> First, is programming skill what this is actually measuring, and second, is programming skill what this is intended to measure?
Yeah, no, and, no. I agree.
I don't think it's measuring programming skill. I think there's a strong enough correlation between that skill and being willing and able to study for & attempt their interviews that simply conducting them the way they do yields a set of candidates who would practically all be acceptable hires—but they can't drop the unpleasant and/or useless parts and make them easier, or that would stop being true. There are definitely lots of people who'd be good, or even great, that it excludes, but I don't think they care, probably regarding the cost of finding those folks as too high to be worth it. As it is, it barely even matters how good a job they do of weeding out candidates who show up. Most of them are probably good hires (for what FAANG is looking for, which is some combination of IQ and "how bad you want it", as far as I can tell).
> The cynic in me says that's what these companies are actually selecting for, although it's likely at least some people involved in the decision making aren't doing it consciously.
Heh, yeah, I agree that's likely part of it.
I think there's also a hazing component. Hazing is effective at creating strong in-group sentiment and bonding, in a hurry.
Overall, I think measuring programming ability has almost nothing to do with why they do what they do. I also don't think that necessarily means it's ineffective at achieving their goals. I think complaints about FAANG-type hiring, when directed at companies that pay in the top-tier, are misguided for that reason. I also hate them, and don't think they're good at measuring actual programming ability, but I think there's likely a non-crazy (though a smidge sociopathic or cruel, maybe) point of view from which they are the right thing for those companies to do.
It sounds like we’re mostly in agreement. I’m not sure they are actually the right choice, because I tend to think that companies that are trying to operate at such a large scale would be better off having a broader set of type of people working in engineering, and they necessarily limit themselves too much by insisting on their interviewing approach, but I’ll admit that I’m bringing a lot of my own bias about what a good company looks like into that view of the world.
Yeah, no, and, no. I agree.
I don't think it's measuring programming skill. I think there's a strong enough correlation between that skill and being willing and able to study for & attempt their interviews that simply conducting them the way they do yields a set of candidates who would practically all be acceptable hires—but they can't drop the unpleasant and/or useless parts and make them easier, or that would stop being true. There are definitely lots of people who'd be good, or even great, that it excludes, but I don't think they care, probably regarding the cost of finding those folks as too high to be worth it. As it is, it barely even matters how good a job they do of weeding out candidates who show up. Most of them are probably good hires (for what FAANG is looking for, which is some combination of IQ and "how bad you want it", as far as I can tell).
> The cynic in me says that's what these companies are actually selecting for, although it's likely at least some people involved in the decision making aren't doing it consciously.
Heh, yeah, I agree that's likely part of it.
I think there's also a hazing component. Hazing is effective at creating strong in-group sentiment and bonding, in a hurry.
Overall, I think measuring programming ability has almost nothing to do with why they do what they do. I also don't think that necessarily means it's ineffective at achieving their goals. I think complaints about FAANG-type hiring, when directed at companies that pay in the top-tier, are misguided for that reason. I also hate them, and don't think they're good at measuring actual programming ability, but I think there's likely a non-crazy (though a smidge sociopathic or cruel, maybe) point of view from which they are the right thing for those companies to do.