Grading job candidates via Github API | Hacker News Reader

Grading job candidates via Github API

divio.ch

10 pointsdigi60433 comments

I've got 30+ years of experience, in a variety of areas (early console games, Unix kernel hacking including ports and adding virtual memory and demand paging to a swapping system, BIOS software that shipped on millions of motherboards, SCSI drivers and firmware including writing the development tools and reference software NCR included in their SCSI SDK, PCI compliant credit card storage system, and much more).

They sent me to "Learn Python the Hard Way". A book aimed at teaching people with NO programming experience.

You mean to sit there and tell me an automated analysis of a single web site's knowledge of someone is an ineffective way to judge a person's value?

Well good sir, I just do not accept that.

Obviously a terrific idea for filtering out the riffraf:

«We love your initiative, Linus Torvalds…» … but you need to improve.

And sadly, that score will keep some people from applying for a job/internship they would be qualified for.

If you don't use github actively, everyone is free to get in touch via jobs@divio.ch - in that case, attach something else to show you are qualified :)

The way they present it makes it seem that it is only the github they are interested. The headline states: "Find out if you are made for this position or not!" and then I get a message: "We love your initiative...…» … but you need to improve." To me, it says, 'hey, I'm not good enough for this position so I'll move on'. Especially considering this is targeted at people with no experience.

I can't count how many times I've seen posts on www.reddit.com/r/cscareerquestions asking about being ready for a job after graduating or saying they feel like a fraud. If somebody did have imposter syndrome and saw that, it would most likely re-affirm their feelings. Especially after seeing the scores of others on the leader board.

Yea, I use google code and sourceforge. Guess that means I'm unqualified. Not that I'd want the internship. I have been a programmer for 10 years and love my current job.

I like this idea a lot, but you're right. There needs to be a clear distinction made along the lines of, "this is not scientific and if you are interested we will give you a chance regardless of score."

But this is of course at the discretion of Divio.

yeah, It's not clear to me what their criteria could possibly be. Their own employees seemed to have scored decently well, while heavy weights did terrible.

I didn't even make their first tier at < 10k

As you said, even heavy weights did terrible: http://imgur.com/fgvlQ

Maybe it's a random number generator. I got 18k, and I barely know anything about the technologies listed at the bottom of the page.

I can't tell you the exact algorithm, but as we are searching for an intern to work together with us - we are definitely weighing some things higher than others.

I like the "blablabla" description :D

They seem to favor python users.

Which is what they seem to be hiring. That's all well and good, but it would have been better to be clear on the criteria so that people understood their score better.

What I would love to see is something that gives you an overall sense of your contributions regardless of language. Pull requests made/accepted, total projects contributed to, number of different languages for code checked in etc.

This may work for hiring interns but IMO there is a lot more that goes into a quality Sr. Engineer than can be identified through analyzing a candidates code commits.

A few examples of engineering qualities which seem to be either looked over or not respected on this board include...

- Estimation Skills (can the candidate estimate their own abilities and identify pitfalls in the upcoming tasks?)

- Documentation Skills (including diagramming, white boarding, etc)

- Communication Skills (can the candidate communicate to the recipient on the level which is required?)

- Systems Integrations concepts/experience

- Systems Performance concepts/experience

- Personality (e.g. can the candidate accept that their proposed solution is not the best in the room and go on to implement another proposal)

- Politics (can the candidate navigate the politics inherent in an IT organization or are they always burdened by conflict)

In my experience anyone can learn to code, and most people can put together an application, but to become a great performer in any IT organization, the soft-skills are even more important than the coding skills.

Interesting idea. Obviously, plenty of good people do not use github though.

This should be used to allow programmers to skip the phone interview stage, filter people in. However, it it should not filter people out... Just give others a phone interview.

Is this a joke? It doesn't seem very serious.

As for companies that would consider such a thing, what happens if someone does not, will not, or can not commit their work to Github?

Should I just commit stuff to Github just so I can say I did?

You can still apply at https://www.divio.ch/en/jobs/ with a regular application if you would prefer that.

Not that I want to apply, but the preference seems to have been clearly stated. Are you saying there is no preference to GitHub users? How can someone determine that since the page seems heavily in favor of it?

As an example, I typed in 'dhh' and 'matz' ... both of which would not qualify for this position. 'You need more improvement' was the result. Surely the grading algorithm could use some tweaking.

Just forking a bunch of Django/Python repos got >20K points and a "Not bad! Maybe you have what it takes" message[1].

[1]: http://i.imgur.com/cbkUK.png

I just figured it out. They're looking for software testers.

Here, let's try it on somebody we should all recognize:

https://www.divio.ch/github/u/dhh/

Welp. Huh. Looks like the creator of Rails isn't getting an internship.

Of course not :-) We are a Django shop ;)

Well played sir or madam!

Let's hope prospective interns aren't grading potential internships based on whether the company's web server melts down an hour after a post on hacker news. :-) All I get is a 500 error.

I think the true filter here is "You are going to get [blablablah] per month, to spend on beer." Non-drinkers need not apply.

Ah well, at least they're up front about some of their priorities.

I know. I don't even drink alcohol or use facebook or github, looks like I'm screwed.

Why would someone with a 31334 github profile want an internship? They can get a regular job making regular money.

GitHub's popularity makes hg users sad :)

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