What I learned from doing over 60 technical interviews in 30 days

Re:What I learned from doing over 60 technical interviews in... by CalRobert on Saturday August 01, 2020 @05:51AM (#24019181)

I work in a fully remote organization. I _always_ read cover letters. I have wasted too many years of my life trying to decipher some ungodly pile of crap somebody thought was a question (much less a spec!) and a cover letter can be an indication of a candidate's writing ability.

Poor writing leads to wasted hours, wasted sprints, and frustration. Good writing shines a light on incomplete reasoning and logical inconsistencies. A person who takes the time to write a decent spec is the person who has considered "what, exactly, do I want?" in detail. Too often people try to paper over their complete inability to write a paragraph by saying "let's get on Zoom" and spewing out nonsense verbally, because this is somehow better than putting nonsense in writing.

Unfortunately, if the person reviewing your application is a terrible writer - and most are - it's unlikely your cover letter will be read.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:What I learned from doing over 60 technical interviews in... by brown9-2 on Saturday August 01, 2020 @08:00AM (#24019806)

It seems like it would be so much more productive to give the candidate a writing prompt where they can show their skills, instead of such a poor and generic exercise of “tell me who you are and why you want this job even though you’ve spoken to no one at the company yet”.

If you value good spec writing then give them a spec-writing exercise.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:What I learned from doing over 60 technical interviews in... by lighthazard on Saturday August 01, 2020 @09:41AM (#24020357)

What's a nice way of saying, "I want to be paid to work." ?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:What I learned from doing over 60 technical interviews in... by gru on Saturday August 01, 2020 @08:05AM (#24019833)

Can you share advice or recommend any resources on how to improve one's writing? Especially with regards to technical writing and communication in remote organizations.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:What I learned from doing over 60 technical interviews in... by ghaff on Saturday August 01, 2020 @10:05AM (#24020499)

You mostly get better at writing by doing it. There are a fair number of online publications that have editors and are always looking for writers. (Not paid but this is a case where it really is good exposure and a way to build skills.) Opensource.com is one I write for fairly frequently.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:What I learned from doing over 60 technical interviews in... by kayge on Saturday August 01, 2020 @11:27AM (#24021166)

"Write. Rewrite. When not writing or rewriting, read. I know of no shortcut."

[ Parent | on HN ]