Source
r/cscareerquestions•
Betelphi

Company requires you to build an app to even APPLY.

I have been seeking work as a FE Engineer and I recently encountered what must be the most ridiculous application process ever. https://www.raisely.com/jobs/frontend-engineer after a lot of typical start up fluff, at the bottom they tell you how to apply: build an entire login process that hits their signup API and handles errors, validation, has smooth UX, etc. They even say it should probably take 2 hours. This is BEFORE they talk to you on the phone or even accept your resume! Am I right in thinking this is extremely ridiculous? I am looking for mid to senior level FE roles and am applying to hundreds of jobs, who has time to build an app at the pre-phone screen stage??

Posted Nov 14, 2020, 6:49 PM UTC

1624
De_Wouter•

Even the Soviet Union didn't have that many red flags. OK maybe they did ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

If you are not desperate, don't do desperate things. You will just shoot yourself in the foot by doing it. It's admitting you are desperate for the job and kills all your negotiation power. Or the job is actually in high demand and people are lining up for it. In that case you are also wasting your time as it will be a lot of work for a job you won't likely get. Either way, no, just no.

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1
fsk•

before reading your resume

I've gotten burned on "tests before they read your resume". What happens is you submit a correct solution, then they read your resume and decide you aren't qualified. No interview and you wasted your time.

14
Tinytox•

And then they sometimes keep your work for free?

2
WrastleGuy•

Some companies put up tests like this because they want desperate people that will put in long hours when hired. Laugh and move on.

6
SuhDudeGoBlueData/ML Engineer•

Are you Australian? This is an absolutely shit salary by American standards for the expectations they have. I would be surprised if any half-decent American dev seriously applied. 88k AUD ~= 64k USD. At least they are transparent about it though. That is admirable.

Also, I think it is a bit of an exaggeration that you are building an app to apply (although I guess you could say that you technically are). You are sending and receiving some HTTP requests to and from their API, and you need to create your own decent UI on top of this (this part is annoying, I'll admit). IIRC, Stripe or Plaid had a similar application gimmick (without the UI).

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1
angreduser•

Yes, it definitely is ridiculous. When I was interviewing last year, one of the companies (the big one) had this same thing where they wanted me to make an android app. They said it shouldn't take more than 4 hrs but trust me, you won't feel good enough with 2 hrs of effort and end up spending 10 hrs. I was desperate at the time, and I didn't have any other interviews lined up, so I did it anyway.

1
AvatarAlex18New Grad•

How far did you get in the interview process?

2
angreduser•

They completely ghosted me and never got back after I submitted the project lol. Maybe I did so bad that they didn't even bother to reply or they found someone better, who knows :)

3
Stickybuns11Software Engineer•

STUPIDNESS.

1
wongasta•

I had design simple todo app, movie catalog, Imagify api, these are 2-4hr exercises after phone screens, and explain my architecture. However I would avoid if they’re asking for it beforehand. Send them a previous project on GitHub if anything.

1
BernieFeynman•

Idk this would probably take like 1 hour to do, some one who wants it more would probably do it.

1
S2nII3ejAFQi•

This sub doesn't want to do anything. Everyone wants no college required, no experience required, no interview over 15 min, and $120,000+.

Just don't apply and move on with your life. This process weeds out the people who are too lazy to or can't complete such a simple task. It also cuts down on spam.

Every time I get a task like this I get an interview. I rather have that then my resume being among 400+ other resumes and never get a call back.

1†
eugeneyc•

This is the truth that people don't want to hear, but bloody true.

1
howHardIsIt2SignUp•

well fuck them and move on

1
ReceptionLivid•

It’s really not that ridiculous. The most bogus part is that this is before a phone screening, but the actual work isn’t near a full app. It’s just a simple sign in page with validation which can all be done really fast. Faster than a lot of the automated hackerrank tests at least and actually mirrors their day to day. Smooth UX should be a given in anything you do and not a bonus.

1
BetelphiOP•

I know its not a full app, not difficult to make... but BEFORE they even let me email my resume or screen on the phone or do anything at all! they want me to want to work there so so badly that I will forgo all good sense and just do "work" to prove my loyalty or something.

1
ReceptionLivid•

Yeah that part is pretty dumb for that pay (idk what the standard is in AUS, you guys have high COL) but sadly things like this aren’t uncommon in the hiring process for FE.

1
fj333•

Candidates writes post on Reddit rather than just IGNORING a ridiculous job listing.

0
Trick_Card•

This can be done in like 30 mins in codesandbox with react hook forms lol

-1†
rooster_foot11•

Yea man. And a hacker can just a field day and nuke the DB, by making false injections and requests to the server. Honestly, everyone should take a Security course.

1
Trick_Card•

It’s for a frontend engineer position if you don’t know how to make a simple log in form that hits an extremely simple api that even email validates for you, then it’s probably not the job for you

6
rooster_foot11•

I know. I’m just saying everyone should know about validation, security and tokenization. Even the product manager should know a little about app sec.

2
Trick_Card•

Ah my bad yeah, I’m sure they have some kind of rate limiting on the api though

2
contralle•

So don't apply and move on with your life?

I don't feel like reddit needs to know about every unreasonable hiring process out there.

-8
ccricersSWE, Little 40,000•

It's good word of warning material.

As a result we all get smarter in the end.

3