It was an internship for a full-stack developer role. I was given two days - today is the final day, and I did not even start with the project as I was too stressed to complete the task, worrying about designing and modelling the database part, and because I have a really vague idea about system design. The skill requirements for the project are NextJS and MERN stack - which makes little sense. It said nothing about state management library, so I was also really confused about that.
Here are the requirement of the task project:
- make use of NextJS
- create a LinkedIn clone, without the feeds
- must have shareable short-link profile
- should be SEO-optimized
- should provide API for creating and editing profile
- should make use of good UI practices
- explain the reasoning behind the system design decisions
- explain the steps required to run this application
- use of ChatGPT was allowed
- share this on GitHub
I think that I was being fooled - that I was being made to work on a project for free, and that this test is very unreasonable and a big red-flag into the startup’s WLB. Just wanted feedback on whether I was being unreasonable?
Edit: Here’s what the listing says:
Are you a passionate Full Stack Development intern looking for an exhilarating opportunity? Look no further! <company-name>, an innovative company, is seeking a talented intern with expertise in Node.js, JavaScript, ReactJS, HTML, CSS, MongoDB, and Next.js. Join our fast-paced team and gain invaluable experience in a dynamic work environment.
Selected intern’s day-to-day responsibilities include:
- Collaborate with the development team to design and implement user-friendly web applications using cutting-edge technologies
- Develop and maintain scalable backend systems using Node.js and MongoDB to ensure efficient data management and retrieval
- Create visually stunning and responsive frontend interfaces utilizing ReactJS, HTML, and CSS to deliver an exceptional user experience
- Conduct thorough testing and debugging to ensure optimum performance and seamless functionality across different platforms
- Assist in optimizing website performance by analyzing and refining code, and implementing best practices
- Contribute to the development of RESTful APIs, integrating with third-party services to enhance application capabilities
- Stay updated with the latest industry trends and emerging technologies, sharing insights and participating in team discussions to drive innovation
If you have a hunger for knowledge, a strong work ethic, and a desire to make a meaningful impact, apply now to become a part of the <company-name> team. Ready to revolutionize the world of web development? We can’t wait to meet you!
Lol, asking for literally months of work as a job interview. GTFO with that.
Might be much for an internship, but they aren’t asking for months of work.
When they ask for LinkedIn clone without feeds, it’s pretty clear they just mean the ability to create, edit, and share a profile. They basically say as much in further bullet points. That’s straight up CRUD(minus delete). This is pretty much backed up by them wanting NextJS and MongoDB.
The next key requirement that sounds like it would take a lot of time is the SEO part of it. That doesn’t make sense at first glance, but since they specify that one must use NextJS, it becomes more clear what they meant. NextJS offers feature specific for SEO score like SSR and component streaming. So they want them to implement something regarding that.
The rest are just what you should do with any take home, follow best practices and provide a readme detailing why you made what decisions. If you chose something over another option mention it because that tells whoever looking at it that you at least thought of it.
Overall, may be too much for an intern, but they probably don’t expect them to finish it. Just list what they would do to complete it in the readme and leave it at that.
Even if you’re right, I would never work for a company demanding this much for merely the interview process. Especially at the junior level. It speaks to their [shitty] culture, which sounds like it is absolute garbage.
I think that I was being fooled - that I was being made to work on a project for free
Yep. Sounds like a scam to get free work.
Having built similar applications, with my own boilerplate at the ready, I would budget at least 5 hours for this sort of mockup and would only accept a 2 day turnaround with a premium and full payment in advance.
For a junior with oversight from an experienced mentor I would budget at least 3 days with a turnaround of no less than a week.
For a junior with no guidance, I wouldn’t expect completion of this project at all.
Ignore this client. Even if they’re serious, they are clearly ready to undervalue your work in an extreme way.
Tell them that you’ll be happy to do that for a substantial fee.
Since Microsoft bought LinkedIn in 2016 for $26.2 billion wouldn’t it be reasonable to ask for $2 billion dollars? It’s actually a hefty discount because the “feeds” are taken out, right?
We can negotiate the on the final number.
As a manager of a security team at a tech firm, that’s idiotic and you were tasked with something difficult. Vocalize your issues, show them your efforts, and ask for guidance.
If you don’t get help, start looking. It’ll be a hassle, but but you’ll be better off.
An internship is a role where a person learns how to do this. (And someone who knows how to do this knows it’s orders of magnitude more involved than the two days you were given — two months is a more realistic timeframe.)
Here’s a personal experience of mine, so you have more to compare this with:
When interviewing for a developer position (not an internship), I was once given a take-home programming task to complete over 2-3 days: basically a small, self-contained web app that they had made intentionally buggy and poorly-composed in various ways. I was tasked with identifying & fixing the problems, then providing a write-up of why I changed what I changed. (The package was different enough from their specialty that it was pretty obvious I wasn’t doing their work for them. I confirmed after being hired that this same task was given to all applicants.)
Again, that was for hiring a developer. The whole point of an internship is that you’re being taught and trained on the job.
If you’re already able to build what those people asked of you, then you’re overqualified for the role.
An internship is where someone learns something. Perhaps this internship is for more complex things and what they’re asking is for a bare minimum experience of a hard thing already. I’m not saying it is, but OP didn’t tell us much about the listing itself, just the requirements of the interview task.
I’ve updated the post - you can read the entire job listing.
It’s a fucking ridiculous ask for free work. If a role I was applying for asked for that I’d require a few in person interviews first and an agreed on contracting rate for my time - probably with an advance.
If your “test” takes more than two hours for a reasonable person it’s just an effort to get free work.
I’d maybe email them and state that for a project, a requirements document is step one, so to do the project rather than a subtractive list of what not to include, a list of what features are to be included is step one.
It’s possible the person seriously doesn’t know how many features LinkedIn has, and all they want is just profiles, and private messages?
Its possible once they start listing features to you they themselves will realize what they asked was unreasonable and they’ll give you something very simple, like all it has to have is sign up, login, and profile pages.
There’s a small part of me that wonders if it’s a test of some kind. To see how you react to absurd demands. Do you just make something shitty and pretend it’s done? Do you reach out got clarification? Can you communicate very clearly, in business terms, why this project would take a full team of devs easily a year and a half to two years to make?
I’d approach it that way and ask to meet and discuss, and I’d say we’d have to work put a requirements document first and foremost.
That is the type of work of a full stack developer as far as I know. Is it a paid internship? Is this the type of projects the job listing indicated you would be doing, or is this the bare minimum level of experience they are looking for? Two days to build a LinkedIn clone seems daunting but could be done and may make sense IF the internship is for more complex things (and paid IMO).
Many others have mentioned an internship is meant for you to learn, but the job posting reads as if you already need years of experience. If you haven’t done so already, report the posting as fraudulent if you’re able too. This is flat-out farming for free work by taking advantage of students. See if your college/university has a career center or any resources connecting with companies that recruit from your school. Those connections would be more reliable than shady startups.
Any interview process that asks for this level of work from a take hone project is a redflag for abuse. It tells me they will literally do any incredulous thing just to keep costs low.
It’s one thing to ask for a high level design graph… asking for a functioning… this… is nuts. They’re using you.
create a LinkedIn clone,
Lol what? Just create a whole-ass social media site. They are trying to farm out work from applicants.
Manager: “pffft how hard can it be? It should only take what, a couple hours??”
Yeah, seems like they’re trying to get you to do their work for them. And if not, their expectations are completely off the chart compared to where they should be. As much as it sucks, I’d say let this one go. You dont want to work for a place with red flags like this.
I personally don’t even apply for jobs that do BS like this. My current job had 2 zoom interviews with Dev teams and that’s it. Best job I’ve had so far and I just got a 32% raise w/ my promotion after less than 2 years
Yes that’s unreasonable.
Maybe it’s just me but I’m happy when an intern knows how to write a for loop.
I’m happy if they can walk me through a problem conceptually and not make a horrible mess of a query.
Pff what luxury! I’m happy if they can tell the frontend from the backend.
