I’m a professional. I expect to be treated like one. If there are companies who are serious about hiring a professional, I’m all in. Please engage me.

That's really well said.

I remember being in the same situation a couple years ago in which I was accepted to an interview through a video chat web application hosted by the company.

To my horror, when I joined the meeting, it was not a video chat interview. It was a series of recorded clips of their HR person reading off questions, the clips pausing, and then a timer showing up on the screen noting "You have 15 seconds to answer".

I was so put off by this that after the first question, I decided to spend the rest of the time I was being recorded explaining to them under no uncertainties that this was one of the most unprofessional interview processes I had ever engaged in, and that they had made it clear that they did not value my time whatsoever, so I had no reason to reciprocate.

Jesus. That's brutal. I'm not in the software world and have never experienced an process like you just described.

I do remember feeling similarly disgusted years ago applying for a retail job where I had to do an insulting "phone" interview/test where a computer asked me a bunch (like 20-30) of dumb fucking questions like:

• "Have you ever stolen money from your job?"
• "Do you think it's okay to come to work drunk?"
• "If you put money in a vending machine and got two items instead of one, would you put additional money in for the second item?"

That last question very specifically is one I'll always remember because of how incredibly stupid and insulting it is.

I hope you find work at a company that respects you as a human being and as a professional.

As a rule (at least for me), never never ever accept take home assignments or tasks that either require full control of your pc, or requires you to pull some sketchy repository from GitHub.

That’s one way to get infected with malware and potentially have your data stolen.

If you have to absolutely do this, do it on a VM.

But 99.99999% of the cases, there’s no need to install control software to a pc or having a 3rd party lib installed.

If a recruiting company requires this, then it’s a red flag.

You did well. You’ll find something soon.

Stay strong!

I'm a highly experienced developer staying in a very low-paid job because the work is not for an unethical purpose and there's relatively little employee surveillance or corporate politics. I know developers aren't in a powerful position right now but I admire your reaction. It's no way to treat people, and they won't stop treating candidates disrespectfully until they see that it hurts their ability to hire. I expect the day will come soon when I have to make a decision like you and could be forced to leave this field.

The hiring company failed the interview. It happens, and IMO you've exercised good judgement here.

My personal suspicion is that this sort of inhumane, inhuman, hiring process filters for people who are either desperate for work, or who don't see anything wrong with this sort of thing.

You made the right choice. I was treated with more respect when I was flipping burgers in college.

I've told recruiters that if they don't allow remote work then they can fly me out for an interview if they want more than a phone call.

I've been in the industry for decades, and perform interviews for entry level up to and including principal level. This form of interviewing is absurd, invasive and useless. It will NOT tell you how good someone is... any monkey can write code, the real question I always try and get a handle on is:

Can they solve complex problems? How do they tear the problems apart? How do they apply technologies to do so?

In person (or video) is the ONLY way to tell how good they are.

Take home tests are useless.

Good on you for telling them no in a very professional way.

I hope you are able to find something soon, it's a really tough market out there!!!

@MasterBlaster If the company is in the EU, and they use AI to do facial recignition, that is actually illegal! See https://natlawreview.com/article/use-ai-recruitment-and-hiring-considerations-eu-and-us-companies

Some job advice:

Look at industrial automation companies. DCSs, PLCs, historians, MESs, etc. Those are “old” technologies now. Their world was one of proprietary hardware, networks, and code. But it’s been converging with traditional software and IT for decades. There’s a huge need to connect those “behind the firewall, closed systems” with corporate data so it can be mined, reported on, used in ai applications, linked with corporate ERP systems, e-commerce, you get the idea. Old farts like me can engineer circles and build cool things with panels and power and ladder logic and fancy bus networks and pumps and valves - but we have zero skills to take our closed system data and put it in a webpage, or link it another application. People like you who come from “the outside”, learn a bit about industrial automation to be dangerous, and then help companies do the above tasks - well they are invaluable to me.

The reason I say this is two fold - 1) it’s an unmet talent need and 2) you would never find an insulting interview process like that. In fact, you’d find the opposite- they want to meet you in person and regularly take you to meet with customers.

It’s more traditional work and that’s not for all - but it sure doesn’t have all that intrusive interview bs.

I just wrote an email to a recruiter withdrawing my interest in pursuing a job (it’s a recruiter hired by the hiring company).

I certainly hope you plan to share this with the company for which you were applying, because the recruiter probably wouldn't even finish reading this before binning it. The employer you were endeavoring to work for is who should be seeing this.

Don't give up. This invasive testing happens with companies that outsource HR....I have always refused these tests and refused anything that requires take home evaluations.

Last time I was job hunting, I rigged my resume to pass AI filters and get to a headhunter. Once a resume is in front of a human, things are different.

Getting through the 1000 resumes and being the one they look at is the key, and crafting a resume that checks all the AI requirements is the key

I experienced a similar thing a few years ago, applying for a management position with a nonprofit. (A nonprofit!)

My reply ...

Hi $PERSON,

Your application was strong and we’re really pleased to advise you that you’ve progressed to the next stage.

Great! Thanks for getting back to me so quickly.

We’d like you to answer a few quick questions using our online video platform, SparkHire. This will help us get to know more about you and what skills and experience you can bring to the role, the team and $NONPROFIT.

...

A set of questions will appear on the screen (some filmed, others just text) and you’ll have the opportunity to create video recordings of your answers, within a specified time limit. You can review and re-record your answers as many times as you need.

I'd love to catch up either face to face, in a video chat, or even a phone call to discuss how I could use my skills and experience to help out the $NONPROFIT team. To be honest though I'm not at all keen on recording a one-way video interview.

I do have several concerns with SparkHire (no data retention policy that I could find; and enhanced privacy protection for EU customers only; email instructions years old that referenced Flash).

But my main concern is that the idea of one-sided video interview feels ... well, one-sided and dehumanising. To be honest it's quite the opposite of what I'd have expected from the employee experience of an organisation like $NONPROFIT.

Even if I were placed in the role, I'd be reluctant to refer friends if they were also required to participate in a one-sided video interview.

Please drop me an email at $EMAIL or give me a call on $PHONE if you'd like to chat further, either virtually or in person.

How it would have gone for me:

"You need to install this Windows software for the assessment."

"I don't have Windows."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Bye bye."

this reminds me I remember once my dad tried applying for a aircraft mechanic position and he was extremely weirded out as they proceeded to ask him nothing but questions related to marketing, how he would sell a pen, etc. Then it started getting jnto extremely weird territory. stuff like "would you ever consider stealing from your boss? have you ever killed someone?" he eventually just asked what was the position he was being interviewed for as he was told thus was a mechanic position and the questions were making him extremely uncomfortable to be divulging.

The woman looked at him weirdly for a minute, said "excuse me a minute" and left. an hour rolled by and he went to the front desk and found that the entire place was empty with the lights shut off at 3:22 PM. he tried calling later and they gave him shit for "being unprofessional by leaving."

He said how was he unprofessional when everyone was fine with packing up and leaving? silence on the other end. they hung up and he was extremely confused. it was a multi million dollar company in the area so it's not like this was some small office.

I'm an engineer with ADHD. If an interview tried to get me to use software that requires I not look away, they will be informed that the ADA requires they provide me with reasonable accommodation.

(My current employer does, and they get the high quality of work they deserve.)

Instead of declining the role, you should have told them their assessment platform is so broken that it's undoubtedly costing them good applicants, and that you'd be happy to make that your first project as a staff engineer.

Good on you. I turned down an interview at the first level because they asked me to download one program, I said I'd be happy to download anything they want if they bought the hardware and paid for my internet.

You're career is not over. This is not how interviews work.

You did the right thing, and you did it gracefully. I would have told them to fuck the fuck off, and probably would have reported them to the department of consumer affairs and to the fair work commission (aus) 

If you have the means, or family/friends that can lend you some, please start your own small software business. The market doesn't balance itself if all we got are the abusive giants. I'm working on it myself.

We need to bring back Unemployed Councils.

As a dev with roughly 10 years (or more depending on how you count) of experience, I would have done the same. Beyond maintaining self respect, I feel like we have a duty to each other to ensure companies that treat candidates like this have the hardest time possible finding someone willing to put up with it. I don't even entertain companies that won't let me use my choice of distro - especially considering I'm web UI focused.

Why would you feel bad, the interview is a 2 way process. They are evaluating you but YOU are also evaluating them. It's actually VERY costly to you too if you start working for the wrong company. If you realize after a week or a month that truly the culture, the tooling, etc basically anything but the pay does not match YOUR needs, whatever they may be, they you HAVE to pull out.

You can be polite about removing your application, as you were, but you should not feel bad. It is precisely WHY there are interview. Candidate think about it as only them being evaluated and that's very wrong. As your title says clearly it is about self respect but not just during the interview, the whole time. If you are not a match sure it does suck, for both, but that's again better than a forced match that will bring both down over time.

Finally regarding your last part, I recommend you edit your post to put your precise skillset and experience there. Hopefully someone can refer you to the right place.

If the company goes to those lengths to try to catch assessment cheaters, it's not going to get better if you get hired. If they suspect you without having a reason, then they will always suspect you. You made the right choice.

i would have done the same. i went through the interview process for an engineering position a few years ago where they required an iq, reading comprehension, and basic arithmetic test. i felt so insulted by their apparent lack of trust in their applicants that i went off in the feedback field, whereupon they cold-called me to ask why i was so frustrated despite apparently being in the 95th percentile of all applicants. not something you want to tell someone applying to an engineering firm...

The increased use of automated systems only further dehumanizes the workplace. We need to seriously start thinking about how we're going to survive when human labour is no longer sought by the entities that control all the resources.

Last year I was trying to get a new job and I wish I'd had your convictions to end the process when it was clear things weren't going well. Instead I let them string me along for a total of 6 onsite interviews (on 6 different days) with around 20 different people. When I had an interview with the CIO I was certain that the job was mine... only to be told the next day they were going with someone else.

After the 3rd interview I was already thinking that it was excessive and when they asked me at the last minute to come in for the last interview a voice in my head told me that I need to tell them to either make me an offer or fuck off. Instead I showed just exactly how desperate I was, and ended up hating myself for it.

Pride doesn't feed a family, but you should hold your head high for this decision.