The Tech Interview vs. the Job

The meme says it all ☝️. If you’ve been in the tech industry long enough, you know the drill: the technical interview is an epic showdown and when you land the job it’s a set of mundane tasks.

This article answers one question: What gives?

Overhyped Interviews

I think we have all been there. Overblown, high-stakes interviews mean you’re expected to perform like a gladiator in an arena.

The requirements are usually vague, and the expectations can be overwhelming. For instance, you might be tasked with a take-home project that’s supposed to take a few hours but find out it takes 3 times longer than anticipated. In other interviews, you are expected to understand complex algorithms and data structures that are irrelevant to a regular coding job (except for arrays, perhaps).

The performative nature of these interviews is clear. We expect candidates to cram a vast amount of largely irrelevant information just to prove their intellectual capacity, which may not even correlate with the demands of the job. This emphasis on performance over practicality leads to a significant issue in hiring: the preference for “competent jerks” over genuinely likeable, team-oriented developers.

This is a problem that NASA has recognized and addressed in its astronaut selection process. The solution was to focus not just on technical skills but interpersonal dynamics and a sense of humor. You know why that is — morale within the team is incredibly important.

Tech interviews seem to prioritize technical competence over team compatibility and jerks over normal people. Despite the undoubted good intentions behind selection processes, it’s disheartening that tech interviews still heavily favor those who can “play the game” rather than those who might contribute positively to a team environment.

The Job Reality Check

Once you battle your way into a job the harsh reality sets in. The daily work of a software developer isn’t about battling complex algorithms but about attending meetings. If the job were about solving problems and producing great code that would be one thing and perhaps you could set up a recruitment process to find out about that.

The reality? You’re a corporate cog in a wheel and you’ve been missold the complete notion of what your job is meant to be.

Why the Discrepancy?

If you don’t believe me about the stark contrast between your interview and the job, think back to your last interview. If you did some pair programming, do you ever do that at work? If you were asked quiz questions about threading is threading really part of your work?

Because for me nothing has come up in my daily job to reflect the interview process I went through.

It seems to me that companies are not yet looking at my ideal interview process. You know the one, where I radically claim that technical interviews should reflect the actual skills needed on the job.

Companies are instead opting for a gladiatorial bout where they mistake complexity for competence and take on jerks at their peril.

Conclusion

This meme isn’t just a joke; it’s a poignant metaphor for the disconnect between tech industry hiring practices and job realities. It highlights a need for reform in how we assess potential employees. Shouldn’t we focus more on practical skills, problem-solving in real-world scenarios, and teamwork, rather than solo feats of technical strength?

For me, it’s about time we (as an industry) started to think about this stuff and put solutions in place. How hard can it be?