4 ms·

I had been programming for over ten years when I first ran into FizzBuzz, suffice to say I failed the exercise and wasn't offered the job. So I just moved onto

by hcrean 4y ago

I had been programming for over ten years when I first ran into FizzBuzz, suffice to say I failed the exercise and wasn't offered the job. So I just moved onto the next interview and passed that one. Sure, you can't prove that finding subcycles in a directed-graph is an NP-Hard problem on a whiteboard, or implement a linked-list or invert a binary tree by hand: But what you have is hard-earned common sense and a meaningful understanding of how software evolves over time. This is valuable to any company and many have identified that they are in desperate need of it.

Leherenn 4y ago
Why did you fail Fizzbuzz if I may ask? I have heard a lot about people with 10 yoe but who can't write 3 lines of code in an interview, and I have always wondered what was the cause. It can't be that all those people just got lucky and never did anything for 10 years. I'm sure you realised after the fact this was absolutely trivial and you could have finished that in a few minutes. Also, what changed that you passed the next interview? What didn't you also (I assume) freeze in that one?
- zo1 4y ago
  Not OP. But my worst fear with fizzbuzz would be that I'd forget the damn modulus operator. In python % is used for string formatting and I would have to quickly Google it to be 100% sure of any gotchas. Doing that in an interview the people would think "wow, 15 years of exp and doesn't know the modulus operator!!".
  - Leherenn 4y ago
    When I interview people, I wouldn't dock any points for saying what you just wrote. I care more about the way you think than if you perfectly know the language's syntax. If anything, that's a positive for me. The modulus operator can be tricky and do not behave the same in every language, the fact you're aware of that and you would have a quick sanity check is a great sign in my opinion. It can be the start of some further conversation.
knighthack 4y ago
I have no idea how you'd fail Fizbuzz, if you had been programming for over the 10 years as you claim. Speaking as a programmer, knowledge and trivia of "hard-earned common sense and a meaningful understanding of how software evolves over time" is not useful to the actual building of software at all.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- freedom2099 4y ago
  Frankly I don’t se me how you could fail FizzBuzz even after having been programming for a month…

by hcrean 4y ago

Leherenn 4y ago

Why did you fail Fizzbuzz if I may ask? I have heard a lot about people with 10 yoe but who can't write 3 lines of code in an interview, and I have always wondered what was the cause. It can't be that all those people just got lucky and never did anything for 10 years. I'm sure you realised after the fact this was absolutely trivial and you could have finished that in a few minutes. Also, what changed that you passed the next interview? What didn't you also (I assume) freeze in that one?

zo1 4y ago
Not OP. But my worst fear with fizzbuzz would be that I'd forget the damn modulus operator. In python % is used for string formatting and I would have to quickly Google it to be 100% sure of any gotchas. Doing that in an interview the people would think "wow, 15 years of exp and doesn't know the modulus operator!!".
- Leherenn 4y ago
  When I interview people, I wouldn't dock any points for saying what you just wrote. I care more about the way you think than if you perfectly know the language's syntax. If anything, that's a positive for me. The modulus operator can be tricky and do not behave the same in every language, the fact you're aware of that and you would have a quick sanity check is a great sign in my opinion. It can be the start of some further conversation.

knighthack 4y ago

I have no idea how you'd fail Fizbuzz, if you had been programming for over the 10 years as you claim. Speaking as a programmer, knowledge and trivia of "hard-earned common sense and a meaningful understanding of how software evolves over time" is not useful to the actual building of software at all.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
freedom2099 4y ago
Frankly I don’t se me how you could fail FizzBuzz even after having been programming for a month…