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First, if he would have given that answer instead of saying others did it I would have answered the question. However, his answer indicated they asked just beca

First, if he would have given that answer instead of saying others did it I would have answered the question. However, his answer indicated they asked just because of asking. Second, even when you have those reasons ask questions on actual situations that would occur on the job. You run a large C# code base that struggles with its size and configuration complexity vs flexibility? Ask questions on how he would design a new speculative module for the Platform. What kind of pitfalls would he foresee? What would he focus on? See if his answer include your struggles indicating he understands what his daily job is about. If you search an engineer to speed up your image processing pipeline which is C++, data structures can be fine but don't forget that before optimizing them you probably have to spend a lot of time optimizing the design of the entire pipeline so also ask questions about that part. My main advice is think before you ask. If you have valid reasons, feel free to ask data structures. If you don't, think again.

ng12 9y ago
I think that's putting the cart before the horse. Every company I've worked for has had a hard enough time just finding people with basic coding literacy. Finding somebody with good problem solving, communication, and programming skills is the hard part -- wondering if that person is the guy to architect a specific aspect of our platform is secondary. I can't speak for that job in particular but if half of your promising-looking candidates are getting weeded out by simple programming puzzles the bar tends to shift.
- bastijn 9y ago
  It was meant as an example. If I would interview for an architect I would probably ask such a thing as I need to know if s/he would be capable of thinking ahead and outside of the direct requirements. For an engineer I would ask different questions. However, if I interview them for a job that does not focus on performance or scalability I would rather ask questions based on situations they run into than data structures. Data structures would be a last resort if I had no other options for questions. For most knowing when to use a certain data type is sufficient for me. Like math, I don't need them to give me the full proof of the theorem as long as they know it exists and can apply it in their daily work. That doesn't mean I wouldn't like a candidate who has it all of course. But those are scarce here, and probably everywhere as you mentioned. I am already happy with a person who can do the job s/he was hired for and hopefully more. Again, if you have valid reasons to ask what you ask, do. If not, think again if there are better alternatives is all I advocate.
cakedoggie 9y ago
Isn't that answer obvious they? They need to know if you are skilled enough, and this is the quickest way to find that info out.
- bastijn 9y ago
  Skilled enough to do what exactly? Answer data structure questions? This is my point. Are the question relevant to the job and does their answer qualify them for it?

ng12 9y ago

I think that's putting the cart before the horse. Every company I've worked for has had a hard enough time just finding people with basic coding literacy. Finding somebody with good problem solving, communication, and programming skills is the hard part -- wondering if that person is the guy to architect a specific aspect of our platform is secondary. I can't speak for that job in particular but if half of your promising-looking candidates are getting weeded out by simple programming puzzles the bar tends to shift.

bastijn 9y ago
It was meant as an example. If I would interview for an architect I would probably ask such a thing as I need to know if s/he would be capable of thinking ahead and outside of the direct requirements. For an engineer I would ask different questions. However, if I interview them for a job that does not focus on performance or scalability I would rather ask questions based on situations they run into than data structures. Data structures would be a last resort if I had no other options for questions. For most knowing when to use a certain data type is sufficient for me. Like math, I don't need them to give me the full proof of the theorem as long as they know it exists and can apply it in their daily work. That doesn't mean I wouldn't like a candidate who has it all of course. But those are scarce here, and probably everywhere as you mentioned. I am already happy with a person who can do the job s/he was hired for and hopefully more. Again, if you have valid reasons to ask what you ask, do. If not, think again if there are better alternatives is all I advocate.

cakedoggie 9y ago

Isn't that answer obvious they? They need to know if you are skilled enough, and this is the quickest way to find that info out.

bastijn 9y ago
Skilled enough to do what exactly? Answer data structure questions? This is my point. Are the question relevant to the job and does their answer qualify them for it?