[HN Gopher] Show HN: HackerPen a better tool for tech interview
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       Show HN: HackerPen a better tool for tech interview
        
       Author : marshall2016
       Score  : 12 points
       Date   : 2021-09-14 17:31 UTC (5 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (hackerpen.io)
 (TXT) w3m dump (hackerpen.io)
        
       | frellus wrote:
       | Nice tool at a fraction of the price of others in this space, but
       | to be honest I'm not sure how it is a "better tool" - it's a code
       | pad for coding interviews, but there are no rich features or any
       | ways it distinguishes itself from others.
       | 
       | There are many gaps in the way code interviews are done, and
       | especially with remote now I think there's a lot of ways you
       | could have a tool which really differentiates itself in features
       | and functionality. Good start though!
        
         | marshall2016 wrote:
         | Thanks for the encouraging words! Agreed that there are many
         | areas to explore. One aspect we're exploring is how to
         | establish clear rubrics, and even share it with candidates
         | ahead of time. Any areas that you think would be interesting to
         | look into?
        
       | paxys wrote:
       | "Better" in what way? I have been using CoderPad (and similar
       | services) for over a decade and they do all this and a lot more
       | at the same price point.
        
         | marshall2016 wrote:
         | Hi Paxy, thanks for the reply! So a few things are better IMHO
         | (comparing to Codepad): - pricing: $50/month for unlimited v.s.
         | %50/5 interviews codepad - the whiteboard feature is easier to
         | use.
         | 
         | On our future roadmap, we also plan to make a feature for
         | feedback loop that encourages companies to share detailed
         | rubric and feedback / and let candidates know what to expect
         | and how they performed.
        
       | IMAYousaf wrote:
       | Hey! This is a pretty cool tool. As a nitpick, I think that the
       | pricing page is off. $500 for a year, as opposed to $50 a month,
       | is not a 20% savings.
        
         | pxue wrote:
         | 600/1.2 = 500
         | 
         | I think it's correct? Now I'm confused too
         | 
         | Edit: yup was wrong. Read reply for right calculations.
        
           | nemoniac wrote:
           | 600 * (1 - 0.20) = 480
        
             | marshall2016 wrote:
             | Good catch, I just updated it to 16% off. (600 - 500) / 600
             | = ~16.7% rounded down.
        
           | hansvm wrote:
           | Typically "20% savings" would mean that you save 20% of the
           | initial value. 20% x $600 = $120, not $100. I.e., you should
           | multiply by (1-0.2), not divide by (1+0.2).
           | 
           | Edit: That has the undesirable property that common English
           | sentences don't cancel out like you'd expect -- if you lower
           | the price by 20% then raise it by 20% you don't end up where
           | you started. Unfortunately, that problem doesn't go away
           | whether "increasing/decreasing by x%" always refers to the
           | former or the latter price; you'd require that it target's
           | the former price in one direction and the latter price in the
           | other, which IMO is even less intuitive than the status quo.
        
       | cosmotic wrote:
       | This doesn't solve any of the problems I hear a lot about with
       | technical interviews so I don't see how it's better. Everyone
       | (interviewers and interviewees) complains about writing code and
       | using a white board; this just enables those hated un-proven
       | interview techniques.
        
         | czhu12 wrote:
         | How does one conduct an interview for a software engineer
         | without either writing code or using a whiteboard?
        
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       (page generated 2021-09-14 23:02 UTC)