Ask HN: Market for training developers to interview better?

I'm wondering if there is a market for training developers to interview more effectively.

Over the past year I've been doing a lot of hiring for my current employer. Not being satisfied with how we've brought people on in the pass I spent some time researching better ways to interview and we now follow a system similar to Amazon with two phone interviews, a lot of free hand coding, formal rating sheets, white board work, team and individual interviews, etc.

Two things I've learned: A. Many really good candidate will excel at this interview approach. They have fun showing off their skills for us to see and are unfazed by the work, detailed questions, or any other pressure that we try to apply to them.. B. Most developers I talk to are horrible at this type of interview, have no idea what the interviewer might be looking for, and cannot sell themselves, their ideas, or their skills. I've talked to people who have 8 years or relevant experience and a strong CS education but when asked a simple coding question they freeze like a deer in headlights. Like most folks, I can't waste company time on people who probably can do the job but can't pass some basic challenges.

Long story short, I'm wondering about putting together a class to train developers in how to interview/market themselves to employers. This would include class work, white boarding practice, coding practice, mock phone interviews, group discussion, etc. My thought is that for developers often trying to make 6 figure salaries that this should be worth something to them ($500, $1000?). Additionally it also functions as a way for me to pass on extremely good candidates to recruiters, etc.

My questions: - Already being done? - Not done, but still a crazy idea? - How would one get started? - Would tech people (shy, nervous, self doubting souls that they are) be willing to submit to a day or two of training? - Would people pay me for it (assuming of course that I'd be any good at it)?

KoZeN 15y ago ↗

Would people pay me for it?

This is the essential question. I think that people would happily pay for it if you are an established, recognised brand.

As with everything in life, there are plenty of issues you will face. One of the more specific ones being the fact that every company interviews differently. Whilst the basic structure may be familiar, what an employer is looking for from the candidate could be drastically different from what you personally look for. You can counteract this by utilising the services of a top recruiter who specialises in your industry (cough cough...hint hint) as they could potentially educate you on how other companies approach their hiring process.

bodytitle 15y ago ↗

Those are good points. To my "developer" mind interviewing has a lot more in common with web page hacking. It is pretty easy to make something that will only work in one browser, but you can follow good rules and make something that will be fantastic in most browsers. That is the basic idea with the pay off being a better job or higher pay by learning and practicing a more effective general interview style.

A few things that are easily fixed: - People don't read job descriptions - People don't research the company they send their resume to. - People don't write a cover letter - People don't read the emails they get from recruiters or prepare for interviews. - People act like horny teenagers on the phone, so desperate to be liked that they lose all appeal. - People act as if they have never seen a white board. - People don't prep themselves on software design, database queries, etc. - People don't ask questions of a recruiter or show interest in the position at all (but later hound me via email as if they were an ace in the hole).

There are others of course. But 9 out of ten qualified candidates fail on at least 3 or 4 of these basic marks.