Software Developer Interviews Suck

February 27, 2017

Interviewing for a software engineering role is more onerous than interviewing for any other profession. Interviewing for most non-software professional jobs typically consists of a phone screen and one to two interviews on site, where you talk about what you did in previous jobs. At no point during are you asked to demonstrate any skills, you’re trusted as an adult that you’re telling the truth about your experience and qualifications.

Interviewing for a software job typically involves 1 phone screen with HR or the recruiter, 1 technical phone screen and possibly a programming task to complete in 1-4 hours of your own time. If successful at all of the above then you can go onsite for a whole day of interviews - yes, you will need to use annual leave at your current job. During some of the onsite interview rounds you solve esoteric coding problems on the whiteboard. In the other rounds you will be expected to design scalable software systems in 45 minutes that are similar to ones that the company has literally spent hundreds or thousands of developer hours iterating on the design.

This video expresses my frustration with the interview process as a software developer.