep work and play separated. :-)

digital man

Synchronet/BBS Terminology Definition #7:
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Re: Are you a programmer? These interview tips may help
By: Nightfox to Digital Man on Fri Nov 01 2019 10:32 am

Re: Are you a programmer? These interview tips may help
By: Digital Man to All on Thu Oct 31 2019 08:12 pm

I found myself interviewing for programming ("coding") and related management positions again this past summer - in small/mid-size networking and device companies to the massive corporations you know and love/hate (e.g. FAANG) and whom employ more software engineers than all the rest combined!

Here is a summary of the lessons I learned through the proces: http://wiki.synchro.net/wiki:user:digital_man#interviewing_in_2019

Thanks for posting this - This comes at a good time for me, as I am in the job market myself now.

I hope it helps!

digital man

Synchronet/BBS Terminology Definition #78:
UART = Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter
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Re: Are you a programmer? These interview tips may help
By: Nightfox to Digital Man on Fri Nov 01 2019 10:41 am

It's a little better when they send you a coding exercise to work on in your own time and send it back to them.

I prefer the take-home tests/projects too, though sometimes they can get a bit out of hand. I worked on an interview project for SpaceX that took weeks to complete - I still didn't get that job.

My favorite interview questions are where they supply you with some code and ask you to find all the problems with it. I find those questions really easy for whatever reason.

Oh, I've had weird experiences going all the way back to the late 80's. I remember one interviewer just stopped talking and stared at me for a solid minute. I just stared right back. I guess I passed that test because he made me a job offer (which I declined).

That sounds pretty weird. I haven't had anyone do that to me (yet).

It was just that one time. I sometimes wished I accepted that position as it was a management position very early in my career and could possibly have helped elevate my career trajectory. I had long hair at the time and the offer was contigent on my cutting it, so I declined. I still expected to become a "rock star" at that time. :-)

digital man

Synchronet "Real Fact" #105:
You're missing the action in #synchronet at irc.synchro.net!
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Re: Are you a programmer? These interview tips may help
By: Digital Man to Nightfox on Fri Nov 01 2019 10:48 pm

the time and the offer was contigent on my cutting it, so I declined still expected to become a "rock star" at that time. :-)

:) The place I'm at now has sometimes referred to its employees as "rock stars".

Red flag #1! :-)

digital man

i would imagine this place as being fairly new, with a lot of young people and they dont usually pay that well.
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MRO wrote to Nightfox <=-

just dont talk about your bbs the whole time or ham radio.

I was quite proud of the fact that, from 1991 until 2012, someone at the companies I worked for would call me "Poindexter".


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Digital Man wrote to Nightfox <=-

:) The place I'm at now has sometimes referred to its employees as "rock stars".

Red flag #1! :-)

I picture 4 lead guitarists on stage trying to crowd each other out...


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Re: Re: Are you a programmer? These interview tips may help
By: Digital Man to Nightfox on Fri Nov 01 2019 10:53 pm

It's certainly relevant to a lot of pertinent work, but I wouldn't want someone randomly opening a source file and judging my skills/style based on it. Some of that code is nearly 30 years old and not something I feel is a good example of my current skills or style. And of course, I didn't write all of it myself.

True, and good points.

Nightfox

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Re: Re: Are you a programmer? These interview tips may help
By: poindexter FORTRAN to MRO on Sat Nov 02 2019 09:24 am

MRO wrote to Nightfox <=-

just dont talk about your bbs the whole time or ham radio.

I was quite proud of the fact that, from 1991 until 2012, someone at the companies I worked for would call me "Poindexter".

... Can you hear me?

There's a nerdy guy at my work who looks like Sherman from the old Peabody and Sherman cartoon. But we didn't feel Sherman was funny enough a name so we just call him Peabody. Now, 15 yrs later, the whole company thinks his name is Peabody.


Thanks,
Zombie Mambo

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