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Ask HN: Questions to ask a SWE Intern?

2 points by zolthrowaway ↗ HN
I've been asked to do the interviews for hiring a software engineering intern. I've done interviews in the past but they have mostly been for mid level roles. Should I have them do some whiteboard coding or is that too much for this level? It's been awhile, but I don't remember doing this for my internships. They tended to be stuff like "how would you find all the phone numbers in this file?" or "how many manhole covers do you think are in New York City?" I don't want to miss any bright candidates who just aren't used to technical interviewing, but I also don't want to sign off on someone who can't write a for loop. Thanks in advance.

7 comments

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viraptor
Have a look at the curriculum for the local university. It will give you an idea of what level to expect.

> but I also don't want to sign off on someone who can't write a for loop.

So you've got a lower bound now. You can either start from there and get more advanced with every step, or think of some level you find appropriate and write both easier and harder questions. Then move higher/lower as you get more information from the candidate.

I don't think "find all the phone numbers in this file" is a bad question. You can scale it really well from "show me how you read a file and split words" to "let's talk about running parallel tokenizers over mmaped pages". There may be a better example for the domain you work in though.

zolthrowaway
Thank you. I really like you're idea of coming up with a lower bound and scaling it up. I will definitely try to choose some questions like that.
brudgers
Might make sense to oursource some of this given that your organization does not seem to have a standardized interview process proven successfual and clear interview objectives with appropriately aligned metrics.

Good luck.

zolthrowaway
We're a middle stage startup hiring our first batch of interns. Up to this point, we've only hired full-time employees and a few contractors. I'm not sure outsourcing is really an option for us just based on our size. Thanks for the reply.
brudgers
As a thought experiment, imagine that it was an option. How would your company instruct the recruiter? Working through that problem is harder than harvesting internet tips and anecdotes. It requires understanding the business case and evaluating it in business terms. The possibility that your company isn't ready to hire interns is not ruled out by your descirption (it isn't proved either).
zolthrowaway
That's a really good approach. I hadn't thought about it that way. I think the issue is more with me as an interviewer than with the organization as a whole. We've been pretty successful with our hires in the past. Thank you for the replies. They have been quite helpful.
cimmanom
A student with one semester of computer science at a halfway decent university should be able to do a fizzbuzz on a whiteboard.

Then explore the candidate's learning style and how they deal with situations where they can't solve a problem without help.