Hacker News Reader

Comment by jxcole | Hacker News Reader

I certainly self censor like this on a different subject: I'm one of the only people who thinks the tech interview process is actually pretty good (I'm also very good at it, so that could be why). But anyway, only an idiot wouldn't know that a positive statement about tech interviews would garner a thousand downvotes. People seem to think HN is some sort of bastion of free speech but really it's just an echo chamber of slightly different opinions than, well, other echo chambers.

View on HN

Yes and no - I've seen people defend stereotypical tech interviews, and not get downvoted. But only when it's sufficiently nuanced and adding to the discussion, i.e., "I think they do a good job at filtering for false positives, but as with any such measure it creates a lot of false negatives. My experience has been that the people who -do- get through tend to be pretty good, or at least, have put in a lot of work to clear the bar, which translates pretty frequently, but recognize it doesn't say anything for the people who don't." vs "Pff, the interview process is great; if you're not clearing it you're just not good enough to work there"

HN, as anywhere, has an echo chamber, sure, but it also does have better dialog even around the sacred cows than others (i.e., perhaps the biggest one here, "startups are great!", is balanced with "They're lotteries. Go to a FAANG if you want to get rich, and anywhere established if you want better work/life balance")

I think it’s fair to distinguish an echo chamber from a place of familiar discourse. I see this for example in the skeptic circles I run in. Amongst peers we might talk more dismissively about some pseudoscience topic we’ve all seen hundreds of times, but would be more willing to engage someone in good faith at, say, a family dinner.

You get downvoted because there’s actual evidence the interview process is deeply flawed and essentially a proxy measure for tolerance of anxiety (and of course raw intelligence), but does not correlate well to actual performance. You shouldn’t necessarily be downvoted, especially since there might be some merit to the overall thrust of your argument in defense of the tech interview. However at some point it’s entirely possible you sound like the person espousing homeopathy to the local skeptic club.

Free exchange of ideas does not mean each is given equal weight. That’s only a lie those who spread misinformation and peddle pseudoscience propagate.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com