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0 pointsnlawalker10mo ago0 comments

> I want you to start with these answers then we can layer on complexity if you’ve solved the problem and there’s time left to go into navel gazing mode.

Do you tell people this explicitly? If so, good on you; if not, please start! I think one of the biggest problems with interviews these days is misaligned expectations, particularly interviewees coming in assuming that what's desired is immediate evidence that they're so experienced in solving FAANG-scale problems that it's their default mode.

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7 comments · 3 top-level

renewiltord10mo ago· 2 in thread

At the level where this matters, the skill to figure it out from context is important. You aren’t the guy converting spec to code. You’re the spec maker.

nlawalkerOP10mo ago

I agree, but I think my point is that the interview context and expectations can differ radically different from the role context, depending on the interviewer. If the expectation of the interviewer is that the interviewee should be asking questions to determine scale needs, then they should be explicit about that. For all the interviewee knows, you're going to ding them and ultimately fail them for asking too many questions and not exhibiting knowledge and experience.

Swizec10mo ago

> For all the interviewee knows, you're going to ding them and ultimately fail them for asking too many questions and not exhibiting knowledge and experience.

I start the interview with “I am here in the role of PM and co-engineer so you can bounce ideas off of me and ask any questions”

Stakeholders won’t start their asks with “Please ask me questions to make sure you’re building the right thing”. Asking clarifying questions is a baseline expectation of the role

dondraper3610mo ago· 1 in thread

I believe even at FAANG-like companies, only a lucky minority is involved at that level of scale. Most developers just use the available infrastructure and tools without working on the creation of S3 or BigTable.

dmurray10mo ago

This famous blog post [0] suggests that the default behaviour at Google at least is for everything to deal with massive scale. Doesn't mean everyone is involved in creating massive-scale infrastructure like S3 or BigTable, but it does mean using that kind of infrastructure from the start

[0] https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/koGbEwgbfst2wCbzG/i-don-t-kn...

Swizec10mo ago· 1 in thread

> Do you tell people this explicitly?

Yes and no. I give them rough scale numbers to design for. Part of the interview is knowing why I’m telling you this.

no_wizard10mo ago

Or asking to get there, I find that to also be acceptable

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