I always went on 2 practice interviews before the real interview and it worked.
is this a defensible statement? I haven't seen any research that would lead me to believe that most engineers are introverts.
I am also a unicorn - but a different kind. I used to always have to defend being a statical outlier so I know where you are coming from.
I'll fall back on my anecdotal evidence of the monthly keg parties that the engineering department threw to counter your example.
Again the statement that most engineers are introverted is in no way defensible and its insulting to try and group us all together like that.
Of course its defensible. From the abstract: "Engineers scored higher on Tough-Mindedness and Intrinsic Motivation; but lower on Assertiveness, Conscientiousness, Customer Service Orientation, Emotional Stability, Extraversion, Image Management, Optimism, Visionary Style, and Work Drive."
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S09234...
I don’t mean the leetcode hoops (etc, though that is part of the game) but once you’re in the door.
It’s a unique skillset that degrades fast, not unlike dating skills.
It's crucial to continue dating while you're in a relationship. Especially a long-term relationship, which can cause your dating skills to become very rusty.
Same with job-seeking, as time passes by I find myself more and more reluctant to "play the game". To the point that I won't proceed with a job process if it requires me to jump those stupid hoops (my 2 last jobs, 3 and 7 years ago I got without a real technical interview, and they were both highly technical). This means that right now jobs that I get will be "limited" to people I know and people who knows me.
As a head of engineering, right now I am trying to convince a good friend of mine (and amazing technologist) to join my team. I wouldn't dream of putting him through the "normal" that other general candidates go through.
If software developers had the kind of exams getting initially licensed, and the ongoing continuing education requirements imposed to maintain their licenses, that regulated professions tend to have (doctors, lawyers, nurses, even schoolteachers), then they probably wouldn’t have every hiring process trying to compensate for the absence of such prior screening.
Yes, that's called an interview. No one is saying there is no need to interview... So you seem to agree that leetcode style questions are irrelevant and pointless?
You don't need technical screenings when just getting through the front door involves passing a rigorous certification process.
They don't in any place in the US I have lived.
Lots of people want a job slightly different to or at a higher level than what they currently do, so they don't get to exercise the skills they will need at work and practice them at home instead.
I don't get why people here are so hostile to people investing their time to try to better themselves and achieve their goals.
Before practicing you were worse, and afterwards have improved.
To be clear, it is only one skill in your toolbox
One side project I did in my spare time outside of work got me onto my PhD and has literally saved people's lives. People here probably think that's a waste of time and I should have just lazed about instead.
I think the point is that real-world experience often doesn't translate into Leetcode skills, meaning that you have no choice but to devote time to the otherwise-useless[0] skill of solving Leetcode problems. If making a cool side project, etc. was what helped most software developers get better at interviews, "people here" wouldn't be complaining in the first place.
Sure, you are learning something by solving Leetcode problems, but not anything useful[1] except in the artificial world of software interviews.
[0] This is probably heavily dependent on the specific jobs in question—I'm only speaking from my personal experience.
[1] Same as [0].
I think the high wage allure of those companies only applies to very junior engineers. Once you have 4 years of experience, if you’re good, lots of places will pay FAANG levels of total comp, and most won’t put you through leetcode hazing or stick you at the back of a thousand-engineer wait line for interesting projects.
Keeping your communication and presentation skills sharp will not just benefit you in finding a new job, but also in advancing where you are, but you're rarely fired if you fail to improve at it.
These can be assessed completely without whiteboard quizzes.
Hence the advice in the article to actually practising interviewing, and why the article does not focus on whiteboard quizzes.
If you're junior, and you can't tell me anything interesting about the work you've done in the past, but can at least write some code quickly to solve some sample problems, you've at least shone something.
If you're pretty experienced, though... not having much you can talk in depth about is a bigger flag.
shone: A bright light was shone on the target shown: The curtain was pulled back and the object was shown for all the visitors to see
Hope that helps.
It’s so tiring to continue to see this.
If the “skills” you need to keep sharp are not the same thing as the skills you exercise through your job, that’s a giant red flag that the hiring company should be avoided.
If you’re practicing leetcode or Kaggle in your spare time to pass interviews, you need to stop and realize you’ve set up your goals completely backward and you are actively helping companies to commoditize your labor product and short change you on poor job quality or experience building.
If you don’t reject companies when they try the algorithm hazing crap that has no bearing on the real day to day job of software engineering, you are setting yourself up to fail and burn out, with crappy resume experience and nothing but perpetual leetcode skill to show for it.