I hated the job search experience. Most companies had me do programming challenges or projects. I learned 2 things:
First, I the challenges were pointless. Being a person who learns and develops for a purpose, the process of doing a challenge that had no applicable meaning infuriated me. At first, it wasn't so bad; however, as time went on, I noticed that most of my time was spent learning how to solve some random internet problem just to get a job interview instead of growing actual skills. After a month, if a company sent me a coding challenge, I just told them that I thanked them for their interest but I'm looking elsewhere. It's sad how so many companies ask this and there are services dedicated to this just so you can get a job.
Second, the projects were hit or miss. If it took more than a day of my time, I learned to avoid them as I was basically working for free and it in itself was not guaranteed to move you forward. Some companies had me just do a live-stream session of a project just to see my thought process and I enjoyed some of them; however, even if things seem like it's going well, nothing is guaranteed.
Overall, the interview process is just flat-out broken. I'm not sure if it's just bias, a flooded market, or just plain ignorance. The process just needs to improve overall; however, I'm sure it's not going to change for a good long while.
I hated the job search experience. Most companies had me do programming challenges or projects. I learned 2 things:
First, I the challenges were pointless. Being a person who learns and develops for a purpose, the process of doing a challenge that had no applicable meaning infuriated me. At first, it wasn't so bad; however, as time went on, I noticed that most of my time was spent learning how to solve some random internet problem just to get a job interview instead of growing actual skills. After a month, if a company sent me a coding challenge, I just told them that I thanked them for their interest but I'm looking elsewhere. It's sad how so many companies ask this and there are services dedicated to this just so you can get a job.
Second, the projects were hit or miss. If it took more than a day of my time, I learned to avoid them as I was basically working for free and it in itself was not guaranteed to move you forward. Some companies had me just do a live-stream session of a project just to see my thought process and I enjoyed some of them; however, even if things seem like it's going well, nothing is guaranteed.
Overall, the interview process is just flat-out broken. I'm not sure if it's just bias, a flooded market, or just plain ignorance. The process just needs to improve overall; however, I'm sure it's not going to change for a good long while.
I totally agree. Good to hear other developers feel the same pain. 😅