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Candidates always optimize for what is being interviewed, never ever forget that. The moment you put down a interview 'process' its all over. Doesn't matter wha
by kamaal 13y ago
Candidates always optimize for what is being interviewed, never ever forget that. The moment you put down a interview 'process' its all over. Doesn't matter what that process is, doesn't matter how difficult that is. Once you do it, its only a matter of recognizing patterns. Then all you have to do is develop a elaborate process to game it. A couple of months of practice is all it takes to do that.
The Steve Yegge, 'Get that job at Google' article is nothing but a 'Game this interview' article. Read this book, practice this X times and you shall get through. For heaven's sake, Do people hire for getting job done everyday or playing some puzzles from some book not even remotely relevant to any thing you will ever do on your job.
Companies like these want the best of the best people. Yet their methods completely revolve around knowledge and fact based questions. And sorry I don't believe asking difficult questions make it any better. There are forums on the net dedicated to train you crack such questions.
How many interviews check if candidates can last tough on the job situations? How many check if the candidate is hard working, How many check the candidates appetite to work on tough challenging time pressing projects? How many check if the candidate is innovative? Or checks a candidates general abilities like gumption, persistence or general appetite for work and delivering.
These companies often speak on how difficult it is to hire good people and then purposefully invent processes to avoid hiring such people.
- BrandonY 13y agoMuch of the technical advice in Steve Yegge's article boils down to this: "Study a data-structures and algorithms book. Focus on complexity, graphs, discrete math, operating systems, and algorithms." While you could consider this advice on how to game an interview, I would argue it's also excellent advice on how to become a better software engineer.
- enneff 13y agoIn addition, Yegge's article is not pitched at the layman. It is for working programmers who want to "level up" before tackling a Google interview. I brushed up on my algorithms and data structures before my Google interview, and it certainly helped.
- vladimirralev 13y agoI think may be you missed the important point in the article. Everybody these days knows algorithms and data structures. It's much more about being fast at arbitrary problem solving on the spot and attitude.
- opinali 13y ago+1000 to this. I relate you comment to Neil deGrasse Tyson's quote: "There are people who say “I'll never need this math -- these trig identities from 10th grade or 11th grade.” Or maybe you never learned them. Here's the catch: whether or not you ever use the math that you learned in school, the act of having learned the math established a wiring in your brain that didn't exist before, and it's the wiring in your brain that makes you the problem solver."
- kamaal 13y agoI have an even better of 'wiring' your brain. Work on projects, that forces your brain to wire and you also get work done along the way.
- vladimirralev 13y agoAgree. Like they say, whatever you measure will improve, that's a warning.