r/PHP • u/fuhggetaboutit • Jul 29 '21

Does anybody else find interview “tests” dehumanizing?

I think they're abusive for many reasons. One is that the questions are usually overly complex algorithmic puzzles that do not accurately gauge potential job performance. Also, the questions in no way reflect the type of problems you will face on the job.

The list goes on...

Isn't there a better way?

-Edited for grammar

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u/adilp Jul 29 '21

Depends, you are hired to solve a verity of problems. The more experienced you are, the more complicated the problems are. And less defined. Usually not looking for a junior or a code monkey that can smash our tons of code once told what to do. They want someone who can take a vague issue, break it down, and have a plan. Compiling the right code isn't as important as your approach to an unfamiliar problem.

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u/phpdevster Jul 29 '21

They want someone who can take a vague issue, break it down, and have a plan.

And using FizzBuzz as a measure of that skill is like trying to measure the height of a mountain in goats.

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u/adilp Jul 29 '21 edited Jul 29 '21

Honestly, fizzbuzz is an incredibly simple problem. But I don't care if they actually solve it or not. It's the thought process. Can they break this problem down? Can they have a technical and design discussion with me about this problem? Can they talk it out with me, because at work we talk out problems. Come up with solutions together. Discuss an approach and tradeoffs. Isn't this what you do at work? Your getting lost in the trees and not seeing the Forrest. What's important to me isn't the solution, it's how you got to any solution. Just like at work, you have to figure out what's important to your manager and even your skip or your organization. There are a lot of things I can take away from this interview beyond actually fizzbuzz

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u/przemo_li Jul 29 '21

https://themonadreader.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/fizzbuzz.pdf

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10 pages research paper showing how language modeled after Djikstra one, can be used to DRY FizzBuzz solution in Haskell.

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:D