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Startups require potential engineer hires to perform a test?

1 points by doorty ↗ HN
One of my first jobs out of school was for a startup, and they required me to do a short hack to prove myself. Then I worked for two larger companies and they didn't require any pretest. Now I'm considering working at another startup, and they want me to perform a test. Do just startups do this? What's your experience... I almost get the feeling that it's free labor for them.

2 comments

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jrallison
Free labor for them? If interview test code is in anyway a part of their codebase, you should be running the other way.

Programming tests are simply to make sure you can actually code. You'd be surprised how many people interviewing for engineering positions can't.

Startups are generally very small, and can only afford to hire engineers who are going to get a tremendous amount of work done.

imcqueen
I work at a large org. And we require a programming test using JavaScript for front end engineers. It's the best way to see how skilled someone is. I would recommend it to anyone hiring for a programming position.