4 ms·

> I interviewed several Uber/Amazon engineers and they couldn't solve a simple problem (very easy problem that most bootcamp grads could do). I don't know you

> I interviewed several Uber/Amazon engineers and they couldn't solve a simple problem (very easy problem that most bootcamp grads could do). I don't know you personally, and I don't want to start a flame war here, but if there's one thing FAANG senior engineers are good at, it's solving simple coding problems in interviews If you're saying they can't actually proactively get useful work done on their own, or quickly ship quality products, or talk to customers, I could understand. But basically the only thing that you can be 100% sure of is that almost everyone at those big companies passed some arbitrary coding tests

8note 4y ago
If you've moved up from L4 to L6 at a faang, chances are that you haven't spent a lot of time solving simple interviewing coding problems. You've likely spent time on the interviewer side, but the number of problems you're interacting with is small. At some point, a faang engineer was good at solving those, but that might not be their current state
metadat 4y ago
This runs contrary to my firsthand experience. Have been disappointed by Amazon engineers who couldn't solve simple level-1 problems in an interview. I know there are smart people there. Somewhere. Else. One time the candidate had a bunch of video games out in plain view (Switch and Xbox, IIRC). Apparently couldn't be bothered to put them away for the remote interview. They proceeded to flail and scored a zero on every question. What are people thinking in these scenarios? -_-
bitanarch 4y ago
ex-AAPL senior software engineer here. You generally only get good at interview problems when you're entering the door. After that, interview questions generally have nothing to do with your job. Also, as you move beyond entry level positions, political skills, communications skills and connections becomes more and more important. Unless you happen to be at some massive growth teams at the right times, it's basically impossible to move beyond ICT4 or L5 unless both you and your boss have very good grasp of politics.
TrackerFF 4y ago
Depends on how long you've been in a position, and if you've had time to practice. 5 years out of college, worked in a single place all those years, without ever touching data structures or algorithms under the hood? Yes, I can absolutely see even experienced programmers stumble on relatively "easy" questions. But that's just the gatekeeper to get them inside the door. You could be a good engineer without knowing how to find the optimal solution to some niche problem, on the spot.

8note 4y ago

If you've moved up from L4 to L6 at a faang, chances are that you haven't spent a lot of time solving simple interviewing coding problems. You've likely spent time on the interviewer side, but the number of problems you're interacting with is small. At some point, a faang engineer was good at solving those, but that might not be their current state

metadat 4y ago

This runs contrary to my firsthand experience. Have been disappointed by Amazon engineers who couldn't solve simple level-1 problems in an interview. I know there are smart people there. Somewhere. Else. One time the candidate had a bunch of video games out in plain view (Switch and Xbox, IIRC). Apparently couldn't be bothered to put them away for the remote interview. They proceeded to flail and scored a zero on every question. What are people thinking in these scenarios? -_-

bitanarch 4y ago

ex-AAPL senior software engineer here. You generally only get good at interview problems when you're entering the door. After that, interview questions generally have nothing to do with your job. Also, as you move beyond entry level positions, political skills, communications skills and connections becomes more and more important. Unless you happen to be at some massive growth teams at the right times, it's basically impossible to move beyond ICT4 or L5 unless both you and your boss have very good grasp of politics.

TrackerFF 4y ago

Depends on how long you've been in a position, and if you've had time to practice. 5 years out of college, worked in a single place all those years, without ever touching data structures or algorithms under the hood? Yes, I can absolutely see even experienced programmers stumble on relatively "easy" questions. But that's just the gatekeeper to get them inside the door. You could be a good engineer without knowing how to find the optimal solution to some niche problem, on the spot.