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Ask HN: Going to tech interviews for a 3rd party shop?

by tompark on 9/24/24, 10:03 PM with 13 comments

My LinkedIn profile has my contact info, so it's not uncommon that I get contacted for random things. Recently I received an email from a dev shop, complimenting me on specifics about my work experience.

Their proposal is that I perform in tech interviews to help land projects for them. They handle all the client prospecting, and do all the project management and coding. Beyond the interviews, I can be involved with the actual work as much or little as I want. We'd split any profits 50-50.

It seemed like the kind of thing that could be legit, unethical, or possibly a scam.

- If there's full transparency with the hiring employer, then ok, it's legit.

- But why would I be involved in the first place? If the employer/client thinks I'm overseeing the project, then there's some deception involved.

- Also you've probably heard of developers working as full-time employees at multiple jobs, which is clearly unethical. It didn't sound like that's what this email was proposing, but sometimes you don't know exactly where the line is drawn until you go down that path.

- Alternatively, it could be a scam aimed at me. I've heard of fake job offers that get all your personal information, incl. SSN and bank account (supposedly for direct deposit), presumably for identity theft. Again, this seems unlikely but you never know until you go further along.

Have any of you heard of similar arrangements to this? If so, how did it work?

  • by codingdave on 9/24/24, 11:06 PM

    > complimenting me on specifics about my work experience.

    First off, that to me is a sign that it is a bot who contacted you - recruiter bots are absolutely sophisticated enough to pull details out of your profile to make it sound like they are not a bot (Thanks, LLMs!) Actual recruiters tend to be short and snippy, just to see if you respond before getting into any conversation at all.

    That being said, even if this does turn out to be legit, you are just signing up to be part of them scamming their customers. If one person does interviews, while someone else does the work, that is what we call a lie.

    And even if somehow that turned out to be reasonable, splitting profits 50/50 just for being part of a sales effort? Too good to be true.

    This whole post sounds like a big old pile of red flags to run away from.

  • by codegeek on 9/25/24, 3:27 PM

    "Beyond the interviews, I can be involved with the actual work as much or little as I want. We'd split any profits 50-50."

    Mostly likely a scam. They will have you interview, win the project and then pay someone else dirt cheap to do the work making a huge profit.

    There is no free lunch in this world. If they are claiming that you wont be involved much after the interview, you know where this is going.

  • by faizmokh on 9/25/24, 1:25 AM

    > developers working as full-time employees at multiple jobs, which is clearly unethical

    Okay, I see where you stand.

    > that I perform in tech interviews to help land projects for them... It seemed like the kind of thing that could be legit, unethical, or possibly a scam.

    How's that could be a legit thing? It's way way more unethical than working 2 full time jobs.

  • by JonChesterfield on 9/24/24, 10:09 PM

    I'd call that "fraud".

  • by solardev on 9/25/24, 9:10 AM

    A realistic arrangement might have you be a part of certain projects, or maybe hiring you on as a consultant or lead, and you'd get paid for your time.

    Showing up for an hour or two, faking an interview, and then keeping half the profits? Definitely a scam.

  • by JohnFen on 9/25/24, 4:46 PM

    This sounds sketchy as hell to me. I'd avoid such an arrangement, personally.

  • by RGamma on 9/24/24, 10:12 PM

    They're trying to do native advertisements via interview candidates now? Geez... really scraping the bottom of the tech hiring crisis barrel.

    Whatever you do, don't ruin your reputation or get ripped off or doxxed.

  • by ipaddr on 9/25/24, 3:22 AM

    They want to scam under your name and reputation which could leave you holding the bag. And they will take 1/2 and do all of the work.

    I can't see this turning out well.

  • by meiraleal on 9/28/24, 12:32 AM

    Not only a scam but it might (probably) be from some country that is in the US sanctioned list, if that might influence you.