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Google's “Director of Engineering” Hiring Test

(www.gwan.com)
1764 points fatihky | 1 comments | 13 Oct 16 15:15 UTC | HN request time: 0.336s | source
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adekok ◴[13 Oct 16 15:52 UTC] No.12701587[source]▶
I'm reminded of a story about Einstein in the 1930s. The fad at the time was to have a "skills test" which was supposed to place you perfectly according to your results.

Einstein took the test, and did terribly. Everyone was shocked, and asked him what was going on. His response was "The questions tested memorization. Why would I remember what the capital of North Dakota is? I can look that up in a book!"

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the tests faded out of popularity.

It's sad that 100 years later, even Google hasn't learned that lesson.

replies(1): >>12703970 #
1. drvdevd ◴[13 Oct 16 20:58 UTC] No.12703970[source]▶
Perhaps, as of yet, Google isn't living fully by their own principles ("automating themselves out of a job"), maybe because the tech isn't quite there yet or maybe for other reasons. It remains to be seen if the ultimate solution to bureaucracy is AI/ML or if it will just be a further extension of these same mechanisms.

The problem with simple "skills tests" is they lack depth, and of necessity due to time, always will. The problem with performance tests is the opposite: they may take too long to reach a conclusion in human terms, during which time significant money is lost.

Recruiters seem like a great candidate for replacement by AI. [edit: and I should add, most middle managers too]