Fizz-Buzz (or equivalent tasks) are just a quick way to tell whether the minimal basics are met. I don't ask Fizz Buzz but give problems that are only slightly more complex.
I'd consider it to be a "handshake". If the basics don't work you don't need to waste both sides time.
> People who can't code fizzbuzz will usually fall flat on those questions as well
yes, but it is harder to tell whether they were completely incapable (what FizzBuzz will tell you) or whether they just didn't touch certain topics in their career. I'll gladly hire a capable engineer who was active in a different domain who I am certain will be able to grasp the necessary knowledge quickly.
Fizz buzz is a low-pass filter. Who cares?
Someone who wants to know if you can code at all, or if you’ve just learned to talk the talk. Those people exist.
Re:What's Wrong with Tech Hiring
by g19fanatic on Thursday September 16, 2021 @10:22AM
(#28552191)
You mean high-pass filter right? Lowpass filter means you're filtering our the higher freqs. In this type of discussion, you're trying to get rid of the people who learned to talk the talk, meaning the lower end of fakers and trying to keep everyone above that level. High pass filter.
Hope this isnt too pedantic but as "noise" is commonly perceived as higher freq (ignoring aliasing) I think low-pass is meant to imply removing the "noise" in your pipeline. Your interpretation makes sense if freq == quality, but statistically a high pass output has higher variance, so sounds like the opposite of the intended effect
Why do you need to ask them specifically to code fizzbuzz? There's nothing magical about it and it's a condescending coding exercise.
Ask stuff about their everyday coding and their favourite language. What's the difference between an Array and a Set (in your language of choice). How do you add an element to those? (if it's your day to day language you should remember, right?)
Tell me about an issue you had to debug. Tell me how (something) works in general. Something basic, no need to go into much detail, but just to see if they get the basic idea and have used it.
Again, who cares about fizzbuzz when you can ask them about http headers, network delays, etc (it will be more job relevant as well). People who can't code fizzbuzz will usually fall flat on those questions as well.