3 ms·

Are algorithm puzzles really that ubiquitous in the US? In the UK I've interviewed at dozens of companies and never once been asked to code a breadth first sea

Are algorithm puzzles really that ubiquitous in the US? In the UK I've interviewed at dozens of companies and never once been asked to code a breadth first search or something like that. Nor have I ever heard of a developer being asked to solve such things in interviews over here.

gdy 8y ago
What do they ask in the UK?
- nvarsj 8y ago
  It's not much different in the UK if you apply to FAANG, hedge fund, or a cargo culting startup.
- AsyncAwait 8y ago
  I have interviewed in the UK and did algorithm whiteboarding, so I'd say it's company-specific, rather than country-specific.
- world32 8y ago
  In my experience they typically ask you questions about the experience you've listed on your CV. If you say you have experience working with AWS, then they might ask you something like "explain what a VPC is and why is it useful?". Other more general questions are usually along the lines of "tell me about a solution to a problem you solved and how you designed the solution to that problem". The few times that I've been asked very specific technical questions they have always been related to the job I was applying for. Example: a ruby on rails job interview I was shown a few ActiveRecord models and asked what is wrong with them and how I would improve them - the answer was that they were all really polymorphic models but that was not how they were implemented in the code. Or for a frontend role, they might ask you "explain the javascript prototype chain to me". Again, in my experience, its always seemed like the interview was more of a personal test rather than a technical one. Will the person be easy to work with? Will they be communicative or will they bottle up their issues and resent the team for it. Are they willing to learn? Will they be able to hande occasional pressure and stress? I think its generally accepted that its extremely difficult to accurately gauge a person's technical abilities in an interview. Also employees always start on a probationary contract in which they can be fired with 1-2 weeks notice, this usually lasts between 3-6 months, so if it turns out the employee was blagging it in the interview then it will become apparent pretty quickly and they will likely not make it past the probation period.
  - gdy 8y ago
    This sounds similar to Russia, at least to me with my limited experience as an interviewer and even more limited as an interviewee.
Vadoff 8y ago
Usually larger tech companies that are flooded with applicants tend to ask these more.
- world32 8y ago
  I might be wrong but I don't think that larger tech companies get that many more applicants for jobs than smaller companies do. Beyond FAANG I don't think there is really much more "status" around working for a large company vs working for small company. Most people understand that just because the company you work for is large one doesn't mean your job is any more challenging or technically advanced than it as at a small company. Also a company hiring a mid-level developer (say around 3 years experience) doesn't really have that much of a pool to chose from. Most good developers are already in jobs and pickings are slim, its a buyers market.
  - Vadoff 8y ago
    Larger companies usually have more brand recognition == more applicants. Many smaller companies are essentially unknown to the public and need to rely much more on talent agencies to bring in applicants.

gdy 8y ago

What do they ask in the UK?

nvarsj 8y ago
It's not much different in the UK if you apply to FAANG, hedge fund, or a cargo culting startup.
AsyncAwait 8y ago
I have interviewed in the UK and did algorithm whiteboarding, so I'd say it's company-specific, rather than country-specific.
world32 8y ago
In my experience they typically ask you questions about the experience you've listed on your CV. If you say you have experience working with AWS, then they might ask you something like "explain what a VPC is and why is it useful?". Other more general questions are usually along the lines of "tell me about a solution to a problem you solved and how you designed the solution to that problem". The few times that I've been asked very specific technical questions they have always been related to the job I was applying for. Example: a ruby on rails job interview I was shown a few ActiveRecord models and asked what is wrong with them and how I would improve them - the answer was that they were all really polymorphic models but that was not how they were implemented in the code. Or for a frontend role, they might ask you "explain the javascript prototype chain to me". Again, in my experience, its always seemed like the interview was more of a personal test rather than a technical one. Will the person be easy to work with? Will they be communicative or will they bottle up their issues and resent the team for it. Are they willing to learn? Will they be able to hande occasional pressure and stress? I think its generally accepted that its extremely difficult to accurately gauge a person's technical abilities in an interview. Also employees always start on a probationary contract in which they can be fired with 1-2 weeks notice, this usually lasts between 3-6 months, so if it turns out the employee was blagging it in the interview then it will become apparent pretty quickly and they will likely not make it past the probation period.
- gdy 8y ago
  This sounds similar to Russia, at least to me with my limited experience as an interviewer and even more limited as an interviewee.

Vadoff 8y ago

Usually larger tech companies that are flooded with applicants tend to ask these more.

world32 8y ago
I might be wrong but I don't think that larger tech companies get that many more applicants for jobs than smaller companies do. Beyond FAANG I don't think there is really much more "status" around working for a large company vs working for small company. Most people understand that just because the company you work for is large one doesn't mean your job is any more challenging or technically advanced than it as at a small company. Also a company hiring a mid-level developer (say around 3 years experience) doesn't really have that much of a pool to chose from. Most good developers are already in jobs and pickings are slim, its a buyers market.
- Vadoff 8y ago
  Larger companies usually have more brand recognition == more applicants. Many smaller companies are essentially unknown to the public and need to rely much more on talent agencies to bring in applicants.