5 ms·

I have not missed a single one of these types of questions at any point in the process The most likely problem is simply that you are getting questions wrong,

by lacker 7y ago

I have not missed a single one of these types of questions at any point in the process The most likely problem is simply that you are getting questions wrong, but you don't realize it. Companies don't often give candidates whiteboard questions, have the candidates nail those whiteboard questions, and then drop the applicants.

throwaway_a0f1 7y ago
I mean that's a fair take, and one I've tried really hard to examine, but I feel as though the questions have a very obvious answer and you either get it or don't. And to reply to that, no one actually gives feedback so you'll never actually know. Looking at your profile, you seem well suited to be able to evaluate this, so let me give an example from an interview I just had. Here's a problem and solution from the last interview I had: https://pastebin.com/LyVYqLv4 https://pastebin.com/LyVYqLv4
- lacker 7y ago
  Looks good to me. You are right, it's hard to say what's going wrong when nobody gives feedback. Often if you do well on 4 problems and then tank the 5th, that can be enough to miss out. I think if you can regularly solve this difficulty of problem you should be able to get a job though. Would you mind emailing me whatever resume-ish stuff you have at my hn username at gmail? Maybe I can give more specific help.
  - throwaway_a0f1 7y ago
    Done, really appreciated
- ben509 7y ago
  Python: uses underscores. Java, Javascript: camelcase. .NET: Capitalize. And so forth, those are the conventions that professionals use, so stick to them for an interview. `biggestSize = 99999999 #MaxInt` This is returned if the caller passes you 0 for slicesToFind, so you're returning a nonsense value in that case. Either raise an exception (preferred as it catches errors fast) or return None. `def area(size)` You're using pi r^2, so size is a radius, but it seems you call it with a diameter. This is why choosing distinct names is very important. `newSize = (originalSize / newSlicesInCake)` Again, using "size" all over the place is confusing. I'd write something like `new_slice_area = (original_cake_area / new_slice_count)`.
  - throwaway_a0f1 7y ago
    Thanks for feedback about convention and variable naming- you're totally correct I should work on both. As far as 0 input, they actually told me it would always be valid so edge cases were not accounted for.
    - ShamelessC 7y ago
      I personally think you had a strong answer despite the criticisms mentioned. But, yeah. Casing convention was surprisingly important in one of my interviews. They wanted to know that I was able to adapt to a new language as the job was for a language I didn't have on my resume. It's weird, but I understand where they're coming from. Seeing improper styling in a code review is an immediate red flag and an interview problem is ultimately a code review.
- notatgoogle2 7y ago
  FWIW, if you want feedback on working code, Stack Overflow has a sister site Code Review[0] where people will critique your code and give lots of useful feedback. It's a pretty welcoming community so long as you're looking for a code review and not debugging help. [0] https://codereview.stackexchange.com/ https://codereview.stackexchange.com/
- efrafa 7y ago
  Ca anybody explain to me the problem definition? (not the solution)
  - throwaway_a0f1 7y ago
    Apparently this is a common question. Here's some discussion on it https://leetcode.com/discuss/interview-question/348510/Google-or-Online-Assessment-or-Maximum-Area-Serving-Cake/316767 https://leetcode.com/discuss/interview-question/348510/Googl...
stale2002 7y ago
Nah, man, this is absolutely wrong. Companies are all over the place all the time. And I have seen this from both sides of the isle. For example, at one company I was at, we said we were hiring for a full stack position, and we had a candidate come in that did well on all the questions, but then afterwords, we decided that we actually wanted a dedicated front end engineer. So no job for them! It was no fault of the candidate. We just didn't know what we're were doing and screwed up by interviewing someone who was better suited for a different position. Stuff like this happens all the time. Even if you blow the interview out of the water, there is still only like a 50/50 chance that you'll get the job, due to no fault of your own.

by lacker 7y ago

throwaway_a0f1 7y ago

I mean that's a fair take, and one I've tried really hard to examine, but I feel as though the questions have a very obvious answer and you either get it or don't. And to reply to that, no one actually gives feedback so you'll never actually know. Looking at your profile, you seem well suited to be able to evaluate this, so let me give an example from an interview I just had. Here's a problem and solution from the last interview I had: https://pastebin.com/LyVYqLv4 https://pastebin.com/LyVYqLv4

lacker 7y ago
Looks good to me. You are right, it's hard to say what's going wrong when nobody gives feedback. Often if you do well on 4 problems and then tank the 5th, that can be enough to miss out. I think if you can regularly solve this difficulty of problem you should be able to get a job though. Would you mind emailing me whatever resume-ish stuff you have at my hn username at gmail? Maybe I can give more specific help.
- throwaway_a0f1 7y ago
  Done, really appreciated
ben509 7y ago
Python: uses underscores. Java, Javascript: camelcase. .NET: Capitalize. And so forth, those are the conventions that professionals use, so stick to them for an interview. `biggestSize = 99999999 #MaxInt` This is returned if the caller passes you 0 for slicesToFind, so you're returning a nonsense value in that case. Either raise an exception (preferred as it catches errors fast) or return None. `def area(size)` You're using pi r^2, so size is a radius, but it seems you call it with a diameter. This is why choosing distinct names is very important. `newSize = (originalSize / newSlicesInCake)` Again, using "size" all over the place is confusing. I'd write something like `new_slice_area = (original_cake_area / new_slice_count)`.
- throwaway_a0f1 7y ago
  Thanks for feedback about convention and variable naming- you're totally correct I should work on both. As far as 0 input, they actually told me it would always be valid so edge cases were not accounted for.
  - ShamelessC 7y ago
    I personally think you had a strong answer despite the criticisms mentioned. But, yeah. Casing convention was surprisingly important in one of my interviews. They wanted to know that I was able to adapt to a new language as the job was for a language I didn't have on my resume. It's weird, but I understand where they're coming from. Seeing improper styling in a code review is an immediate red flag and an interview problem is ultimately a code review.
notatgoogle2 7y ago
FWIW, if you want feedback on working code, Stack Overflow has a sister site Code Review[0] where people will critique your code and give lots of useful feedback. It's a pretty welcoming community so long as you're looking for a code review and not debugging help. [0] https://codereview.stackexchange.com/ https://codereview.stackexchange.com/
efrafa 7y ago
Ca anybody explain to me the problem definition? (not the solution)
- throwaway_a0f1 7y ago
  Apparently this is a common question. Here's some discussion on it https://leetcode.com/discuss/interview-question/348510/Google-or-Online-Assessment-or-Maximum-Area-Serving-Cake/316767 https://leetcode.com/discuss/interview-question/348510/Googl...

stale2002 7y ago

Nah, man, this is absolutely wrong. Companies are all over the place all the time. And I have seen this from both sides of the isle. For example, at one company I was at, we said we were hiring for a full stack position, and we had a candidate come in that did well on all the questions, but then afterwords, we decided that we actually wanted a dedicated front end engineer. So no job for them! It was no fault of the candidate. We just didn't know what we're were doing and screwed up by interviewing someone who was better suited for a different position. Stuff like this happens all the time. Even if you blow the interview out of the water, there is still only like a 50/50 chance that you'll get the job, due to no fault of your own.