Having a way that coders can avoid doing these types of coding problems over and over seems like a positive. Companies that aren’t interested in the approach could not use it.
Most companies today are already using a version of this that is way less respectful of applicant time.
But you’re speechless, so I guess there are strong points on both sides.
This is my thinking too. Having to prove, over and over, that I understand how linked lists and binary search trees work is just tiresome. Doing it once and then being able to refer to a trusted credential that certifies it would be a blessing.
I understand nobody is going to hire on the strength of one exam. Every job is a little bit different and some of them call for particular skill sets. That's fine. By all means ask questions tailored to the job at hand. But let's find a way to skip the really generic questions.
It would be a blessing, but I don't have any reason to expect its coming. I mean, I proved I understand how linked lists worked in my freshman year (well arguably earlier in HS CS classes) along with many other people who were enrolled in a CS or related (mine was CE) degree. Why can't I just point to my degree and never have to prove myself on that stuff again?
The issue is trust. No one trusts degrees anymore, and for very good reasons. I don't see any way for something else that relies on the same sort of credentialism to avoid corruption and lose trust unless it's measuring fairly static and not-very-gameable attributes like height or IQ (see: Wonderlic for basically IQ testing in a way that complies with laws against IQ testing..).
Where this gets particularly ugly is that even though no one trusts degrees anymore, they're still very popular, and some employers still require them anyway (or at least make it very hard to even get an interview without one). If a new "trusted credential" gets popular enough, or even a set of them, they'll eventually lose their trust, but because at some point they were popular people will still sink time into them and so the time cost we're inflicting increases when it'd be better to just get serious about hiring and tell smart and interested 18 year olds to just come start working already.
It's a totally different matter between hiring new grads, and non new-grades. cspa.io seems only to target new-grads. But as you said, it's replacing one degree system with another similar, but maybe evenly good/bad system.
Software engineering is part knowledge and part application of knowledge (problem solving) and part ability to acquire and apply new knowledge. We remain current in our jobs and roles by making sure we're constantly learning. Interviews should be part testing of knowledge, but a lot more discussions to evaluate problem solving and ability to acquire & apply knowledge.
Also, knowledge in many cases becomes stale if not used. If I learn a new language/framework but don't use it in a project immediately, I'll forget almost all of it. I may learn react via books/tutorials, get a great score in the test, never use it and/or forget it by the time I get a job based on the score. Am I a good hire?
Given that it's not clear as to what problem such a test will solve and moreover it's unclear as to the long term impact of such a test. Is this just for initial filtering, or will become an actual hiring criteria?
If graduates from colleges are expected to take such a test to prove something, then what is the value of the work these grads did in their colleges? How is a score in these taking in regards to the work students do in colleges?
Some people are better test takers than others. An a good interviewer is able to probe and work with the person. So such tests may end up discriminating, not on purpose of course, against bad test takers if they become the sole filtering mechanism. People may have to take tests again and again till they get a good score. An effort, which in no way helps in their job per se but is simple an additional burden.
The only potential place where I can see some value for such a test if to evaluate the coding camp folks, since different coding camps have different quality. However, even there, it's unclear how this will pan out.
>I may learn react via books/tutorials, get a great score in the test, never use it and/or forget it by the time
Thats one of the point of programming test, there are tons of framework/language out there, every company might use different language/framework, a standardize test streamline the interview process, make it easy for you to interview in many different company.
>Given that it's not clear as to what problem such a test will solve
It very least shows that you are care enough for the job that you willing to prepare time to prepare for it.
>Some people are better test takers than others
Sure, life is never fair, but for those who are worse test takers then it just mean you have spend more time and effort to practice it.
> Thats one of the point of programming test, there are tons of framework/language out there, every company might use different language/framework, a standardize test streamline the interview process, make it easy for you to interview in many different company.
As you said, they're very different. The thing is it might not be possible, as the technology develops and diverges, to have this one standardized test.
> It very least shows that you are care enough for the job that you willing to prepare time to prepare for it.
It applies to grinding leetcode as well, so not really related here.
> Sure, life is never fair, but for those who are worse test takers then it just mean you have spend more time and effort to practice it.
It can't be like, because some people are just not good at being tested, sorry, we don't want to work with you. They're of different purpose.
But the basic/fundamental like algorithm and data structures are still the same.
Yes just like grinding leetcode, is at least shown that you are willing to put the effort.
If you are someone who just not good at being tested then well you have to make it up with some other skills. For example being a really2 good domain expert that the company seek for you instead of the other way around or having excellent networking(as in relationship) skills.
