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And for 1)--a good interviewer won't actually mark you down for not knowing some fact, or not being able to think of some trick. I've passed interviews where I'

And for 1)--a good interviewer won't actually mark you down for not knowing some fact, or not being able to think of some trick. I've passed interviews where I've just said, "Hey, I don't know [that particular thing]. How should it work?" or "I'd Google the exact algorithm for X; I'll pretend I wrote that and call it here..." or similar. Good interviewers want you to pass, and aren't just giving you a test of arbitrary programming trivia.

polynox 5y ago
This is a lie at least as it corresponds to bigtech hiring today. > "I'd Google the exact algorithm for X" This is a fail in the interviewer's book. Read: "Could not produce an algorithm with less than O(n)" or "lacks familiarity with fundamental data structures"
- SomeCallMeTim 5y ago
  I passed an Amazon interview by saying almost exactly that, so given Amazon is one of the FAANG companies? I can back up my statement.
WalterSear 5y ago
Technical interviews are about culling the incoming applicants on the assumption that passing many good hires is preferable to letting one bad hire through. So, IME, no matter how well intentioned an interviewer may be, they aren't ultimately looking for a reason to pass you - they are looking for any way to differentiate between candidates. Lip service is certainly paid to 'everyone has to look things up', and doing a quick search won't necessarily count against you, but, IME, the hesitation and doubt that caused you to look things up will. With so little material with which to evaluate a candidate, absolutely everything that doesn't impress them is going to count against you.
- josephg 5y ago
  > passing many good hires is preferable to letting one bad hire through. This is certainly Google’s philosophy, but our industry doesn’t think with one mind on this. And as for having so little material - to me this is a sign of a badly designed interview. Almost everyone is weak in one area or another. If your interview only assesses candidates in one way (eg via a coding challenge, or based on a single whiteboard problem) then you are making a decision with insufficient signal. Multifaceted interviews are good interviews. Plenty of otherwise strong candidates are weak in at least one section of any assessment. And plenty of bad hires will still, for example, know trivia about data structures even though they don’t actually know how to program. Making a hiring decision based on a single metric leaves way too much to chance. (Source: I’ve done over 400 technical interviews)

polynox 5y ago

This is a lie at least as it corresponds to bigtech hiring today. > "I'd Google the exact algorithm for X" This is a fail in the interviewer's book. Read: "Could not produce an algorithm with less than O(n)" or "lacks familiarity with fundamental data structures"

SomeCallMeTim 5y ago
I passed an Amazon interview by saying almost exactly that, so given Amazon is one of the FAANG companies? I can back up my statement.

WalterSear 5y ago

Technical interviews are about culling the incoming applicants on the assumption that passing many good hires is preferable to letting one bad hire through. So, IME, no matter how well intentioned an interviewer may be, they aren't ultimately looking for a reason to pass you - they are looking for any way to differentiate between candidates. Lip service is certainly paid to 'everyone has to look things up', and doing a quick search won't necessarily count against you, but, IME, the hesitation and doubt that caused you to look things up will. With so little material with which to evaluate a candidate, absolutely everything that doesn't impress them is going to count against you.

josephg 5y ago
> passing many good hires is preferable to letting one bad hire through. This is certainly Google’s philosophy, but our industry doesn’t think with one mind on this. And as for having so little material - to me this is a sign of a badly designed interview. Almost everyone is weak in one area or another. If your interview only assesses candidates in one way (eg via a coding challenge, or based on a single whiteboard problem) then you are making a decision with insufficient signal. Multifaceted interviews are good interviews. Plenty of otherwise strong candidates are weak in at least one section of any assessment. And plenty of bad hires will still, for example, know trivia about data structures even though they don’t actually know how to program. Making a hiring decision based on a single metric leaves way too much to chance. (Source: I’ve done over 400 technical interviews)