Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

I appreciate the feedback and you raise good points. However, i'm curious what purpose many of these exams serve...some guesses:

- Because it is actually a good predictor of job success (does anyone think this is the case for anything but a handful of job roles?)

- To be adding a hurdle to target those who really want the job (downside: it also adds a hurdle to top-notch gainfully employed people who dont have time to study for such exams)

- Another is they just need something to reduce an otherwise overqualified pool of already qualified candidates (fair point, but at the risk of losing out candidates from concern one above.)

- Legal risk mitigation -- add a quantitative measure to show a facade of merit and process.

TBH, I have never been on the hiring side at a small firm, so I don't know. But I have seen several things:

1. People recruiting me to Amazon and practically giving me the exam questions (I declined mostly due to location) Same thing at two other firms (perhaps to get referral bonuses?)

2. An H1B process that is by-the-book correct yet entirely against the spirit of the program.

3. Tons of interviews, screenings, etc at big firms just to justify an already-decided inside candidate. This I witnessed firsthand and makes me really upset because of all the candidate time they waste and the false hope they give to people who were never in the running to being with.




Consider applying for YC's Spring batch! Applications are open till Feb 11.

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: