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Algorithm questions may be more “general” than doing something like the actual work being performed, but frankly most programmers aren’t writing optimized low l
by taurath 8y ago
Algorithm questions may be more “general” than doing something like the actual work being performed, but frankly most programmers aren’t writing optimized low level algorithms on a day to day basis. All you get is people who’ve memorized the algorithm tricks.
- TulliusCicero 8y agoIt's not as simple as just memorizing "algorithm tricks". There are too many possible questions to just memorize all the answers, you need reasonably strong CS fundamentals, and also to be fairly smart. I think that's part of why they're used: actual IQ tests are legally fraught, but giving someone what amounts to a programming IQ test is not. It's certainly true that studying these kinds of questions helps, but if you're not too bright, I don't think that would take you very far.
- taurath 8y agoStrong CS fundamentals is understanding all the various patterns and tricks in algorithms and data structures, and how they could be applied to problems outside of where you originally learned them. That is it, outside of actual CS research work, when applied to an actual software job. Ask any self taught person how much they need “CS fundamentals” to blow the pants of any business need for an app and they’ll tell you probably very little. When you’re doing tools for programmers, it gets a lot more complicated. That is not most jobs.