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> I've recently had multiple candidates recently with inflated resumes. Not mere embellishments, but claiming advanced degrees in computer science when they can
by mkdirp 5y ago
> I've recently had multiple candidates recently with inflated resumes. Not mere embellishments, but claiming advanced degrees in computer science when they can't solve a simple algorithmic problem (something that can be coded in <10 mins).
I've a BSc in one of the better universities for CS in the UK. I can barely implement any algorithm that I learned during my university years. The amount of times I've been told implement algorithm x, y, and z in the past ~10 odd years in my professional career has been zero. Conversely, the amount of times I've been asked to implement them during interviews has been way higher.
Unless you're hiring someone to implement such an algorithm, you shouldn't be using them as a test, because most, if not all, the algorithms we got taught during my CS degree, have one or more implementations to the point where I can just use those implementations. Heck, I wouldn't even want to waste time re-implementing it, and probably doing a bad job of it, when I can just use someone else implementation, who most likely will do it better than anything most people can.
- Shish2k 5y agoNo OP, but when I ask people to solve an algorithmic problem, I don’t mean “regurgitate this algorithm from memory”, I mean “I give the candidate a plain english description of an algorithm and ask them to turn it into code” (eg “read this .txt file, for each word in the file, reverse the word, and print it to stdout”). This does a pretty good job of filtering out people who can’t write a `for` loop, which is a lot of people, even those with “senior” in their past job titles...
- starlust2 5y agoThis is exactly what I'm referring to. I'm not testing for rote learning. I'm testing problem solving ability.
- sasquatch_9 5y agoThe vast majority of places are asking algorithmic questions not for you to reimplement known algorithms, asking candidates to regurgitate existing algorithms is widely known as bad practice.
- BaseballPhysics 5y ago> The vast majority of places are asking algorithmic questions not for you to reimplement known algorithms So your claim is every company is coming up with new algorithms that they use for their tests??
- starlust2 5y agoAn algorithmic question is a coding problem that focuses on problem solving, and may include questions/constraints related to time & space optimization. The test should never rely on rote learning (e.g. implement Dijkstra's algorithm from memory) or require a "magic" solution (e.g. Project Euler)