Free work as part of the hiring process

[RockmaninoffParticipant 1641]

Are there any other programming types here?

It seems to me that employers/contractees all want you to perform programming tests. Typically, they’re not terribly long, one or two hours, which they want you to do for free. But the problem is I’ve never gotten a call back after completing them.

Two particularly bad situations have happened recently that made me resolve to not perform free work anymore. The first was after I’d done the test, they set up a phone call, and I was immediately told they were looking for someone with ten years of experience, so I couldn’t be considered for the role. And now, just recently, I spent nearly thirty hours working on some automated web tests, which they rejected because I didn’t use the libraries they wanted me to use.

Would it be unreasonable/counterproductive for me to tell them that I expected to be compensated for my time when they ask me to do a programming test?

". . . elle, suivant l’usage des femmes et des chats qui ne viennent pas quand on les appelle et qui viennent quand on ne les appelle pas, s’arrêta devant moi et m’adressa la parole"—Prosper Mérimée

[007 (Reborn)Participant 1672]

Sounds like slave labor to me. You have every right to request compensation. You are the one providing service.

Pursuing Happiness and Freedom.

[It’sallbsParticipant]

That sort of thing happens all the time. In Britain if you get a degree and your family have the right connections you will get an unpaid internship. There are people allover London who have done 3 years of unpaid work and still can’t get a paid job. Some of the worst offenders are the newspapers.

I had the same thing at an interview once. i answered the questions well but they virtually verbally abused me and said they wanted me to email them a strategic sales plan and email i to them then come back in for a 3rd interview.

In a polite parlance I said fcuk off.

http://www.leavemeansleave.eu

[BobbyParticipant 140]

I’ve had two interviews where I had to do work that very much looked like it was real programming work for the company.

The first time around I had to do a programming assignment from home. It took me half to a whole day to do it. I sent it to them by email. At the face-to-face interview one of their employees said I was the only applicant to do the assignment correctly and they intended to use my code in their project. He said they didn’t have the expertise to write the code themselves. A month after the interview, the owner of the company telephoned me and wanted more free work done, again as part of their hiring process. I refused and told him I can’t do anymore work for free. The next day I got a snotty email from him saying I didn’t get the job. You can usually tell if work is part of a test ot real work.

Some years later I got talking to a man on a software forum. He told me there was a job at his company and would I write some code as part of the interview test. I wrote some code for him. It took me at least a day to do. I emailed him the solution. Almost immediately after I emailed him the solution (and practically within only 1 or 2 hours of the job being publicly advertised and thus before any ohter applicants could apply), I got a rejection. My code worked perfectly and I heavily tested it. I asked him if there was anything wrong with my code and he couldn’t find a single thing to say what was wrong with it. I had been suckered for free work! The project he asked me to do looked like real work, rather than for a test.

These are the only times I been suckered for free work, but a lot of other companies do have excessive testing. I had a whole day of tests from 9am to 5pm. As I had to wake up at 5am to get to the company’s premises by 9am, this was getting pretty hard by the end of the day. Before this I had to do 3 programming questions (took me half a day) and one one-hour coding session over the Internet. I didn’t get the job. The HR woman was really rude to me over the telephone when she said I didn’t get the job. She said the hiring manager thought I was very stupid! I think it is pretty daft when companies make interviews start at 9am when you live in different city.

At one bank I had to make three trips to their premises and submit for two hours of testing. Afterwards I was told I couldn’t be considered for the job because over a 15 year period, I had 5 different jobs and they considered that too much! So I wasted days of my time because they couldn’t be bothered to read my CV before putting me down the testing route.

I think the problem is that there are too many applications for each job.

My advice is to start your own company. It will take less work for write your own software product that get a job nowadays.

[BobbyParticipant 140]

I think someone should tell these companies that the testing is getting too much.

If you go through excessive testing at a few companies and have not gotten a job, then it just becomes a pain to go through it again. My problem is that when I was interviewing for jobs, I would do very well in their tests and then not get a job offer. It is a hideous waste of time.

The worse offenders are the big tech companies. You go through days of testing. You do well in the tests. You are told you have done well in the tests and that it was a difficult decision not to give that job for you. You are then told you will be considered for other jobs in the company. When another job comes up, you have to go through another round of testing, even though they have practically told you you passed the first time around. It is absurd.

I did one written examination at a company and I got 100%. I then had one hour of oral questions, for which I practically got everything correct. Again I didn’t get a job offer. The reason was that I wouldn’t fit in with their culture!

I would in some way tell these companies they either need to cut down on the testing, compensate you for your time or simply only use testing as a final step, rather than the first one.

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