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Another broken thing is LeetCode style of programming exercises asked for a job asking 15+ yrs of experience. Not saying we do not solve complex stuff on a day

Another broken thing is LeetCode style of programming exercises asked for a job asking 15+ yrs of experience. Not saying we do not solve complex stuff on a day to day basis, but foundational problems are already solved & we have patterns/solutions/libraries available. We do not do DFS/BFS on a day to day. We do have Stackoverflow, Google to figure things out. FAANG companies - filtering candidates by asking tough LeetCode questions, which is understandable. But what is with Startups? If someone can solve hard LeetCode problems why would they join Startups? They will join FAANG. Startups are blindly copying FAANG before becoming FAANG themselves.

strken 5y ago
I don't like leetcode either, beyond some very simple problems to demonstrate basic proficiency[0], but if you're going to force poor junior developers to do them, it's only fair that seniors suffer the same process. If it's only an expectation for junior developers then it's just an advanced form of hazing. [0] on the level of "here's a list of strings that are names in Lastname, Firstname format, turn them into a list of Firstname Lastname", or something dead simple that's designed to definitively rule candidates out
deleted 5y ago
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remoteguy 5y ago
> FAANG companies - filtering candidates by asking tough LeetCode questions, which is understandable Not sure that I agree it is understandable but I definitely am glad they make this bad decision. I dodged the bullet on interviewing with a FAANG and failing on one question (the recruiter told me it was the answer on a single question that kept me from getting an offer) after doing an onsite in SV. I did not know what I was worth and would've felt compelled to accept an offer that would've been 30-50% less than I could command at the time and I would've had to move somewhere with 4-5x the cost of a home than where I live now. I didn't get that offer, and after a little bit more time I got an offer somewhere where I earn 2-3x as much as I originally said I was worth to the FAANG (based on places like glassdoor, etc.). The culture is better, I can work wherever and whenever I want, and would have to go out of my way to not make impactful decisions that go to prod for millions of customers multiple times a week. It'd take 2-4x my base salary to get me to walk, which I could possibly command, but I don't feel any desire to look because I didn't fall into the FAANG trap and enter a cycle of pretending consultants selling quiz books know what software engineering is and jumping to be able to survive in SV. I messed up something on a whiteboard with an apathetic interviewer about a special tree inversion or something - who gives a shit - and I have been extremely happy that happened every day since.
machello13 5y ago
> If someone can solve hard LeetCode problems why would they join Startups? Uh, what lol? Is this really what it's like to have HN brain? Not everyone in the tech industry is just working their way up to a FAANG.

strken 5y ago

I don't like leetcode either, beyond some very simple problems to demonstrate basic proficiency[0], but if you're going to force poor junior developers to do them, it's only fair that seniors suffer the same process. If it's only an expectation for junior developers then it's just an advanced form of hazing. [0] on the level of "here's a list of strings that are names in Lastname, Firstname format, turn them into a list of Firstname Lastname", or something dead simple that's designed to definitively rule candidates out

deleted 5y ago

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remoteguy 5y ago

> FAANG companies - filtering candidates by asking tough LeetCode questions, which is understandable Not sure that I agree it is understandable but I definitely am glad they make this bad decision. I dodged the bullet on interviewing with a FAANG and failing on one question (the recruiter told me it was the answer on a single question that kept me from getting an offer) after doing an onsite in SV. I did not know what I was worth and would've felt compelled to accept an offer that would've been 30-50% less than I could command at the time and I would've had to move somewhere with 4-5x the cost of a home than where I live now. I didn't get that offer, and after a little bit more time I got an offer somewhere where I earn 2-3x as much as I originally said I was worth to the FAANG (based on places like glassdoor, etc.). The culture is better, I can work wherever and whenever I want, and would have to go out of my way to not make impactful decisions that go to prod for millions of customers multiple times a week. It'd take 2-4x my base salary to get me to walk, which I could possibly command, but I don't feel any desire to look because I didn't fall into the FAANG trap and enter a cycle of pretending consultants selling quiz books know what software engineering is and jumping to be able to survive in SV. I messed up something on a whiteboard with an apathetic interviewer about a special tree inversion or something - who gives a shit - and I have been extremely happy that happened every day since.

machello13 5y ago

> If someone can solve hard LeetCode problems why would they join Startups? Uh, what lol? Is this really what it's like to have HN brain? Not everyone in the tech industry is just working their way up to a FAANG.