GildedRose-Refactoring-Kata VS gildedRoseKata

The problem is though how do you evaluate for real work without a portfolio of experience? Real work projects take weeks - perhaps months - to design, build, review and release. How do you test for that, really?

I agree leetcode style interviews are artificial, but I think they persist because few people have identified and popularised effective alternatives. At least with leetcode you've shown people in front of you have been prepared to go learn arcane stuff and apply it. It's not good, but it's better than nothing.

I was once asked to do the Gilded Rose kata[1] for one ~200 headcount Series D "startup", and it not only resembled real work - it's a refactoring problem - but it also showed their engineering culture. When I joined, I found smart people who weren't leetcode robots, but thoughtful engineers trying to solve tricky engineering problems. I "stole" Gilded Rose to use in other companies when interviewing until I joined my current employer (a FAANG, heavily prescribed process), with great success. I would like to see more katas that are as good at testing real world skills.

Also, something I've only ever been interviewed for twice in 25+ years, which I think is underplayed: pair programming and handling code review feedback. Do this more, please. If you hire people not knowing how they're going to respond to a principal engineer telling them "we need you to think about 4 other things that weren't in the original scope given to you by the PM, can you please go deal with them", why are you surprised when toys are subsequently thrown out of metaphorical prams?

[1] https://github.com/emilybache/GildedRose-Refactoring-Kata

If you want to improve your refactoring skills, I recommend you take a look at The Gilded Rose Kata, a structured approach to refactoring training, initially created by Terry Hughes, and further refined by Emily Bache. It emphasizes test-driven development, proven refactoring patterns and an evolutionary approach.

Here's the link to the problem: https://github.com/emilybache/GildedRose-Refactoring-Kata

At the same conference, I also watched a demonstration using the Gilded Rose Kata to show the value of writing tests before refactoring. I don’t have the exact video, but there are plenty of gilded rose videos out there. Or you can just try writing some tests and refactoring the gilded rose yourself: https://github.com/emilybache/GildedRose-Refactoring-Kata

Gilded Rose Refactoring Kata

Hello friends. This is my Gilded Rose Kata blog post.

Today, the HR recruiter came in before the management meeting and rejected me for an open position as a tech lead due to the technical results. It was an easy kata (https://github.com/emilybache/GildedRose-Refactoring-Kata) but I decided to design tests for the entire code, and not for the new feature itself. Being cut off in the middle of the interview has never happened to me before. I do code and I do enjoy front end development, but I am frustrated with my current job and perhaps I am not cut out for this. If I cannot complete a technical kata/test in front of people, then how can I move past this job I have now?

Now don't want to be too critical and just leave you hanging. Instead of doing just random code sandboxes, I would recommend to grind your teeth against something like this: https://github.com/emilybache/GildedRose-Refactoring-Kata

So what is the Gilded Rose? Is it it this? https://github.com/emilybache/GildedRose-Refactoring-Kata

Code can be found here: https://github.com/hdeweirdt/gildedRoseKata/tree/main/src/main/java/com/gildedrose