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Agreed. If writing a binary search tree thingamabob isn't relevant to the job they have 10 years experience in, why is the answer to that question so important
by proksoup 14y ago
Agreed.
If writing a binary search tree thingamabob isn't relevant to the job they have 10 years experience in, why is the answer to that question so important at the goog?
Why not ask questions that are relevant to the experience the candidate does have ...
- dhconnelly 14y agoBecause Google engineers don't seem to be hired for their experience with specific technologies/areas, but for their general competence. EDIT: Sorry, I really should have avoided making a comment at all. Google's hiring practices have been debated here a billion times and I can't really add anything that hasn't been said before.
- Daniel_Newby 14y agoYou cannot fake it with strong b.s. skills, and you cannot take credit for someone else's work.
- glaak 14y agoIt depends on how you look at it. Google wants people who have a strong understand of CS fundamentals (which includes knowing core data structures). Google also wants people who are good coders (which includes being able to translate an idea into code). A good coder who knows CS fundamentals should be able to do that. Thus, not knowing how to implement a binary search tree is revealing. And, really, the question is rarely "implement a binary search tree." It may, however, be to implement a binary search tree which support a getMedian() operation.
- Evbn 14y agoOf course, not knowing how to write a library quality Java w/generics implementation of a a search API on a non-search tree, on the whiteboard, as one of my interviewers once demanded, is something a bit else.
- almost_usual 14y agoIt shows motivation, there is competition that is willing to brush up on CS fundamentals, have a full time job, and practice interviewing.