Bad Coding Interview
Posted by Stock-Advice5082@reddit | ExperiencedDevs | View on Reddit | 33 comments
Hi folks,
I’ve been a developer for \~7–8 years and recently started getting back into the job market.
Just had a coding interview with the CTO that left me pretty frustrated. The task was to “build some code to export data,” but there was almost no context given (no details on the data structure, expected format, constraints, etc.). I tried asking clarifying questions, but the interviewer came off pretty dismissive and didn’t really provide anything useful.
On top of that, they seemed rushed the entire time—like they just wanted to get through it and end the call. The whole thing felt awkward and honestly a bit disrespectful.
Is this just a bad interview experience, or is this kind of thing normal now? How do you usually handle situations where the interviewer won’t give you enough context to reasonably complete the task?
TIA
Crazy-Platypus6395@reddit
All of these LLMs and some people still cant create a realistic data export scenario with details lol.
AmbitiousSolution394@reddit
I was once asked to implement memory allocator, and when I tried to ask more questions, interviewer said, "Just implement a memory allocator." Then he left for an hour while I tried to implement it on paper. When interviewer came back, he said, "Ok" and I never heard from that company again.
PayLegitimate7167@reddit
Sounds like a pretty poor refinement session in most cases. Literally an ambiguous problem with no details and then you are just left to do it all yourselves/
Oxi_Ixi@reddit
Sounds like a bad interview.
PartyParrotGames@reddit
> How do you usually handle situations where the interviewer won’t give you enough context
I'd implement the most naive solution if they won't provide context.
data = 'some random shit data cause interviewer did not provide any context'
print(data)
./some-shit-script.py > your-data.txt
Here you go, exported your no context data. Btw you don't mind if I share your company's ~~shit~~ interview process with glassdoor and all the future engineers who will interview with you right? Cause I definitely will whether you say yes or no.
nirvanist_x@reddit
For coding interviews, I’d recommend having an AI by your side. You might not even need it, but if the pressure kicks in, a quick glance can help we’re human, after all. Personally, I used blind.codes, and it worked really well for me.
PressureHumble3604@reddit
they failed the interview not you.
you have enough data points that tell you that you shouldn’t working for them unless you risk starvation.
I have had may fair share of bad experience with C level interviewers in startups (unicorns) and no regrets. Culture comes from the top and is very unlikely you will not suffer it,
ButchDeanCA@reddit
If you don’t have enough context you can’t solve the problem. Crappy company it seems, just move on.
chino9656@reddit
In an interview, the scenario is that there is no context. In the real world, you may have that context but not be able to gather requirements from any other stakeholders. The correct thing to do in an interview is create your own scenario and requirements. You can say your solution idea out loud as you go through the steps, giving them an opportunity to correct you and inject some requirements.
It sucks when this happens in real life, but it doesn't have to be a reason to throw an interview.
ButchDeanCA@reddit
I’m not prepared to play such games at interview. In the real world if there is no context we either ask questions or get feedback on an MVP.
No_Contribution_4124@reddit
As much as I hate such games - the more “future” we have, the more normal it becomes. I’d say in the past it was “bad company / bad interviewer”, nowadays more and more of stuff like this are expectations rather than mistakes - it seems like just too many tech companies have grown from the 00s, and this is how you can be “competitive” in many decision makers’ heads.
chino9656@reddit
I'm with you that in that it is an objectively bad way to conduct an interview. Maybe if I were desperate for a job...
But it's not impossible to answer in a way that is received positively.
chikamakaleyley@reddit
is this a startup? honestly that does sound like a question that you'd see if being quizzed by a CTO
Pretty bad experience and not really giving you the opportunity to put your best foot forward, it's unfortunate cuz everyone's time is wasted
Is this the first technical round (that would be a bigger sign you dodged a bullet)
Question still remains. Obviously "wont give you enough context" is a trait of the bad process so i think it's worth it to consider the situation someone "can't" give you context.
"Can't" generally means 1 of 2 things: * the interviewer doesn't understand the material thorough, so they can only give you the info that they can read from * the interviewer has been instructed to only give you a limited amount of information beyond what is stated in the problem
in either case, you're left guessing. For someone with 7-8 YOE, i think the expectation now, is to demo something you are familiar with, and hope that satisfies the asks and at least encourages your interviewer to engage more with you and the solution
And so, 'build some code to export data' is still extremely vague but there's a chance that you've done something in your own work where you've done just that. The first move, is to build the most simplistic thing you can think of. Then go from there.
So it could even mean just hardcode some data directly in the document, create a quick function that takes this input, then outputs it to a file, execute it. You've literally done what they ask for. What I think this does is now the interviewer jumps in and tells you more of what they want.
It def sucks that this is the path to getting more info but, part of this is showing you know how to move fwd with ambiguity. (which is more of a soft skill thing)
NeonQuixote@reddit
I’ve had bad interviews. I take it as a red flag and feel relieved I dodged a bullet.
DevelopmentScary3844@reddit
Dodged a bullet.
GongtingLover@reddit
There are bad interviewers. Total understand your frustration.
Was this with a start-up? Bit weird to have this at the CTO level?
normalmighty@reddit
C suite guys can sometime sit in for small company interviews if the business is less than 100 people and there's some sort of drama happening, which could explain them being so dismissive.
GongtingLover@reddit
True, could be small business drama.
I just feel bad for OP. It's hard to get excited and interview at a company and then they act like this.
normalmighty@reddit
For sure. I just did the pre-interview competency assessment phase for a job this morning, and was thinking about how much it'll suck if I push through all this just for an experience like that in the interview.
Stock-Advice5082@reddit (OP)
Not a startup, but looks like the CTO did have a startup background when I checked LinkedIn.
The person who I interviewed prior to the CTO was actually leaving and the developer who was there only worked for 6 months then left. Seems like the company is also switching to onsite roles instead of remote.
Looks like I dodged a bullet.
GongtingLover@reddit
Yikes, yeah, totally dodged that one.
Wide-Pop6050@reddit
That sounds like a bad interview
If they don’t give you information just pick something and state your assumptions and move forward. They might correct you, but it doesn’t really matter and will move the interview forward
For example, a candidate might ask us “how frequently should this run”. It’s a made up situation so we can make up an answer. But if they had said “I’ll assume it can run 2x a day and then follow up with business stakeholders” that’s fine too and less work for the interviewer
janyk@reddit
"Don't coders just write whatever code they want without thinking about all these details about formats and structures? That's what I did when I was a dev and what Claude does now"
Mean-Lingonberry4822@reddit
sounds like poor interview prep on their part
Odd_Perspective3019@reddit
uh this is a blessing homie, this just tells u working there will be even horrible, bad interviews tell more about the company and culture and leadership than it does about you, thank your blessings something better will happen for you
eDRUMin_shill@reddit
The wide open question and refusing context is a tactic. It's supposed to test if you are the kind of person that needs permission or takes initiative. You are supposed to just state a ton of assumptions and then run with those. Some of the most thoughtful engineers I know aren't good at that stuff. I'm certainly not. I feel like that approach filters for the kinds of people who are often confidently wrong.
chino9656@reddit
How about a query, sanitize, loop through to create a csv string, and finally export to csv?
Disclaimer, I think your situation is tough and NO context makes for a bad interview question. Sorry that happened to you, hopefully someone suggested to the CEO to let the hiring manager develop some coding scenarios that make sense. I have 15 YOE.
Okay, on with it...
When I have had high level management in interviews, low-context questions are not all that irregular. I may ask if they have any details or output requirements/preferences, or can you use your own idea. If there are no requirements, they want to see how you solve low-context problems.
In that role, you may have to brainstorm a solution to a problem completely on your own. Make your own requirements, create the solution, and explain why you solved it that way. You may also consider some curated "thinking out loud" to give them a chance to provide more detail - the real world equivalent of getting sign off on a solution design.
I think the best thing to do for low-context interview questions is to let your creativity shine, be ready to share why you made your decisions, and how the solution benefits the company or the team that would use it. You could give an example use case where your solution is the perfect fit. You can give a slightly different use case and explain how you would change your solution to fit the new use case.
Anyway, I wish you luck in your interview journey and re-entering the developer scene!
onefutui2e@reddit
You occasionally just have a bad interviewer or bad interview experience. If anything you probably dodged a bullet.
thisismyfavoritename@reddit
not all interviewers are trying to get you to succeed
computer_porblem@reddit
sounds like you got a good taste of what working there would be like.
"interviews go both ways" is not useful if you just need any job, but if you have options it's good to know that a place would suck to work at.
Flashy-Whereas-3234@reddit
I think it's just one bad experience, don't fret over a company with shitty interview practices.
Having this come directly from the CTO indicates what kind of company this will be to work for - you dodged a bullet anyway.
Our interview technical is similar, we have a very open scenario and we answer any questions you come up with. It doesn't actually matter too much what answer we give, we want to see where your mind goes and how you work, we're not that interested in a "correct" solution.
I would have just made the point of saying, ok without any more information I'm gunna make it basic and broad so we have room to maneuver once the requirements become clear, I'm not gunna gold plate something that'll inevitably change.
chosenpluto@reddit
The CTO might have been so far detached from the code that even if he wanted to give you pointers and talk specifics he wouldnt Be able to.
Altamistral@reddit
Just move on. Sometime bad interviews happens. These are not the rule and you are not at fault.