4 ms·

> "make a linked list" no, just use a library like everyone else. If you cannot sketch out a simple linked list on a whiteboard, you’re not an engineer and hav

> "make a linked list" no, just use a library like everyone else. If you cannot sketch out a simple linked list on a whiteboard, you’re not an engineer and have no business being hired as one at a place like Apple, full stop. I was asked to sketch out a hash table on the whiteboard. It was trivial, because a trivial hash table is trivial.

KaiserPro 3y ago
> you’re not an engineer and have no business being hired as one at a place like Apple well, unless you have a engineering degree, you're not actually an engineer, but we'll gloss over that. (big hint CS isn't an engineering discipline, otherwise testing, requirements gathering and cost analysis would be a big part of the course. ) I was once asked to implement a distributed fault tolerant hashtable on a whiteboard. I'd still never make one from scratch unless I really really needed to. (and I've worked on distributed datastores....) but that wasn't part of the coding test, that was part of the design test. Which is my point, re-implementing things for the hell of it, is an antipattern. rote learning of toy implementations of some everyday function doesn't give you a good signal on if the candidate understands why you should use x over y. and again, my point is this: If I catch someone re-implementing something in a code review, they need to have a really good fucking reason to do it, otherwise it'll be rejected.
- whateverman23 3y ago
  > well, unless you have a engineering degree, you're not actually an engineer That's not a requirement in the US.
  - edgyquant 3y ago
    Nor is it a requirement for a majority of engineering types regardless of country. Civil engineers think they have a monopoly on the word; this should always be pushed back upon.
- OkayPhysicist 3y ago
  They're not asking you to re-implement it on a whiteboard so they can open a PR and shove it in their new app. They're asking you to re-implement it to demonstrate that you understand it, and that given an understanding of something, that you have the skills to implement it. If you can't hammer out a technical interview using off-the-top of your knowledge, you're in the group they're trying to weed out.
- edgyquant 3y ago
  >unless you have an engineering degree This is not true. There are dozens of types of engineers and that word doesn’t mean civil engineer. There are audio engineers who work on music and film ffs, get over yourself.

KaiserPro 3y ago

> you’re not an engineer and have no business being hired as one at a place like Apple well, unless you have a engineering degree, you're not actually an engineer, but we'll gloss over that. (big hint CS isn't an engineering discipline, otherwise testing, requirements gathering and cost analysis would be a big part of the course. ) I was once asked to implement a distributed fault tolerant hashtable on a whiteboard. I'd still never make one from scratch unless I really really needed to. (and I've worked on distributed datastores....) but that wasn't part of the coding test, that was part of the design test. Which is my point, re-implementing things for the hell of it, is an antipattern. rote learning of toy implementations of some everyday function doesn't give you a good signal on if the candidate understands why you should use x over y. and again, my point is this: If I catch someone re-implementing something in a code review, they need to have a really good fucking reason to do it, otherwise it'll be rejected.

whateverman23 3y ago
> well, unless you have a engineering degree, you're not actually an engineer That's not a requirement in the US.
- edgyquant 3y ago
  Nor is it a requirement for a majority of engineering types regardless of country. Civil engineers think they have a monopoly on the word; this should always be pushed back upon.
OkayPhysicist 3y ago
They're not asking you to re-implement it on a whiteboard so they can open a PR and shove it in their new app. They're asking you to re-implement it to demonstrate that you understand it, and that given an understanding of something, that you have the skills to implement it. If you can't hammer out a technical interview using off-the-top of your knowledge, you're in the group they're trying to weed out.
edgyquant 3y ago
>unless you have an engineering degree This is not true. There are dozens of types of engineers and that word doesn’t mean civil engineer. There are audio engineers who work on music and film ffs, get over yourself.