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> Devil's advocate: did you ask them to solve graph traversals or complex string algorithms rather than fizzbuzz ? Getting someone to regurgitate something the

by growse 7y ago

> Devil's advocate: did you ask them to solve graph traversals or complex string algorithms rather than fizzbuzz ? Getting someone to regurgitate something they've been explicitly taught and memorized instead of trying to solve a problem they haven't been (does any CS course explicitly teach fizzbuzz) does not seem like good job selection criteria. > I recently had a technical test, which I failed because I was depressed how boring it was so I missed many easy answers (say asking about private/public fields in OO). If you're not willing to engage with a test because you think it's beneath you, you're going to have a bad time.

agumonkey 7y ago
That's why I said "solve" not just "write down dijkstra" for my own anecdote, I'm taking responsibility for my own "tastes", I still find many HR process somehow inadequate if not insulting, it's a shallow game and considering the amount of effort, learning invested I just could not suffer it. Nobody likes to be gatekeeped by people less taught.
scarface74 7y ago
Getting someone to regurgitate something they've been explicitly taught and memorized instead of trying to solve a problem they haven't been (does any CS course explicitly teach fizzbuzz) does not seem like good job selection criteria. And how is that different than getting someone to regurgitate problems thet learned by studying leetCode? If you can’t code fizzbuzz even after being told about the mod operator, how can you be expected to solve harder business problems once given the requirements?
- growse 7y ago
  > And how is that different than getting someone to regurgitate problems thet learned by studying leetCode? It isn't. Which is why the trick is to find a problem that the person hasn't heard of and ask them that. > If you can’t code fizzbuzz even after being told about the mod operator, how can you be expected to solve harder business problems once given the requirements? I'm frankly bored of interviewing CS graduates who can give me a perfect definition of modulus but can't do fizzbuzz.

by growse 7y ago

agumonkey 7y ago

That's why I said "solve" not just "write down dijkstra" for my own anecdote, I'm taking responsibility for my own "tastes", I still find many HR process somehow inadequate if not insulting, it's a shallow game and considering the amount of effort, learning invested I just could not suffer it. Nobody likes to be gatekeeped by people less taught.

scarface74 7y ago

Getting someone to regurgitate something they've been explicitly taught and memorized instead of trying to solve a problem they haven't been (does any CS course explicitly teach fizzbuzz) does not seem like good job selection criteria. And how is that different than getting someone to regurgitate problems thet learned by studying leetCode? If you can’t code fizzbuzz even after being told about the mod operator, how can you be expected to solve harder business problems once given the requirements?

growse 7y ago
> And how is that different than getting someone to regurgitate problems thet learned by studying leetCode? It isn't. Which is why the trick is to find a problem that the person hasn't heard of and ask them that. > If you can’t code fizzbuzz even after being told about the mod operator, how can you be expected to solve harder business problems once given the requirements? I'm frankly bored of interviewing CS graduates who can give me a perfect definition of modulus but can't do fizzbuzz.