5 ms·

"Before we hire you, we first need you to outwit this burmese python..."

JamesMcMinn 10y ago
Honestly, I think you'd learn more about a potential hire that way than by presenting them with these sort of challenges.
- nickpeterson 10y ago
  "We see you're familiar with compression but how about pandas?"
  - dr_zoidberg 10y ago
    I fear the part of the interview that gets into spiders for web scraping...
riebschlager 10y ago
I'd rather take my chances with a snake than trying to solve "Add two integers without using + or -".
- brianwawok 10y ago
  sum([5,6]) ?
  - emidln 10y ago
    Traceback (most recent call last): File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module> File "<stdin>", line 2, in one_true_addition_test_case AssertionError The "correct" answer according to my pet parrot is (5).__add__(6). Of course, as per real-life, "correct" is usually just an aspect of if you find the interviewer's solution instead of whether your solution is actually correct. Better luck next time!
  - tedmiston 10y ago
    The sum built-in is still using the addition operator with syntactic sugar though (as is the other child comment). I think the intent of this question is to solve it with bitwise operators ie, [1]. [1]: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/17342042/why-this-code-for-additionusing-bitwise-operation-works-in-java http://stackoverflow.com/questions/17342042/why-this-code-fo...
    - jacquesm 10y ago
      If you're going to have to argue about the 'intent of the question' then you've already lost. Really, the question should be 'add these two integers' and any solution that produces the result in a transparent and straightforward way should be honored with top marks. Trick questions, especially those where only the interviewers pet solution is permitted are a sure sign that this employer is best avoided because they care about form and ego more than they care about getting the bloody job done.
  - soVeryTired 10y ago
    log(exp(5)*exp(6))? Guess that won't work too well with larger numbers...
    - dr_zoidberg 10y ago
      It breaks quite early: In [8]: math.log(math.exp(5000) * math.exp(6000)) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- OverflowError Traceback (most recent call last) <ipython-input-8-3d6e46c58c45> in <module>() ----> 1 math.log(math.exp(5000) * math.exp(6000)) OverflowError: math range error In [9]: math.log(math.exp(500) * math.exp(600)) Out[9]: inf
      - brianwawok 10y ago
        Hey let's not be a quitter >>> (Decimal(5000).exp() * Decimal(6000).exp()).ln() Decimal('11000.00000000000000000000000')
        dr_zoidberg 10y ago
        Nice catch, but then: In [13]: Decimal(5000000).exp() * Decimal(5000000).exp() --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Overflow Traceback (most recent call last) <ipython-input-13-8333724ae893> in <module>() ----> 1 Decimal(5000000).exp() * Decimal(5000000).exp() Overflow: [<class 'decimal.Overflow'>] The problem is that the multiplication blows the precision of the used format (either double for math.log(...) or the one the decimal module uses). I had also thought about the intention of the question trying to get you to express the sum as bit operations (thought I admit that sounds like going for a very low-level profile), or maybe just "thinking outside the box".
        brianwawok 10y ago
        Hey don't be a quitter, we can make Decimal support way bigger numbers via context
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- recursive 10y ago
  I couldn't resist. add = lambda a, b: add(a ^ b, (a & b) << 1) if b else a
  - recursive 10y ago
    And if you need to handle negatives: def add(a, b): while a and b: if a ^ b < 0: (a, b) = (a & ~b, b & ~a) (a, b) = (a ^ b, (a & b) << 1) return a or b
- Humdeee 10y ago
  Excel to the rescue.
- mythrwy 10y ago
  len([i for s in ([i for i in range(x)], [i for i in range(y)]) for i in s])
  - mythrwy 10y ago
    (as long as it doesn't need to be fast or do negative numbers)
bogomipz 10y ago
Indeed. A couple of weeks ago I had a recruiter from Atlassian send me an email saying they were interested an could I complete these 6 problems on Hacker Rank and each challenge has a time limit. Its not enough to outwit a Burmese Python but you need to do it while a clock is ticking. We all know the best performance and indicator of skill always comes from coding with an egg timer or stop watch. Oh and did I mention the Hacker Rank challenge was being asked before even speaking to a human being about the job?
- jacquesm 10y ago
  These companies carrying water for Hacker Rank and their ilk ought to be totally ignored. Programming is only a competition sport when it is voluntary, no need to turn access to a job into some kind of Christians versus the lions spectator sport. If someone were to approach me with that kind of offer I think the response would not be much longer than one line (and I'd try hard to keep it polite).
  - bogomipz 10y ago
    >"These companies carrying water for Hacker Rank and their ilk ought to be totally ignored." Yeah, I just deleted the email. In the case of Atlassian and some others I have seen recently, the job of the recruiter now seems to be sending out links to hacker rank challenges after a successful key word search on a candidates C.V. I imagine recruiters love this because it means they now have to understand even less than the little they understood before.
- user5994461 10y ago
  > Oh and did I mention the Hacker Rank challenge was being asked before even speaking to a human being about the job? I prefer that a lot more than scheduling a 1 hour phone interview during my workday, to do the same stupid questions over the phone, with someone who can describe neither the job nor the company.
  - bogomipz 10y ago
    Sure, that scenario is equally broken and happened to me with a big S.V company recently. If the company can't even schedule an interview with someone on the actual team then I'm probably not interested in the company and can and have cut the phone interview short upon learning that.
kernelbandwidth 10y ago
In Academia, it's not necessarily a Burmese Python. If you write a better dissertation, you'll get a smaller snake to face off with. https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/faq-the-snake-fight-portion-of-your-thesis-defense https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/faq-the-snake-fight-port...

Honestly, I think you'd learn more about a potential hire that way than by presenting them with these sort of challenges.

nickpeterson 10y ago
"We see you're familiar with compression but how about pandas?"
- dr_zoidberg 10y ago
  I fear the part of the interview that gets into spiders for web scraping...

riebschlager 10y ago

I'd rather take my chances with a snake than trying to solve "Add two integers without using + or -".

brianwawok 10y ago
sum([5,6]) ?
- emidln 10y ago
  Traceback (most recent call last): File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module> File "<stdin>", line 2, in one_true_addition_test_case AssertionError The "correct" answer according to my pet parrot is (5).__add__(6). Of course, as per real-life, "correct" is usually just an aspect of if you find the interviewer's solution instead of whether your solution is actually correct. Better luck next time!
- tedmiston 10y ago
  The sum built-in is still using the addition operator with syntactic sugar though (as is the other child comment). I think the intent of this question is to solve it with bitwise operators ie, [1]. [1]: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/17342042/why-this-code-for-additionusing-bitwise-operation-works-in-java http://stackoverflow.com/questions/17342042/why-this-code-fo...
  - jacquesm 10y ago
    If you're going to have to argue about the 'intent of the question' then you've already lost. Really, the question should be 'add these two integers' and any solution that produces the result in a transparent and straightforward way should be honored with top marks. Trick questions, especially those where only the interviewers pet solution is permitted are a sure sign that this employer is best avoided because they care about form and ego more than they care about getting the bloody job done.
- soVeryTired 10y ago
  log(exp(5)*exp(6))? Guess that won't work too well with larger numbers...
  - dr_zoidberg 10y ago
    It breaks quite early: In [8]: math.log(math.exp(5000) * math.exp(6000)) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- OverflowError Traceback (most recent call last) <ipython-input-8-3d6e46c58c45> in <module>() ----> 1 math.log(math.exp(5000) * math.exp(6000)) OverflowError: math range error In [9]: math.log(math.exp(500) * math.exp(600)) Out[9]: inf
    - brianwawok 10y ago
      Hey let's not be a quitter >>> (Decimal(5000).exp() * Decimal(6000).exp()).ln() Decimal('11000.00000000000000000000000')
      - dr_zoidberg 10y ago
        Nice catch, but then: In [13]: Decimal(5000000).exp() * Decimal(5000000).exp() --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Overflow Traceback (most recent call last) <ipython-input-13-8333724ae893> in <module>() ----> 1 Decimal(5000000).exp() * Decimal(5000000).exp() Overflow: [<class 'decimal.Overflow'>] The problem is that the multiplication blows the precision of the used format (either double for math.log(...) or the one the decimal module uses). I had also thought about the intention of the question trying to get you to express the sum as bit operations (thought I admit that sounds like going for a very low-level profile), or maybe just "thinking outside the box".
        brianwawok 10y ago
        Hey don't be a quitter, we can make Decimal support way bigger numbers via context
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
recursive 10y ago
I couldn't resist. add = lambda a, b: add(a ^ b, (a & b) << 1) if b else a
- recursive 10y ago
  And if you need to handle negatives: def add(a, b): while a and b: if a ^ b < 0: (a, b) = (a & ~b, b & ~a) (a, b) = (a ^ b, (a & b) << 1) return a or b
Humdeee 10y ago
Excel to the rescue.
mythrwy 10y ago
len([i for s in ([i for i in range(x)], [i for i in range(y)]) for i in s])
- mythrwy 10y ago
  (as long as it doesn't need to be fast or do negative numbers)

bogomipz 10y ago

Indeed. A couple of weeks ago I had a recruiter from Atlassian send me an email saying they were interested an could I complete these 6 problems on Hacker Rank and each challenge has a time limit. Its not enough to outwit a Burmese Python but you need to do it while a clock is ticking. We all know the best performance and indicator of skill always comes from coding with an egg timer or stop watch. Oh and did I mention the Hacker Rank challenge was being asked before even speaking to a human being about the job?

jacquesm 10y ago
These companies carrying water for Hacker Rank and their ilk ought to be totally ignored. Programming is only a competition sport when it is voluntary, no need to turn access to a job into some kind of Christians versus the lions spectator sport. If someone were to approach me with that kind of offer I think the response would not be much longer than one line (and I'd try hard to keep it polite).
- bogomipz 10y ago
  >"These companies carrying water for Hacker Rank and their ilk ought to be totally ignored." Yeah, I just deleted the email. In the case of Atlassian and some others I have seen recently, the job of the recruiter now seems to be sending out links to hacker rank challenges after a successful key word search on a candidates C.V. I imagine recruiters love this because it means they now have to understand even less than the little they understood before.
user5994461 10y ago
> Oh and did I mention the Hacker Rank challenge was being asked before even speaking to a human being about the job? I prefer that a lot more than scheduling a 1 hour phone interview during my workday, to do the same stupid questions over the phone, with someone who can describe neither the job nor the company.
- bogomipz 10y ago
  Sure, that scenario is equally broken and happened to me with a big S.V company recently. If the company can't even schedule an interview with someone on the actual team then I'm probably not interested in the company and can and have cut the phone interview short upon learning that.

kernelbandwidth 10y ago

In Academia, it's not necessarily a Burmese Python. If you write a better dissertation, you'll get a smaller snake to face off with. https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/faq-the-snake-fight-portion-of-your-thesis-defense https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/faq-the-snake-fight-port...