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It's not just testing fundamentals, it's testing who spent the most time on interview prep. Companies increase the difficulty level as more people do prep. That

It's not just testing fundamentals, it's testing who spent the most time on interview prep. Companies increase the difficulty level as more people do prep. That's become a cycle that favors those who have the most spare time. Senior engineers often have houses, kids and aging parents to take care of.

Google234 6y ago
That doesn’t excuse hem forgetting what a priority queue is and when it’s appropriate to use one. The good senior engineers I know have a strong grasp of the fundamentals
- giantg2 6y ago
  So you're saying LeetCode is only for screening seniors? What about entry level?
  - Google234 6y ago
    Where did I say that? Senior should have both fundamental coding and also more broad system design interviews.
- Demonsult 6y ago
  You're hiring the candidate who happened to use one somewhat recently. The same candidate has completely forgotten other concepts and would have looked like a fool if questioned.
  - Google234 6y ago
    That’s why people do more than 1 interview. My example was just an example, I probably should have qualified it.
  - theamk 6y ago
    Requiring to implement a priority queue is harsh and no one should do this at the interviews. Asking "what is a priority queue" is a totally fair question (if your job may reasonably require it), because knowledge that such things exist is a big part of being a senior person. You don't have to be able to know the class name, or exact notation, but you should be able to know what to Google for. A person who does now know what a priority queue is will happily write O(n^2) algorithm which repeatedly calls max() and completely kill your app performance. There would be no opportunity to Google anything, because only senior people get business requirements, not names of algorithms they need to use.
- wilde 6y ago
  If your company refuses to hire anyone where this statement is false, that doesn’t tell you much.

Google234 6y ago

That doesn’t excuse hem forgetting what a priority queue is and when it’s appropriate to use one. The good senior engineers I know have a strong grasp of the fundamentals

giantg2 6y ago
So you're saying LeetCode is only for screening seniors? What about entry level?
- Google234 6y ago
  Where did I say that? Senior should have both fundamental coding and also more broad system design interviews.
Demonsult 6y ago
You're hiring the candidate who happened to use one somewhat recently. The same candidate has completely forgotten other concepts and would have looked like a fool if questioned.
- Google234 6y ago
  That’s why people do more than 1 interview. My example was just an example, I probably should have qualified it.
- theamk 6y ago
  Requiring to implement a priority queue is harsh and no one should do this at the interviews. Asking "what is a priority queue" is a totally fair question (if your job may reasonably require it), because knowledge that such things exist is a big part of being a senior person. You don't have to be able to know the class name, or exact notation, but you should be able to know what to Google for. A person who does now know what a priority queue is will happily write O(n^2) algorithm which repeatedly calls max() and completely kill your app performance. There would be no opportunity to Google anything, because only senior people get business requirements, not names of algorithms they need to use.
wilde 6y ago
If your company refuses to hire anyone where this statement is false, that doesn’t tell you much.