After an invitation to apply for a job with a YC company yesterday (an email from the CEO offering to "have a conversation") I got a generic invite to take an online coding test in Javascript.
I've written JS and shipped numerous apps in it over the last 20 years and let me tell ya, if anyone worked for me and wrote code like I saw on those tests, I'd fire them.
My favorite was a sort question that had an obvious bug. Both sides of the sort had the same test (so no sorting would happen). But the question wasn't about that... it was about which input would tell you the code was wrong. This is most ridiculous way to diagnose or fix a bug that I've heard of.
Nobody who really works on software works on these kind of bugs. And this diagnostic technique of arbitrarily working backwards to force a multiple choice solution is probably the worst method of programming that I've ever come across. No wonder so many companies are hiring shitty programmers and writing garbage code.
Without an actual problem and an understanding of the problem domain, no programmer is going to write anything useful for you. Frankly, I'm frustrated by this method of interviewing and selecting candidates. It makes me not want to work at places that do this.
Anyone else have a similar experience? Also, hiring managers... Do you find these kind of tests useful? Why? How?
There's so many people that think they can code, or just say they do that really don't, that some sort of basic coding test is necessary if the job requires it.
Our hiring rate for some roles is 200:1, but we pay handsomely for those.
Think it the other way around, interviews are a two way process, you're also interviewing the company, and the way they conduct the interviews, in many ways also tells you what they value. What they're like.
Take it as an opportunity to get to know each other. Bring this up in a constructive manner. It may make all the difference and provide a stronger signal to both of you, you learn how do they react to feedback and at the same time you show that you're capable of critical thinking and care enough about your craft to call bullshit when you see it.