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The leetcode test is just a screening device. Passing it means you then go through the real interviews. Also, if someone is unwilling to do the work to pass th

The leetcode test is just a screening device. Passing it means you then go through the real interviews. Also, if someone is unwilling to do the work to pass the leetcode test, they likely don't have the ambition to get the high pressure jobs.

zzrrt 2mo ago
If a good candidate can do it in 3 weeks, then a middling one can do it in 10 weeks, and a bad one in 6 months of memorizing. They all pass the screen, but two are lower-quality, and the bad candidate is about as much of a waste of the "real" interview as a total fraud would be. If the bar is that low, just use an accredited degree, certification, references, or a proctored quiz with questions like "define a linked list in < 3 sentences," and it would be just as effective at filtering the very lowest, while more pleasant for everyone involved and maybe cheaper. Crammable puzzles that don't represent real software engineering don't provide much more value than those filters would.
watwut 2mo ago
As if these were high pressure jobs ... or had any rational reason to be high pressure jobs.
- WalterBright 2mo ago
  High pressure jobs correspond with higher pay.
sscaryterry 2mo ago
> they likely don't have the ambition to get the high pressure jobs. What absolute drivel. I've done plenty of leetcodes. I don't care about writing a qsort algorithm, I know the trade-offs, unless you're working for a FAANG or FAANG-adjacent company, the need to write your own sorting algorithm implementation is probably zero or near zero.
- WalterBright 2mo ago
  > I don't care about writing a qsort algorithm That wasn't the point. Would you wash your car before picking up your date for the first time? A dirty car would drive just as well, but your date will figure you don't care about the date going well.
  - sscaryterry 2mo ago
    There is difference between being a tidy, kept person and having ambitions. You're conflating the two. (Edit: Perhaps I should have written in my original comment: I'm nobody's code-producing monkey, I'm not dancing for money or peanuts)

zzrrt 2mo ago

If a good candidate can do it in 3 weeks, then a middling one can do it in 10 weeks, and a bad one in 6 months of memorizing. They all pass the screen, but two are lower-quality, and the bad candidate is about as much of a waste of the "real" interview as a total fraud would be. If the bar is that low, just use an accredited degree, certification, references, or a proctored quiz with questions like "define a linked list in < 3 sentences," and it would be just as effective at filtering the very lowest, while more pleasant for everyone involved and maybe cheaper. Crammable puzzles that don't represent real software engineering don't provide much more value than those filters would.

watwut 2mo ago

As if these were high pressure jobs ... or had any rational reason to be high pressure jobs.

WalterBright 2mo ago
High pressure jobs correspond with higher pay.

sscaryterry 2mo ago

> they likely don't have the ambition to get the high pressure jobs. What absolute drivel. I've done plenty of leetcodes. I don't care about writing a qsort algorithm, I know the trade-offs, unless you're working for a FAANG or FAANG-adjacent company, the need to write your own sorting algorithm implementation is probably zero or near zero.

WalterBright 2mo ago
> I don't care about writing a qsort algorithm That wasn't the point. Would you wash your car before picking up your date for the first time? A dirty car would drive just as well, but your date will figure you don't care about the date going well.
- sscaryterry 2mo ago
  There is difference between being a tidy, kept person and having ambitions. You're conflating the two. (Edit: Perhaps I should have written in my original comment: I'm nobody's code-producing monkey, I'm not dancing for money or peanuts)