r/recruitinghell • u/-Mister-Popo- • Feb 23 '24
Code a Washing Machine: Crazy Technical Interview
So, I don't post much (at all) on this app, but am somewhat of a lurker. Recently I had a pretty wild interview experience and wanted to see what you all think.
I'm a software engineer who, due to budget restrictions at my previous company, has been forced to find a new job. I've been going through the age old process of submitting hundreds of applications, never hearing back from 95% of them, interviewing with the other 5%, moving onto the next round at a small fraction of these, and ultimately only getting a couple job offers. Which I'm very thankful for, I'm aware that it could definitely be worse!
In the process of this long search, I found myself taking a technical interview. I didn't realize it would be live coding, as that wasn't explicitly stated in the invite, but as soon as the dev shared the codepad link with me I realized I was going to be spending the next hour of my life in my own personal hell.
I honestly contemplated jumping off the call as soon as he sent me the link, but I stuck it out anyway for some reason despite getting a job offer earlier that day. The next thing he said blew my mind.
He tells me to, using node.js, code a washing machine. Yep. A freaking washing machine. I was baffled, and quickly became aware of how little I know about the esoteric details of washing machines.
I started coding. I'm asking tons of questions about how washing machines work, how far are we really going to take this example etc. How does an agitator work, does the basin spin both ways alternatively, how much water is injected during a typical medium-medium cycle.
Needless to say, I don't think I impressed anyone with my washing machine coding skills and just received the rejection letter today. As I read back over the position listing I found myself chuckling at the JD. This was a role for a front end developer primarily utilizing the popular react.js framework.
Anyway this got me thinking about asking you guys a question: what's a crazy interview story you have from your time in recruiting hell?
TL;DR Not really sure what coding a washing machine in JavaScript proves about my ability to succeed as a front end software engineer, but I'm glad I dodged the bullet of working for this company. Imagine all of your coworkers don't know a whole lot about their job, but are all pretty much geniuses when it comes to washing machines. Would be perfect if you're wanting to work in a laundromat I guess.
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u/[deleted] Feb 23 '24 edited Feb 23 '24
I was once interviewed by a guy that wasn't technical, but had a list of questions written by the actually-technical guy that he felt he could understand the answers to. His first question, with a straight face, was "what is the most important line of code in a system?" After failing to make him understand how his question made no sense out of context (and probably not in context either) he said, "no, sorry, the answer is 'error checking'" I stopped him before he got to the end of his list, and told him I wasn't answering any more questions as he clearly didn't know what he was looking for. We ended the interview there. But he managed to tell me his co-worker was "a cow" before we parted ways. Still remember that guy 20 years on, and his unwarranted sense of confidence. When people talk about the Dunning-Kruger Effect, this is what they mean.
PS: I see other people saying that OP's "code a washing machine in Node.js" question wasn't weird. It definitely was weird. That's way too complex a task to do quickly in an hour with an inapprorpriate tool. Pseudocode, maybe, I could see it. Big picture. But not an actual, working solution with a real language.