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Comment by p4wnc6 | Hacker News Reader

FYI for others: if you submit an application through the Spire careers page, it appears you receive an automated response indicating that you must complete an online, timed programming challenge as the mandatory next step (at least this happened to me). If I had known this, I wouldn't have applied (I prefer to work only for organizations that will actually talk to me first before any coding tests) -- so maybe this comment will be useful for others who have a similar preference (or, conversely, it could make this opportunity more attractive to those who have a preference for the initial communication to be a coding test).

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I'll agree that I dislike this process but I don't think one judge the company just because they have the coding test first. It's a hiring process, not pure proof of company culture and their thoughts.

But yes, communication first would always be nice imo.

I prefer the initial communication to be coding test. That way I hold a good chance, as I am not that much confident in conversation.

For me, it's not about being good in conversation (neither for me nor for the company's representative). It's about having the chance to ask questions about the true nature of the job, exactly what you will work on, to see if the job really is interesting and a possibly good fit. It's impossible to tell that from job descriptions which often don't give much clue about what your actual job would be like.

If, after talking through it with someone, I still feel like there is a good chance of a mutual fit, then I'm happy to be evaluated quantitatively by my skills. But if a simple conversation reveals that it's not a good fit, then it saves everyone a lot of time since I can avoid the code test for a position I don't want, and the company doesn't waste time evaluating a code test for a candidate who will end up feeling that the role isn't the right fit.

This is just my personal feeling, but for me the idea of doing a code test before ever talking to someone at the company about the nature of the job is like putting your shoes on before you put your socks on.

Thanks for the note p4wnc6. I definitely understand your position. This is why I included my email in the post and encouraged folks to email me if they are interested in learning more about Spire.

I'm happy to hop on the phone with people interested in Spire if there is a potential fit. Please shoot me an email if you'd like to get in touch! Darin@spire.com.

Cheers,

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