Good article, it makes me understand better a company’s point of view.

I’ve been a developer for 10 years and I still struggle with some interviews. And I think many people do, even if they have a lot of experience and especially if they are shy like me and get nervous very easily.

These are the things I’ve struggled with more on interviews:

-If there are more than 2 people doing the interview, I already know I won’t pass. Each one will ask me very specific things, some might make sense while others are things that I would never use in my daily work but I can easily search them in Google or Stackoverflow. I’ve had interviews with 5 people that made me extremely nervous so my brain couldn’t function properly and I took a mental hit that even makes me question my entire career at that moment. Fortunately, I’m strong mentally and I just keep applying because I know I’ll eventually find a great company using a normal interview that will hire me.

-Coding tests. These can be ok if small, but there are companies that give you a take-home test that will take you several unpaid hours to complete and are not a real reflection of the work you will do anyway.I can understand if you do this when hiring permanent employees, but I’ve been asked as well for this even though I’m a contractor and I would spend 3 months in the company and I have a one week notice period.

-Having 3 or more interviews for the same company that you eventually get bored and look elsewhere. The process is so long that can last 2 or 3 months and by the time they take a decision, the potential employee has already found a job elsewhere.

-Doing a coding test while someone looks at what you do and asks you to talk about your thoughts. How can you think anyway if you have to talk at the same time? And who wouldn’t get nervous when coding if you know someone is looking at every character you type.

Having said that, I can understand the point of view of a company. They don’t like having to fire people and want to make sure they hire the right person. But during that process, they are rejecting people that might be much better than the people they end up hiring.

I’m not sure what would be a good solution, maybe hiring them initially on a contract basis and then, if they are good, hire them as permanent employees.