Re:Ask HN: A coding test or working for free?
by jcwilde on Wednesday May 27, 2015 @10:52AM
(#9611761)
Most companies that do this (unintentionally, I believe) are not benefiting from the actual work product, but from the consulting regarding their business problems.
How much do you think a consultant would charge to come in for a few hours and discuss their needs, not to mention put some working code together for their problem?
Re:Ask HN: A coding test or working for free?
by alphanumeric0 on Wednesday May 27, 2015 @10:51AM
(#9611745)
This is a valid point. I agree it doesn't seem like an efficient way of conducting a business in the long-term, but for a one-off problem that they happen to be stuck on, it makes more sense.
The feeling I got was that they weren't developers by trade (the code quality I mentioned was a red flag), very small, early-stage startup with no money and they needed expert help, fast.
From their end, if that was a thing they regularly did, it would be such a hassle. After all, you'd have to find a new person to do that work every time, find a way to split up the work into very small chunks, and who knows if the result from a person off the street would be usable?
My guess would be that he was trying to evaluate how you respond to bug fixes and criticism. (Still sounds like a weird interview strategy though)