Ask HN: I always beat the technical interview but never get the job. Why?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32115228

by nblasted • 4 years ago

11 32 4 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Is it because I'm in my mid 30s and have a spotty resume and a degree in Economics but none in CS? Are technical interviews only a way to weed out people?

nblasted9• 4 years ago

Is it because I have a silly moustache?

Glant• 4 years ago

I guess it depends on the company, but as long as you aren't mischievously twirling it while cackling you should be good.

nblasted9• 4 years ago

This must have been the problem. They probably didnt like my monocle or evil laughter either :)

muzani• 4 years ago

I'm Muslim with a goatee and an interviewer actually told me that "Would you mind shaving? Korean companies prefer clean shaven." One Dutch company also gave me a rant on how they were more progressive and tolerant in the Netherlands.

I don't know if it's related, but at least they brought it up. I suspect most don't and only realize it after the technical interview. It's also why I appreciate the pointless "culture screen" that happens before the 1 hour codility/leetcode, which happens before the actual technical interview. Let them have these multiple layers so at least I get feedback on what layer I'm stumbling on.

notnmeyer2• 4 years ago

no…

oriettaxx• 4 years ago

background check? :)

labrador• 4 years ago

Maybe you're weeded out by weed

emadehsan• 4 years ago

Ask for their feedback. In the meantime, treat the variables for your rejection as "Unknown unknowns". You don't even know what you don't know.

To find out, work on an interesting project. Build something that involves the whole tech stack you are targeting. You will actually find a lot of gaps in your knowledge. The idea should be something that you care about... that will keep you interested in seeing the final outcome if it is a large project.

You have to showcase your ability to work on large sophisticated projects and the confidence that you can get them done.

"Be So Good They Can't Ignore You".

quantified• 4 years ago

Are you sure you beat the interview?

You may have got the reasons correct. Why not ask them, it won't hurt and they may not tell the whole truth if they even respond to you.

They may just be crappy companies you're happier off without too.

siva_• 4 years ago

May I please know what kind of technical interviews you've had? Have you tried sending a friendly email and asking the interviewers for reasons? Do they have issues with your style of solving the problems? Like, do you hole up and do it all by yourself or do you walk them through and ask clarifying questions along the way?

Even if the manager likes you, HR might gatekeep due to employment not being a perfect track record. Maybe sending HR an email thanking them for their help along your journey so far and asking why you didn't make the final cut may also give you some insight.

gls2ro• 4 years ago

It is hard to have a valuable answer for you without knowing more information like:

What do you mean when you say “beat the tech interview”?

to what jobs did you applied? What were they asking specifically?

What kind of questions were you asked and how did you replied to them?

nblasted9• 4 years ago

The tech interviews I've had so far have consisted of some kind of leetcode or hackerrank or codility test and then basically the same thing but supervised.

On one of the older ones I stalled out on references. It was a fed gig and they wouldn't take freelance clients for references so I had to use managers from like a year or more ago and one of them just wouldn't respond to recruiter emails. They made me do a lot of tests though and they kept saying I was advancing because I beat the tests and got all the corner cases. I dropped some pastries at the old office (as much for my old colleagues as for my old manager) and emailed my old manager about the reference but she seems evasive about it. She's also extraordinarily busy and I don't really want to pressure her into giving a reference if she feels I was a bad employee (although she could say as much in the reference). She could come through in the end. I guess we'll see.

I'm in a few interviews right now. In the one I recently got spat out of, I had some leetcode problems which I think I got correct (I don't know if I got all the corner cases but I sure tested for everything I could think of). One of the recruiters said I fell down on the video interview. I'm sure their feedback will clear it up and I'll post it here to close the issue.

I don't think I'm that good at data structures and algorithms. I've definitely hit the limit of my natural talent. I'm bad at recursion (I almost always prefer while loops). I haven't been getting a lot of questions about binary trees and I think that's why I've been doing relatively well. Binary trees are okay too but I never see them in the wild and I can get confused about them. I need to grind a lot more leetcode but if I do that what I will have attained is not really a native excellence or deeper insight into the nature of data structures and algorithms but rather a kind of mental hashmap or muscle memory of approaches to mimic that I've seen in leetcode problems in the past (which is not unhelpful in and of itself).

Anyway the other day I did some landscaping around a transmission line tower for the power authority and wrote a little webscraper for an upwork client. The former paid me $2100 and the latter paid me $320 and the latter was a lot more work. Seems like there's easier ways to make a living than programming.

findthebug• 4 years ago

maybe you have asked some questions twice?

dredmorbius4• 4 years ago

I understand that reference.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32115206

nblasted9• 4 years ago

I am ashamed.

dredmorbius4• 4 years ago

There's a duplicate and longer submission with more details here:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32115206

The submission I'm replying to seems to be the one that's picked up traction.

@nblasted: please don't make dupliate submissions. You have about 2 hours to make edits, that window seems to have passed.

nblasted9• 4 years ago

Oops sorry guys I was sleeping. I'll review the dupe and edit or delete. My apologies

nblasted9• 4 years ago

Alas there appears to be no way to delete. I will be more careful in the future

gamblor956• 4 years ago

I hate to break it to you, but you didn't beat the tech interviews. If you had you would have gotten an offer.

nblasted9• 4 years ago

this is the most interesting possibility but the recruiter said it was the video interview I fell down in.

silisili• 4 years ago

When we interview, we only look for two things: technical chops, and personality. If you're sure you're acing the technical parts, I'm assuming they do not like your personality.

Resumes only matter for getting an interview in the first place.

nblasted9• 4 years ago

I have made inquiries and after the weekend if I get any responses I'll post them here.

brudgers• 4 years ago

How have you made the inquiries?

HN might be able to provide useful feedback based on that information.

zipotm• 4 years ago

The key is called Emotional Intelligence. That book is one of the best about that topic: https://www.amazon.com/Emotional-Intelligence-Matter-More-Th...

notnmeyer2• 4 years ago

why not ask the folks when they pass on you? completing the technical portion doesn’t mean you should expect an offer.

if simply asking them wasn’t obvious or seems too difficult or awkward, then that may be indicative of the problem.

thdespou• 4 years ago

Most probably they didn't like you dude.

albertizzley• 4 years ago

asking for more $ than their budget probably... they will never admit it though.

more_corn2• 4 years ago

Hard to say from the outside. None of what you said is a dealbreaker for me. (But a lot of people raise an eyebrow at gaps in the résumé). What are your languages by the way? A lot of us are hiring ;-)

I interviewed a guy once who was technically amazing. Successfully answered all technical questions, had certs, great resume. Within 15 minutes I knew I didn’t want to work with him. He was abrasive, demeaning (to his ex colleagues), blamey, short tempered. The interview panel was unanimous. Great technical chops, impossible personality. I think someone actually brought up the no asshole rule.

I know nothing of your personality so I’m certainly NOT calling you an asshome, but a large part of the interview is not the technical questions.

On the flip side, I’ve got a friend who successfully interviewed for a job he was under qualified for (at a FAANG company). I knew before he interviewed that he’d get the job because he’s the sort of guy I’d trust with a million dollar budget a new technology and an untrained team. You can just tell he’ll figure it out and come out on top. He told me his job in the interview was to make the interviewer like him within 5 min. Pretty solid advice.

Focus a bit on first impressions, the people part and make deliberate efforts to present as the kind of person they want to work with.

Ask HN: I always beat the technical interview but never get the job. Why?

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