2 ms·
You missed a big one - giving them an idea of how you approach a problem and work through it. That's the biggest take away. If someone just spits out an optima
by philjohn 7y ago
You missed a big one - giving them an idea of how you approach a problem and work through it. That's the biggest take away.
If someone just spits out an optimal solution straight away that's not actually a great sign. It doesn't matter if you struggle a little, or need a few hints, but showing you know how to break a problem down into smaller sub-problems and work your way up is an invaluable signal.
- watwut 7y agoThis is incomprehensible for me. If someone happen to see your question before it is bad sign? And also, what exactly about my internal process are people trying to learn from "how I approach a problem and work through it"? I think I tend to make good impression on these ... but I am aware it is interview skill where I somehow picked up social signals I am supposed to send. I am adjusting what I am saying to how interviewer looks like (happy, annoyed, bored, etc). It is social skill, but not same social skill as pretty much anything I do in actual work. In actual work, people are not interested to listen to me work out problems in front of them. It is even more useless if you know the answer and then proceed pretend to split it into smaller problems and then work your way up or down. That neat thought process is neat precisely because I know the answer and I am performing idealized problem solving process. In case of actual real problem, you don't do that so nicely. You have at least some bad turns, random guesses, break it multiple times badly and so on.
- philjohn 7y agoI’ve been in interviews where I’ve seen the problem before, and know the solution. I’ve always said so if that happens and the interviewer either continues and delves into why it’s an optimal solution, or switches to a different question.