Does This Interview Process Sound Weird To You?
Posted by Suspicious-Rich-2681@reddit | ExperiencedDevs | View on Reddit | 18 comments
Posting here since I haven't applied in a long while so I might be completely out of the blue here - needed a pulse check to see if I'm crazy or not.
I'm a 8+ year experienced dev and I've got a pretty loaded full stack background, JS/TS frameworks, monorepos, micro frontend, .NET, native app dev you name it. More recently I've been doing a lot of backend work in .NET and haven't touched JS in a year and some change.
Recently was testing the waters to another company for a Senior Frontend Engineer role and they got me in for a screening with their India team (a bit confusing, but it's fine). They didn't really give me any context aside from it would be a technical discussion. At my level I came prepared to talk about high level concepts - tradeoffs of SSR, SSG, CSR. Micro frontend optimization and bundling techniques, how to handle data etc.
They had me join the interview in IST (so 1:45am for me) and the interviewer effectively asked me to do a leetcode easy problem in JS exclusively. I let him know that as per my resume I hadn't coded in JS in a year so my brain was still in C# mode- plus no one had informed me that I'd be doing technical problems in JS so I didn't have time to take a refresher, but I solved the problem no issue after getting up to speed on the semantics of things like what X and Y JS method calls.
He moved on to asking me about typing and interfaces and whatnot in TS, completely fine - but then asked me if I can show him the sematic implementation of both. I once again told him, hey there man I haven't touched the specifics of this in a year so I may have a misplaced semi colon or brace, but I can tell you why they're different and the approach and rules for each.
He moved on to asking me if I use testing and how should I write them for the problem I just solved - I pointed all of this out and even called out a really specific edge case as we were talking that his testing set wouldn't have caught. He goes "does your solution solve for this?", I pause for a second and let him know "no because it's not listed as a criteria, but I can add that functionality via X pattern match and we're golden".
He was super vague and non helpful, and then he let me go.
I'm honestly just a little...confused? I expected a conversation going over higher level concepts and implementation and not the minutia of the language. Also would have been nice to been told that was what I was doing prior.
I feel like I'm a seasoned writer applying to a new newspaper and my first interview wasn't talking over how I'd craft an article or digging, but more so "what are the exact rules around using a semicolon in MLA".
I can certainly get that information and know where to get it, but knowing it off hand exactly seems a tad ridiculous.
Is this...normal? Because if so I can go refresh my grammar knowledge, but would've been nice to know.
waa_woo@reddit
Other than 1:45am, everything else seems par for the course.
Suspicious-Rich-2681@reddit (OP)
Highly disagree with this take.
Languages are interchangeable massively, and the syntax of the language - especially at the senior stage - is comical. You don't need to know how to do explicit inheritance in the nomenclature of C++ as an example if you know how inheritance works. This is because when you NEED to use this, it's a Google search away - or hell an LLM call away.
Understanding how next js handles the SSR, SSG, CSR models with hydration is pivotal to building good apps - knowing how stateful hooks like useMemo and use effect work are pivotal towards using the framework to its best ability.
I mean honestly man if you think that what you describe is actual software engineering then you are VERY replacable by LLMs.
Software Engineering is an exercise in critical thinking and data management to craft new things, not memorization of specific syntax. By your logic every developer who was a JS pro, was immediately on the same footing as new folks when TS dropped because "vague concepts get you nowhere".
I'm beating a dead horse here, but you're not going to care if a seasoned automotive engineer knows the quadratic formula off hand. You hire them because they know the supply chain and feasibility of development of new parts. They know how to apply tension and WHEN to use the quadratic when necessary.
Man this take made me so mad.
Such an L take.
Which-World-6533@reddit
You what now...?
exomyth@reddit
Yeah that would have been a no for me
Empanatacion@reddit
That smells like a dominance ritual to set the tone. At least they're showing their hand early.
Which-World-6533@reddit
It would be a hard "no" from me.
If there's no time for you to do an interview at time when both our work days match, then this job won't work out.
Buttleston@reddit
Totally unreasonable, depending where you are in the US they could have found a time in either your morning or theirs that would fit
Individual-Brief1116@reddit
Yeah this whole thing sounds like a mess honestly. The 1:45am part would have been a hard no from me right there. But even beyond that, asking for JS syntax minutiae when you clearly stated you've been doing .NET recently? That's just poor interviewing. Good companies tell you what to expect beforehand and focus on problem-solving approach over memorizing language quirks.
CodelinesNL@reddit
It's very common at least. It's "abnormal" however in the sense that this is a messed up interview process. It's a signal you applied at a messed up company.
First of all; that you'd be asked to screen with a team in India at 1:45 am is already the reddest of flags. I would've said no immediately, and the suggestion is borderline insulting enough to me that I would've ghosted them. When I'm applying to a company, they are interviewing with me as much as the other way around. I want to make sure that the people I am going to work with, are nice competent people.
Secondly; shitty companies have shitty interview processes. A lot of managers that don't "get" software engineering, don't "get" how to interview for them either. They just ask what they perceive as the most "senior" engineer to interview, not having any idea of the actual interview skills of said engineer.
This one never had the intention to hire you. They had the intention to find a reason to not hire you. And that's all too common. I've had a few "never let this engineer interview others" conversations with managers. Some because they would say "yes" to anyone with a pulse. Others because they felt they were smarter than everyone else and gave a very bad first impression.
DeterminedQuokka@reddit
Honestly without more context I would say a few things.
If you apply for a front end role you have to be ready for JavaScript it’s likely front end engineers are the ones interviewing you they don’t know your backend language. Yours lucky they did t make you write react.
If you are interviewing with the India team and the company isn’t there it is probably an implementation role not a planning role. Someone like a recruiter should have made this clear to you. But I wouldn’t assume that team was quizzing me on architecture. Companies usually use offshore for implementation speed not decisions making.
When someone schedules an interview ask what it covers. A reasonable company will tell you.
Manic5PA@reddit
Some people see technical interviews as an opportunity to pop quizz you on the things they happen to be personally good at.
nsxwolf@reddit
And there's a perfectly good reason for this. No interviewer wants to sound like an idiot, especially if the interviews are recorded for debriefing later.
Empanatacion@reddit
The weirdest part is the middle of the night interview with a team in India.
The leetcode nonsense isn't great, but at least isn't unusual.
There are different sets of criteria to go by depending on whether you currently have a job. This puts this one in the "only if I'm unemployed" bucket.
metaphorm@reddit
do you live in India? if you don't, then this seems like a really strange position to interview for
Interesting_Debate57@reddit
The job itself sounds like it would suck balls, because that person would be very likely to be senior to you and has no interest in a high level conversation -- they're looking for a code monkey.
BTTLC@reddit
It’s a little bit odd but not super uncommon. Usually things like leetcode are more language agnostic and you can choose your language of preference, and if not, they at least give you the courtesy of letting you know it’s going to be in some specific language.
A bit disorganized on their front. Odd to interview you in india time if you’re not in that timezone as well.
low_slearner@reddit
Sounds like either a poor interviewer or a poor interview process. Both are depressingly common. I've never taken a role at a place that did this to me - if they can't be clear about expectations for something as straightforward as an interview, imagine what it's like working there!
It's not new, so I'm actually surprised you haven't run into it before.
ClideLennon@reddit
Have our interviews become quiz shows for esoteric syntax only the interviewer is familiar with? In my experience, far too often.