3 ms·

I had a different experience. They gave me a lot of time but either I don't know python at all, or they didn't. they asked me to build something. I used dictio

I had a different experience. They gave me a lot of time but either I don't know python at all, or they didn't. they asked me to build something. I used dictionaries and wrote the code in ten minutes. Both interviewers wouldn't believe that the code could solve the problem. They later told me that dictionaries are not used in practical applications. Never understood why. Are dicts not used in "real life"?

JustSomeNobody 8y ago
Dictionaries are used ALL the time.
- thewhitetulip 8y ago
  Exactly! I was sitting there wonderinf if they understood doctionaries at all. My guess is that they came from Java background and thus don't use dicts as default as HashMaps aren't native basic data types
bshacklett 8y ago
I'm not the best with Python, but if someone gave me that answer I'd feel like I avoided a land mine. Dicts, and analogous data types, are incredibly useful.
- thewhitetulip 8y ago
  Yes! I avoided the landmine. I can't imagine how I'd have felt working with a woman who interviews for Python role and doesn't know or understamd dictionaries!! Plus they were giving me (x%) a raise, and I got (x-5)% in my current company. So thank God I didn't join there. Contacts are more important than salary.
MrMember 8y ago
I'm not sure I can think of a python application I've worked on that didn't use dictionaries in some way.
- thewhitetulip 8y ago
  Exactly! That's what bothered me, plus the fact that they didn't understand my code of 10 lines.
andrewflnr 8y ago
The most charitable explanation I can think of is that they have a very narrow idea of "practical application" where the performance of looking stuff up in hash maps all the time is not good enough. If that's the case, they should have been more specific, and asked for specific improvements. Otherwise, they're full of shit.
- thewhitetulip 8y ago
  Yeah, that's what I thought. She kept yapping about how this is not a performance tuned code blahblah

JustSomeNobody 8y ago

Dictionaries are used ALL the time.

thewhitetulip 8y ago
Exactly! I was sitting there wonderinf if they understood doctionaries at all. My guess is that they came from Java background and thus don't use dicts as default as HashMaps aren't native basic data types

bshacklett 8y ago

I'm not the best with Python, but if someone gave me that answer I'd feel like I avoided a land mine. Dicts, and analogous data types, are incredibly useful.

thewhitetulip 8y ago
Yes! I avoided the landmine. I can't imagine how I'd have felt working with a woman who interviews for Python role and doesn't know or understamd dictionaries!! Plus they were giving me (x%) a raise, and I got (x-5)% in my current company. So thank God I didn't join there. Contacts are more important than salary.

MrMember 8y ago

I'm not sure I can think of a python application I've worked on that didn't use dictionaries in some way.

thewhitetulip 8y ago
Exactly! That's what bothered me, plus the fact that they didn't understand my code of 10 lines.

andrewflnr 8y ago

The most charitable explanation I can think of is that they have a very narrow idea of "practical application" where the performance of looking stuff up in hash maps all the time is not good enough. If that's the case, they should have been more specific, and asked for specific improvements. Otherwise, they're full of shit.

thewhitetulip 8y ago
Yeah, that's what I thought. She kept yapping about how this is not a performance tuned code blahblah