Interviews can be stressful
Web and SaaS
hiring platform
SHOW HN2015
96points
127comments
#255of 2,565 in 2015
Top 10%of 2015 by points
How HN took it
MixedNo clear lean
11 positive, 17 neutral or asking, 3 mixed, 25 critical, out of 56 comments about the project. Thread score -0.25.
Idea: 10 for, 19 againstExecution: 1 for, 5 againstPricing: 0 for, 1 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Take-home projects reduce interview anxiety and show real work
From 1 comment
I've always liked take-home projects for 2 reasons: 1) I get extremely anxious during interviews, so I don't perform well in them (to the point of crying sometimes -…
pamelafox on HN
Option to choose between take-home and classic interviews
From 2 comments
Agreed, ideally there should be a choice between the two because some actually prefer whiteboard type interviews. This is a good post discussing both:…
asadlionpk on HNI think companies should optimize on giving options between all of the proven methods. Some may like the classic interviews but some may have a good github profile which is also…
asadlionpk on HN
Objections
Candidates dislike unpaid, time-consuming take-home work
From 4 comments
As someone who has had "8 hour" take home projects with requirements like "build a responsive site for this fictitious product and include creative UX features as well as a full…
sirtastic on HNNope. I've had several of these, all were at least a full days work, which I had to cram into late evenings etc on top of day job. And to top it all, they weren't even discussed…
retube on HNIs there a mechanism for paying the test taker? A developer shouldn't be expected to work for free. The outside chance he'd be the 1/100 applicant to land the job isn't enough.
leepowers on HNthis is equivalent to asking math students to provide their answer but not show their work. I interview people to figure out how they think and learn how they solve problems. I…
masukomi on HN
Employed senior candidates unlikely to accept long trial periods
From 2 comments
The big problem with this is that I wouldn't leave my current job for a 3 month contract that may or may not pan out. If I'm currently unemployed, then I might take this risk,…
Jemaclus on HN3 month probation will work great with unemployed or fresh out of college people etc, not with employed people, certainly not with senior candidates.
lazyant on HN
Take-home projects do not reveal real-world skills or communication
From 3 comments
Disagree completely. There are simply too many things that you learn in the interview that are too difficult to learn any other way. Having someone code is NOT about seeing what…
edw519 on HNPersonality, communication skills, etc., all matter. A lot. There's more to being a good software engineer than knowing how to code well. You have to be able to back up your…
jsatk on HNTake-home projects are not the best way to judge skills (atleast in their current form). In the future, there would be some centralized solution so we don't waste time again and…
oglo on HN
Requests
Offer candidates a choice between take-home and live interviews
From 2 comments
Agreed, ideally there should be a choice between the two because some actually prefer whiteboard type interviews. This is a good post discussing both:…
asadlionpk on HNI think companies should optimize on giving options between all of the proven methods. Some may like the classic interviews but some may have a good github profile which is also…
asadlionpk on HN
Pay candidates for take-home work
From 1 comment
Is there a mechanism for paying the test taker? A developer shouldn't be expected to work for free. The outside chance he'd be the 1/100 applicant to land the job isn't enough.
leepowers on HN
Questions
How is the test taker compensated?
From 1 comment
Is there a mechanism for paying the test taker? A developer shouldn't be expected to work for free. The outside chance he'd be the 1/100 applicant to land the job isn't enough.
leepowers on HN
Alternatives named
Paid side projects and trial work
From 1 comment
Best interview I have had was an interview, then it was followed up by a paid "side-project". I got paid to do some work for them and everybody was happy. Eventually, I figured…
chad_strategic on HN
Pair programming sessions
From 1 comment
The best company I ever worked for did a two hour pair programming session on a simple rails app (since they were a rails shop) with every candidate that got passed the "chat…
hyperchase on HN
Probation periods instead of interviews
From 1 comment
This is taking interviewing and hiring in the wrong direction. At my company, we have a relatively short interview process, followed by a 3 month full salary probation period.…
jbob2000 on HN
GitHub profile review
From 1 comment
I think companies should optimize on giving options between all of the proven methods. Some may like the classic interviews but some may have a good github profile which is also…
asadlionpk on HN