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!
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.
They’re getting you to do the job for them lol, that’s the kind of thing a whole internship should be based on, not an interview
That would be wildly unreasonable even for a senior role.
create a LinkedIn clone, without the feeds
Wut?!
should be SEO-optimized
The fuck does that even mean in terms of a social media app, where the content is 100% user generated?
should provide API for creating and editing profile
The fuck?
explain the reasoning behind the system design decisions
Considering the complexity of the task that explanation would need to be the length of the bible.
Yeah, no. I’d want a six figure sum upfront for that level of work.
The task wasn’t ‘pretty unreasonable’, it was outright fucking insane, and was probably set by a manager who should never be in charge of a software project. They might as well have asked you to build a Windows clone from scratch.
create a LinkedIn clone,
Lol what? Just create a whole-ass social media site. They are trying to farm out work from applicants.
Sounds unreasonable.
A Twitter clone would be one thing (you need like two DB tables with four basic mutations, and the UI needs to serve create account, login, profile and timeline). I don’t know what a LinkedIn clone without feeds is.
Two days though is ridiculously short.
Edit: this also assumes the UI is very minimal and unpolished, just using a skeleton CSS layout and very basic divs
Pretty sure the company was just meaning a LinkedIn clone to “just” be a basic profile upload. Which is probably not that much more than your Twitter clone, just a few extra DB tables.
Still sounds unreasonable for an intern for sure. But I’m sure a few desperate or skilled people would be able to get something meeting the rough requirements.
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.
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.
internship for a full stack developer
I understand I am not in that field specifically, just kind of adjacent, but a full stack developer intern? Is this normal?
I have done one of those like 3 years ago
Word appreciate the input! Like I said, I am not a developer, so I am not baiting a fight here or something. Just kind of surprised to see that from the outside looking in. But I guess it’s more normal than I realized.
Companies always want a lot out of you for the cheapest price. Full stack intern is a way to do that.
Full stack is a broad term. As an intern, I changed some font colors and also wrote a couple of backend scripts. That counts as full stack in my book.
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.
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.
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).
I barely touch any code beyond some excel automation macros, PowerBI queries, and mostly ProtoFlux for Resonite. But even I can tell, this isn’t merely unreasonable…
This is flat out absurd.
I would have called them back ASAP and told them they accidentally sent me a long term internal project.
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