3 ms·
> By contrast, a good candidate may not be able to immediately repeat the algorithm, but can reason their way there pretty quickly. I know dozens of good candi
by tchalla 5y ago
> By contrast, a good candidate may not be able to immediately repeat the algorithm, but can reason their way there pretty quickly.
I know dozens of good candidates who can't get there pretty quickly but are really good. I also know dozens of good candidates who can get there pretty quickly but won't be good enough on the job.
- smallerfish 5y agoMaybe they'd be really good at other engineer positions, but if they can't get to a binary tree algorithm reasonably fast I wouldn't hire them for backend positions that require CS reasoning.
- tchalla 5y ago> Maybe they'd be really good at other engineer positions, but if they can't get to a binary tree algorithm reasonably fast I wouldn't hire them for backend positions that require CS reasoning. You not hiring for backend positions doesn't mean they are not good at the positions. It just means they aren't good at your signals.
- magicalhippo 5y agoFor me it's a strong signal, but it shouldn't be the only signal. And I do think it's good to have a diverse team. Some of my coworkers are not nearly as strong as me when it comes to "CS details" like data structures or programming languages, but they have other attributes which complement me and which are good for the team. Having a bunch of me's (or any of the others) would be a disaster.