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I have been a freelance coder for more than 20 years, I have worked on a lot of different subjects, I wrote compilers, small embedded kernels, shipped dozen of

by kuon 6y ago

I have been a freelance coder for more than 20 years, I have worked on a lot of different subjects, I wrote compilers, small embedded kernels, shipped dozen of products, did thousands of OSS contributions… But I would be terrified by one of those interview. For example: How can you write a sort algorithm with 0 error in such a short time, without reference? I would never be able to do that. I "know" how they work, but with qsort() since C89 there is very little reason to write one, except if you have special needs, and those special needs are "the problem" not the sorting algorithm. Or I would be unable to write the TCP handshake procedure on a piece of paper with just a pen, even knowing I wrote a mini TCP stack a few years back for an embedded chip. I can think of a million technical questions for which I have no answer, how do you cope with that in an interview (with the added pressure…)? I am genuinely wondering if I am bad, or if it is those "coding challenge" that are inappropriate.

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risyachka 6y ago
From what I have seen, those interviews show only how well you prepared for the interview. And they are designed to check if you know basics for the position needed. It really looks like most companies don't care what you know or did - they are only interested if you are able to do the job they need.
DenisM 6y ago
Articles like this get published and shared only because you (the collective "you") are overcome with anxiety about the subject. It doesn't tell us if the problem is widespread, only that it's engaging. The comments share the same dynamics. For my part I hire people I know can remove more problem from my desk than they add to it. If you can show that you're a good fit.
solipsism 6y ago
> I am genuinely wondering if I am bad, or if it is those "coding challenge" that are inappropriate. Neither. Did you read the article? One of the things the author learned was a key thing that most people who complain about this kind interview don't understand. > Yes, your interviewer wants to see that you can come up with a solution, but one thing you must not forget is that they also want to see that you can collaborate with other team-mates to come up with a solution. While companies want rock-stars, they also want team-players. I'm sure there exist interviewers who sit there and let you sweat trying to come up with something that you don't know. But most interviewers, at least at places that require a steady stream of quality engineers and thus have invested a lot in their interview pipeline, only expect you to know the fundamentals. They may ask you to implement a TCP handshake... but they want to see how you approach the problem. If you know how to do it by heart, that'll be to your credit. But if you don't, it's expected that you work with the interviewer to collect requirements. Seeing how you make progress on a problem you don't already know how to solve is exactly why you're there.
jayd16 6y ago
I usually treat them as talking points more than problems to solve perfectly. Sometimes this is what the interviewer wants and sometimes its not.
ergocoder 6y ago
I'm not sure if you exaggerated or we are talking about different things. But if I ask candidate to write any simple sort algorithm (like 2 nested for loop) and they can't do it, I'd be extremely worried. I know you will never write sorting logic in work, but we have to evaluate something. Basic non-mind-bending coding problem seems justified.

by kuon 6y ago

deleted 6y ago

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risyachka 6y ago

From what I have seen, those interviews show only how well you prepared for the interview. And they are designed to check if you know basics for the position needed. It really looks like most companies don't care what you know or did - they are only interested if you are able to do the job they need.

DenisM 6y ago

Articles like this get published and shared only because you (the collective "you") are overcome with anxiety about the subject. It doesn't tell us if the problem is widespread, only that it's engaging. The comments share the same dynamics. For my part I hire people I know can remove more problem from my desk than they add to it. If you can show that you're a good fit.

solipsism 6y ago

> I am genuinely wondering if I am bad, or if it is those "coding challenge" that are inappropriate. Neither. Did you read the article? One of the things the author learned was a key thing that most people who complain about this kind interview don't understand. > Yes, your interviewer wants to see that you can come up with a solution, but one thing you must not forget is that they also want to see that you can collaborate with other team-mates to come up with a solution. While companies want rock-stars, they also want team-players. I'm sure there exist interviewers who sit there and let you sweat trying to come up with something that you don't know. But most interviewers, at least at places that require a steady stream of quality engineers and thus have invested a lot in their interview pipeline, only expect you to know the fundamentals. They may ask you to implement a TCP handshake... but they want to see how you approach the problem. If you know how to do it by heart, that'll be to your credit. But if you don't, it's expected that you work with the interviewer to collect requirements. Seeing how you make progress on a problem you don't already know how to solve is exactly why you're there.

jayd16 6y ago

I usually treat them as talking points more than problems to solve perfectly. Sometimes this is what the interviewer wants and sometimes its not.

ergocoder 6y ago

I'm not sure if you exaggerated or we are talking about different things. But if I ask candidate to write any simple sort algorithm (like 2 nested for loop) and they can't do it, I'd be extremely worried. I know you will never write sorting logic in work, but we have to evaluate something. Basic non-mind-bending coding problem seems justified.