3 ms·

I realized something a while back... My entire career, if I've made it to an on-site interview, I've only had one company NOT make me a job offer. That interv

I realized something a while back... My entire career, if I've made it to an on-site interview, I've only had one company NOT make me a job offer. That interview, I was asked to do something using recursion. (Ug.) The next interviewer asked me to reverse a singularly linked list, and because my brain was still in recursion land, I tried to do it recursively. Blame the jet lag, okay? Immediately after I sucked at that, they walked me out the door. It was emberasing. Two steps out the door, and my brain is filled with POP AND PUSH! AAAH! I knew the answer, I've KNOWN the answer since I was about 14. No joke. So, I've been on that side of the "every now and then people interview poorly" thing. And I can only blame the jet lag, because I KNOW the ridiculously easy answer to that question. Here's the funny thing - if I would have been offered a job there, I would have accepted. And the company went on to crash and burn in terrible fashion. And two months later, I got a job at a MUCH better company. TL;DR: I've only failed at one interview, and it was arguably the best thing that ever happened to me. (Life is weird!)

jblow 11y ago
Except ... reversing a singularly-linked list recursively is trivial. If you can't do this, you are not qualified at basic manipulation of data structures and you should fail the interview if they want someone with basic competence in data structure manipulation. Sorry but that is how it is.
- laichzeit0 11y ago
  Because so often we are faced with having to implement singularly linked-list reversal. I wouldn't even bother implementing this myself in the real world and I have a degree in computer science and 10 years experience doing dev work. I would type the problem into google, survey a couple of solutions and pick one I liked. Done. Next problem please. This is pedantic crap that is a waste of anyone's time. I can't believe people actually get asked shit like this at interviews? Well, at least none that I've ever been to. They look at my resume "Oh, CS degree at well respected University." and you can deduce that this person can probably work out trivial crap like this or look it up in a book or the internet. At most ask them for their academic records. What a complete waste of time in an interview..
  - jblow 11y ago
    The point is that if you can't do this, there is no way you can do stuff more complicated than this, which will actually be necessary during regular work. (And which you won't be able to type into Google). I run a software company and I'll say straight up I would not hire someone with your attitude.
- VikingCoder 11y ago
  Yeah, you're not getting the point of my story. I know it's trivial. It is trivial. I can do it in my sleep. I used to write Pascal code, back before all these Generics and Templates, and I had to write data structures the old fashioned way. What I'm telling you is that the jet lag got to me. This is like when you can't remember the name of the actor who played Batman in Batman Begins. Or when you can't remember what year your mother was born in. Or you can't remember the capital of the state you're travelling to. Or you're multiplying 7*8 and write down 42 in a momentary lapse. It was a completely "DUH" moment.

jblow 11y ago

Except ... reversing a singularly-linked list recursively is trivial. If you can't do this, you are not qualified at basic manipulation of data structures and you should fail the interview if they want someone with basic competence in data structure manipulation. Sorry but that is how it is.

laichzeit0 11y ago
Because so often we are faced with having to implement singularly linked-list reversal. I wouldn't even bother implementing this myself in the real world and I have a degree in computer science and 10 years experience doing dev work. I would type the problem into google, survey a couple of solutions and pick one I liked. Done. Next problem please. This is pedantic crap that is a waste of anyone's time. I can't believe people actually get asked shit like this at interviews? Well, at least none that I've ever been to. They look at my resume "Oh, CS degree at well respected University." and you can deduce that this person can probably work out trivial crap like this or look it up in a book or the internet. At most ask them for their academic records. What a complete waste of time in an interview..
- jblow 11y ago
  The point is that if you can't do this, there is no way you can do stuff more complicated than this, which will actually be necessary during regular work. (And which you won't be able to type into Google). I run a software company and I'll say straight up I would not hire someone with your attitude.
VikingCoder 11y ago
Yeah, you're not getting the point of my story. I know it's trivial. It is trivial. I can do it in my sleep. I used to write Pascal code, back before all these Generics and Templates, and I had to write data structures the old fashioned way. What I'm telling you is that the jet lag got to me. This is like when you can't remember the name of the actor who played Batman in Batman Begins. Or when you can't remember what year your mother was born in. Or you can't remember the capital of the state you're travelling to. Or you're multiplying 7*8 and write down 42 in a momentary lapse. It was a completely "DUH" moment.