Re:Jane Street – Our software engineering interviews are cha...
by thraway3837 on Thursday November 12, 2026 @09:12PM
(#50477205)
Wrong approach. FTA:
>>>>>>Our coding interviews haven’t changed, though. The questions we ask software engineers today are the same style of question we’ve been asking for years: sit down with an interviewer or two, program through a problem together, and talk as you go.
>>>>>>Broadly, they involve less code-writing, and lean more higher-level, focusing on software design, on verifying the quality, structure, and intention of code, and on using LLMs to produce code. Most rounds will continue to be traditional coding interviews, conducted without LLM assistance.
I have over 15 years of experience (more if I count my childhood QBasic experience) in programming, and I can tell you right now that if you ask me to sit down with a blank piece of paper and you asked me to write out a sorting algorithm or integer reverser or string reverser, I'm going to be dumb and write out Strings.reverse() or array().sort or tell you something about modulo and loops and look at you or even straight up ask you "This is what you want to do?"
What are you testing for? I've already done the test in my bachelor's program, I have a transcript and paper to prove that I can get sealed and delivered directly to you from my elite university. I did the test in my highschool and have the public records and awards in CS for it. It's all over the internet. I do the test everyday with the applications I have on the App Store, some of which are far more complicated than features you will ever work on in your current job interviewing me. All of those have my name and searchable all over the internet. I even have a few patents, all of which are publicly accessible and fully readable WITH MY NAME ON IT.
Then why the FUCK are you wasting my time in a bullshit interview asking me about dumb programming questions?
This is such an offensive process, I can't even stop being angry about it. I truly feel bad for all the people who have to go through this, because it just does not matter what accolades you have, we all go through this nonsense.
How about you have a simple conversation on the types of problems you encounter and how you would solve them. It's as simple as that. Don't do some puzzle nonsense. Pick real problems, if you are an interviewer (like this one who has been there for 13 year) then you should know what problems you have faced that were challenging to your team and then ask the candidate that. It takes 10-15 minutes to see how they do, and you can end it right then and there. You don't need 10 rounds. You don't need take home homework, you don't need bullshit whiteboarding, you don't need "How many sewer pipes are in a major city?", you don't need panels and weeks of this garbage. Just do, it takes at most 1 hour.
>>>>>>Our coding interviews haven’t changed, though. The questions we ask software engineers today are the same style of question we’ve been asking for years: sit down with an interviewer or two, program through a problem together, and talk as you go.
>>>>>>Broadly, they involve less code-writing, and lean more higher-level, focusing on software design, on verifying the quality, structure, and intention of code, and on using LLMs to produce code. Most rounds will continue to be traditional coding interviews, conducted without LLM assistance.
I have over 15 years of experience (more if I count my childhood QBasic experience) in programming, and I can tell you right now that if you ask me to sit down with a blank piece of paper and you asked me to write out a sorting algorithm or integer reverser or string reverser, I'm going to be dumb and write out Strings.reverse() or array().sort or tell you something about modulo and loops and look at you or even straight up ask you "This is what you want to do?"
What are you testing for? I've already done the test in my bachelor's program, I have a transcript and paper to prove that I can get sealed and delivered directly to you from my elite university. I did the test in my highschool and have the public records and awards in CS for it. It's all over the internet. I do the test everyday with the applications I have on the App Store, some of which are far more complicated than features you will ever work on in your current job interviewing me. All of those have my name and searchable all over the internet. I even have a few patents, all of which are publicly accessible and fully readable WITH MY NAME ON IT.
Then why the FUCK are you wasting my time in a bullshit interview asking me about dumb programming questions?
This is such an offensive process, I can't even stop being angry about it. I truly feel bad for all the people who have to go through this, because it just does not matter what accolades you have, we all go through this nonsense.
How about you have a simple conversation on the types of problems you encounter and how you would solve them. It's as simple as that. Don't do some puzzle nonsense. Pick real problems, if you are an interviewer (like this one who has been there for 13 year) then you should know what problems you have faced that were challenging to your team and then ask the candidate that. It takes 10-15 minutes to see how they do, and you can end it right then and there. You don't need 10 rounds. You don't need take home homework, you don't need bullshit whiteboarding, you don't need "How many sewer pipes are in a major city?", you don't need panels and weeks of this garbage. Just do, it takes at most 1 hour.