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0 pointsrenegade-otter8mo ago0 comments

We have FAANG to thank for this. They pioneer counterproductive interview questions (remember puzzles?), and the industry just copies these trends, like zombies.

Then what happens is these Leetcode heroes, never having built anything from scratch in their lives, create a hazing ritual for new candidates.

What is the point of, say, a system design interview asking to design a planet-scale system when most people never came close to one or, again, never built one because they are just out of school?

And, yes, I know - "how would you interview a recent student?".

Fine, I was a student in 2004, so why are we having the same goddamned test?

0 comments

georgemcbay8mo ago

> We have FAANG to thank for this.

Not entirely, though FAANG companies certainly didn't do anything to help make it better.

I'm 51 and have been a professional software developer since the early to mid 1990s and tech interviewing was already a strange hazing ritual disaster before FAANG existed.

shaftway8mo ago

I distinctly remember interviewing for a QA position in the 90's where I was asked how I would test a soda vending machine. I was dinged because I didn't mention that I would make sure the sodas were cold.

rrdharan8mo ago

Actually Microsoft started this in the 1990s, long before FAANG was a thing. They just all adopted it.

otterley8mo ago

“Why are manhole covers round?” “How many dry cleaners are in the city of Seattle?” were both infamous Microsoft interview questions.

dekhn8mo ago

Previously known as "Fermi questions"- commonly asked of undergrads and grad students in quantitative fields.

no_wizard8mo ago

I think quant finance is similarly bad

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