Bar raiser - AMA
*** NOT TAKING MORE QUESTIONS. THANKS FOR PARTICIPATING. *** In lockdown and bored. Yellow badge. Tech bar raiser with around 500 interviews. AMA. Only civilized questions and follow ups please. No TC, YOE or other stuff on myself. Need anonymity.
Who has a final say in hiring? The BR or the HM?
I have pushed for a hire approx 20ish times over 500 interviews because the candidate was too good to pass on. In general HMs understand the situation once they have the facts in hand. BRs can veto. I have not vetoed as I usually try to use reasoning. But to your question, the BR agreeing is a mandatory condition, HM agreeing is sufficient.
OP, I think you mean both agreements are mandatory. If HM agreement was sufficient, it would mean BR agreement doesn’t count.
Bar raiser has to be L6 above?
Not necessarily. I have seen and mentored good L5 BRs. Usually they are TT and close to L6 though.
How do you tyoically evaluate new grads? What specifically is expected out of new grads? In coding interviews, is more weight placed on solutions over thought process and everything else?
Junior folks are evaluated based on potential. Expectation is solid (enough) basic CS skills and no red flags on LPs. Trying to avoid obvious mishires on both sides- we do care about new hire experience. Thought process is important: is the candidate coachable? Can they be set up for success? Will they reach positively to feedback?
What do you look for in a candidate besides LP and skill set match with the position?
Match with the position is HM's task. As BR I determine match with hard and soft skills for role and level.
How do you feel about hiring new grad in just 30 minutes video interview? Even you might be aware they give 2 OA with their friends. Why don't you push back on such hiring practices? I am 100% sure even after 500 or even 50,000 interviews you can't judge anyone in 30 minutes!
Student programs is a mess. Thousands of BRs have opposed the way the program is, proposing alternate solutions, but Amazon pushes too hard. Also, realistically, new grads are the easiest unregretted attritions. I'll stop there.
Have you sensed any racism in hiring in any of the loops?
Yes.
How often (rough %)?
After phone screens, do you think H-1Bs or guest workers in general perform worse?
I never use immigration status as data point for assessing the tech bar. (I stopped doing PS a few years ago)
Not asking if you look at the immigration status to make decisions. I'm asking if you objectively see a difference after the initial screening i.e. during on-sites, between guest workers and citizens? I'm asking because these claims/questions are regularly made/asked on blind.
Have you come across a loop where everyone is inclined except BR? What happens then?
We talk. If everybody has the same opinion there are n-1 redundant persons. I changed my mind several times; I have changed other peoples' minds several times; and we have found a different level/role other times. These are the best discussions to have. Everybody has weaknesses. I consider a loop successful if these come out and we have a fruitful discussion on whether we can set the candidate for success considering good and bad. New or incapable BRs may have more rigid positions because of lack of experience or problems in dealing with conflict.
Suggest some good teams with good WLB for SDE1 :)
He! For SDE1, you need two things: a good manager (up or out, you want the former), and a good mentor. You can move later if you don't like the org. Unfortunately L4 WLB varies dramatically even within the same org.
I know WLB depends on the team. What are the orgs with very new tech stack (Scala / go / typescript ) ?
Why has Amazon bar gone down?
Oof
You are assuming that it has. I am not so sure. Maybe in some orgs because of B players acting as HMs.