There was a long discussion on HN the other day regarding why companies are having trouble hiring engineers:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29892437
One of the recurring themes is the “leet code” interviews. I will go further and say that any interview that doesn't mimic the job is a guaranteed way for me to turn the company down.
Stop accepting shitty interviews
When I was talking to trading firms about coming back to the finance industry, about half of them admitted they already use my open-source software. And yet, only one firm bothered to ask me about how some of my stuff was implemented. That's the firm I'm working at now.
Instead, I got plenty of firms that still insisted on asking me questions that are not remotely related to the job. Tons of Hacker Rank and Codility, even though I've never had a time limit when building something in real life. Tons of intern-level questions as if I was a college freshman. And tons of detailed questions about how a specific programming language works, as if we're going to build a compiler for that language.
And to reiterate, those were the firms that already admitted to using my software!
Stop accepting shitty interviews
The stupid assessment practices won't change unless employers suffer the consequences for this nonsense. I have always made it my mission to reject any firm that asks me syntax questions or brain teasers. (Seriously, the New York Times doesn't assess journalists by having them conjugate verbs; it's just weird to ask this.)
Yes, people get mad when I terminate the interview on the spot. I'm sure I've been blacklisted from a few places because of my stubbornness. But damn if I'm going to allow stupid shit like this.
Stop accepting shitty interviews
