5 ms·

I take it into account by asking a problem that is so simple and straightforward that you do not need google, intellisense, or any other tool to solve the probl

I take it into account by asking a problem that is so simple and straightforward that you do not need google, intellisense, or any other tool to solve the problem. As I mentioned in another comment above, I have asked problems as simple as "add and subtract four numbers". A candidate who needs to use Google to determine how to add and subtract doubles in C++ will not be successful. Now, perhaps I am alienating candidates, but first, I am very willing to accommodate any candidate who wishes to demonstrate their coding skills to me in some other way, and second, my primary goal is to prevent bad hires. If good hires go to the competition, that's too bad, but it is way more important to prevent a bad hire. What I am not willing to do is fail to test candidates on their coding ability; I have had candidates -- some with advanced degrees -- show up who had no demonstrable ability to solve practical problems.

arihant 11y ago
> I have had candidates -- some with advanced degrees -- show up who had no demonstrable ability to solve practical problems. For real? I'm assuming you imply advanced degrees for reputable university? From my experience in CMU, it is hard to imagine someone slip through the system without an extreme command on general programming. Maybe it can happen at a research focused Masters, but someone with a BS in Computer Science from the top 5 should not flunk an interview.
- ericlippert 11y ago
  Oh yes really. I have had candidates with PhDs in computer science who had a deep understanding of static analysis of programming languages, but who did not know how many bytes were in a pointer on a 64 bit operating system, who thought that there was an algorithm for compressing any 64 bit number into a 32 bit number, who could not describe the possible consequences of a buffer overrun in C, and who had no idea whatsoever what a virtual function table was. Now, to be fair, as Dijkstra is said to have pointed out, astronomers are not experts on telescope building. People with deep knowledge in one small area of a field are often ignorant of other areas, even closely related areas. In those cases it's even more important to get a sense for how the candidate approaches problem solving, whether they can learn on the job, and so on, because you know that they are going to be deeply in problem solving mode very quickly when faced with their first real-world problems. I hold up myself as a case in point; I helped build the JavaScript engine that was in Internet Explorer in the 1990s, but know practically nothing about HTML, the browser DOM, CSS, and so on. If I were interviewing someone like me for a web developer position, I would have to be convinced that the candidate could learn quickly.
- akhilcacharya 11y ago
  Not everybody goes to a top 5...
- akhilcacharya 11y ago
  Not everybody goes to a top 5...

arihant 11y ago

> I have had candidates -- some with advanced degrees -- show up who had no demonstrable ability to solve practical problems. For real? I'm assuming you imply advanced degrees for reputable university? From my experience in CMU, it is hard to imagine someone slip through the system without an extreme command on general programming. Maybe it can happen at a research focused Masters, but someone with a BS in Computer Science from the top 5 should not flunk an interview.

ericlippert 11y ago
Oh yes really. I have had candidates with PhDs in computer science who had a deep understanding of static analysis of programming languages, but who did not know how many bytes were in a pointer on a 64 bit operating system, who thought that there was an algorithm for compressing any 64 bit number into a 32 bit number, who could not describe the possible consequences of a buffer overrun in C, and who had no idea whatsoever what a virtual function table was. Now, to be fair, as Dijkstra is said to have pointed out, astronomers are not experts on telescope building. People with deep knowledge in one small area of a field are often ignorant of other areas, even closely related areas. In those cases it's even more important to get a sense for how the candidate approaches problem solving, whether they can learn on the job, and so on, because you know that they are going to be deeply in problem solving mode very quickly when faced with their first real-world problems. I hold up myself as a case in point; I helped build the JavaScript engine that was in Internet Explorer in the 1990s, but know practically nothing about HTML, the browser DOM, CSS, and so on. If I were interviewing someone like me for a web developer position, I would have to be convinced that the candidate could learn quickly.
akhilcacharya 11y ago
Not everybody goes to a top 5...
akhilcacharya 11y ago
Not everybody goes to a top 5...