The tech interview prep industry

Re:The tech interview prep industry by onion2k on Monday April 04, 2022 @02:34AM (#30903845)

Hiring at FAANGs isn't a matter of "pass the tech test and you win a job". There are lots of other parts to the hiring process. A recommendation from a person high-up in the company, or a Stanford degree, still carries weight. Leetcode is an additional barrier, that people with a privileged background can buy help to pass, and where having the resources to stop working to study full time is immensely useful. People who don't have wealthy parents or personal wealth can't do that.

I believe Leetcode makes tech more exclusive, not less.

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Re:The tech interview prep industry by gnarcoregrizz on Monday April 04, 2022 @04:53AM (#30904548)

For sure. I think it’s made the hiring market less liquid. I really did need to study 50+ leetcode questions to do well in an interview. I crashed and burned a few interviews and ended up resigning myself to the grind, and bang, I’d pass those early interviews no problem. It’s a unique tech adjacent skill that not everyone has time to practice. It certainly doesn’t mean you’re a bad engineer if you can’t leetcode.

It’s a form of gatekeeping and hazing. It’s what you get when stem is hyped at every level of education. There are too many people gunning for tech. It attracts all the smart and ambitious students now. There is no programmer shortage.

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Re:The tech interview prep industry by ozzythecat on Monday April 04, 2022 @02:48AM (#30903920)

I’ll speak strictly to SDE roles at Amazon. Unless you’re recommended by a Senior VP, a recommendation or Stanford degree will not do much more than help you get an interview. A hiring manager can try to fight others on the interview loop and overrule a bar raiser, but they’re really putting themselves out there for you. Maybe they really fight for a candidate once or twice, but it’s not very common.

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