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I don't understand this obsession with leetcode style questions specifically. I just got a job at a FAANG on an algorithm heavy team and all they asked me was l

I don't understand this obsession with leetcode style questions specifically. I just got a job at a FAANG on an algorithm heavy team and all they asked me was linked lists, some basic graph questions, and some basic (and I mean really basic, high school non-calc level) vector math. I think just having a rock solid understanding of the basics will help much more than trying to grind questions and memorize patterns.

MattGaiser 6y ago
> I think just having a rock solid understanding of the basics will help much more than trying to grind questions and memorize patterns. It isn’t about memorizing patterns, but about hopefully spotting the exact question. A friend is currently interviewing for a FAANG and the recruiter flat out told him that his best chance of passing was to do a pile of previously seen questions for that FAANG and hopefully he gets it again in the interview.
- decafninja 6y ago
  I think it's both. If all the celestial bodies align and your luck is through the roof, you'll get exact problems you've solved before with the optimal solutions ingrained in your mind. But second best is you'll get problems that are at least similar and you are familiar with the patterns, tricks, and gimmicks to go about tackling it, instead of having to try to think up a solution completely from scratch. Horrible luck? It's a question you've seen and practiced but your brain freezes and you can't remember how you solved it. Or something you've seen and earmarked to practice, but couldn't get to it before the interview day. This has happened to me.
  - MattGaiser 6y ago
    > It's a question you've seen and practiced but your brain freezes and you can't remember how you solved it. Or something you've seen and earmarked to practice, but couldn't get to it before the interview day. This has happened to me. Same. I had an interview the day before I was scheduled to review binary trees. What was it on? Binary trees.
- mgkimsal 6y ago
  In 5th grade, I was in a poor school district. My parents had been pushing (with other parents) for a 'gifted program' for years. Finally, in November, a program was being introduced. I was given a test - IQ test perhaps, but an entrance test of some sort. I went home, dejected at the stuff I didn't know - was asking parents what the questions were - "what is an octave?" was one I remember not knowing at the time. I'd "got in" to the program, but... we suddenly moved over Christmas to a newer school district. It was richer by comparison, although still in the same county. First week at the new school, I was taken aside and given a test for their gifted program. Exact same test, which ... I completely aced, because I'd figured out all the questions I hadn't known in November (from parents). It felt like cheating, and I told the teacher about it later. I don't know why they couldn't have just taken the test results from the previous school - same county, shouldn't have been an issue. Anyway, if you keep studying known questions, it will increase your chances of passing in the future ;)
- ironman1478 6y ago
  That's so disheartening. When I'm looking to work with somebody, I look for somebody that can solve problems (and admit when they don't immediately know the solution, which is extremely important imo) not just regurgitate a solution to a problem they know already. If this is actually what the recruiter said, this is a huge indictment of that company's hiring practices.
  - decafninja 6y ago
    This practice seems common. I've had recruiters at several top tech companies (including two of the FAANGs) tell me this during initial chats. I imagine recruiters actively want you to succeed and get hired because that benefits them too, so they do what they can to aid you in your chances. They'll tell you the official, pre-canned lines about "we're interested in what your thought processes are and how you think", but then they'll also tell you the truth and recommend you take some time to grind leetcode.
legerdemain 6y ago
By comparison, in a recent FAANG interview for general dev, I was asked to reconstruct a BST from preorder and postorder traversals (Leetcode 889), and also to design a thread pool that is aware of dependencies among tasks. It sounds like the experience really varies!
oxymoron 6y ago
I had a similar experience. I just accepted an offer for a senior engineering position at a FAANG, and only got a few basic coding questions. Out of eight hours of interviewing, I think they spent six hours on behavioral questions.
akhilcacharya 6y ago
It fundamentally depends on the FAANG. Which FAANG was this, or are you just minimizing the difficulty of the problems?
- decafninja 6y ago
  My understanding and experience is that one of the A's and the N stand apart from the other letters in having a less of a "one size fits all" approach.

MattGaiser 6y ago

> I think just having a rock solid understanding of the basics will help much more than trying to grind questions and memorize patterns. It isn’t about memorizing patterns, but about hopefully spotting the exact question. A friend is currently interviewing for a FAANG and the recruiter flat out told him that his best chance of passing was to do a pile of previously seen questions for that FAANG and hopefully he gets it again in the interview.

decafninja 6y ago
I think it's both. If all the celestial bodies align and your luck is through the roof, you'll get exact problems you've solved before with the optimal solutions ingrained in your mind. But second best is you'll get problems that are at least similar and you are familiar with the patterns, tricks, and gimmicks to go about tackling it, instead of having to try to think up a solution completely from scratch. Horrible luck? It's a question you've seen and practiced but your brain freezes and you can't remember how you solved it. Or something you've seen and earmarked to practice, but couldn't get to it before the interview day. This has happened to me.
- MattGaiser 6y ago
  > It's a question you've seen and practiced but your brain freezes and you can't remember how you solved it. Or something you've seen and earmarked to practice, but couldn't get to it before the interview day. This has happened to me. Same. I had an interview the day before I was scheduled to review binary trees. What was it on? Binary trees.
mgkimsal 6y ago
In 5th grade, I was in a poor school district. My parents had been pushing (with other parents) for a 'gifted program' for years. Finally, in November, a program was being introduced. I was given a test - IQ test perhaps, but an entrance test of some sort. I went home, dejected at the stuff I didn't know - was asking parents what the questions were - "what is an octave?" was one I remember not knowing at the time. I'd "got in" to the program, but... we suddenly moved over Christmas to a newer school district. It was richer by comparison, although still in the same county. First week at the new school, I was taken aside and given a test for their gifted program. Exact same test, which ... I completely aced, because I'd figured out all the questions I hadn't known in November (from parents). It felt like cheating, and I told the teacher about it later. I don't know why they couldn't have just taken the test results from the previous school - same county, shouldn't have been an issue. Anyway, if you keep studying known questions, it will increase your chances of passing in the future ;)
ironman1478 6y ago
That's so disheartening. When I'm looking to work with somebody, I look for somebody that can solve problems (and admit when they don't immediately know the solution, which is extremely important imo) not just regurgitate a solution to a problem they know already. If this is actually what the recruiter said, this is a huge indictment of that company's hiring practices.
- decafninja 6y ago
  This practice seems common. I've had recruiters at several top tech companies (including two of the FAANGs) tell me this during initial chats. I imagine recruiters actively want you to succeed and get hired because that benefits them too, so they do what they can to aid you in your chances. They'll tell you the official, pre-canned lines about "we're interested in what your thought processes are and how you think", but then they'll also tell you the truth and recommend you take some time to grind leetcode.

legerdemain 6y ago

By comparison, in a recent FAANG interview for general dev, I was asked to reconstruct a BST from preorder and postorder traversals (Leetcode 889), and also to design a thread pool that is aware of dependencies among tasks. It sounds like the experience really varies!

oxymoron 6y ago

I had a similar experience. I just accepted an offer for a senior engineering position at a FAANG, and only got a few basic coding questions. Out of eight hours of interviewing, I think they spent six hours on behavioral questions.

akhilcacharya 6y ago

It fundamentally depends on the FAANG. Which FAANG was this, or are you just minimizing the difficulty of the problems?

decafninja 6y ago
My understanding and experience is that one of the A's and the N stand apart from the other letters in having a less of a "one size fits all" approach.