Do you know Goodhart's law ? https://coffeeandjunk.com/goodharts-campbells-law/
Software engineering is craft and there are many metrices. But sadly people focus heavily on algorithm/ds only.
Ask HN: What is the point of algorithm-heavy interviews?
91–100 of 104 posts
Re: Ask HN: What is the point of algorithm-heavy interviews?
#92There isn't anybody who can make good software architecture who isn't also good at data structures / algorithms.
Re: Ask HN: What is the point of algorithm-heavy interviews?
#93Earlier quoted context omitted.
Then they complain to Congress that they can’t hire enough workers.
The obvious solution is to increase H-1B. They won't know anything about algorithms either, but they'll cost less and can be worked like slaves.
This is such BS. FAANG H1B salaries are the same as regular employees. You have no idea what you're talking about and clearly just form your opinion on hearsay.
Re: Ask HN: What is the point of algorithm-heavy interviews?
#94Earlier quoted context omitted.
As a programmer, I want my user to have the best experience possible using my software. Using a generic sort function may be the optimal solution for me, as a programmer for getting the job done quickly, but in some occasions, it delivers an experience which is far from optimal for my user. Let's take the sort function as an example. There are many problems for which the sort function far from the optimal solution. F…
Ok sure, but you can simply google different algos, try them out, and use the one that works best?
That what you would do if you knew such a solution exist, but cant recall the exact implementation.
In most cases, people who have no background in CS theory wouldn't even know such a solution exists and will resort to the generic "one-size-fits-all" solution
Re: Ask HN: What is the point of algorithm-heavy interviews?
#95Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is like saying that a car mechanic needs to have a PhD in thermodynamics to work on internal combustion engines. 99.9% of coders just need to know what things in their chosen language(s) are performance sensitive and what aren't - very few actually need to know the exact reason why. And even fewer need to be able to improve on said algorithms. If something needs sorting, you call the sort function in the object.…
It is far from saying that. At best it's more like saying a car mechanic should understand how a car works (e.g., how does an internal combustion engine work) even though most car mechanics spend 80% of their time changing oil, oil filters, and rotating tires. I think it is completely reasonable that a car mechanic should understand how a car works because without that knowledge how do they diagnose what is wrong? My…
Work sample. Do you spend any parts of your days writing syntax clean implementations of complex algorithms on a whiteboard with no access to references? Because no one I know has a job anything like that.
Knowing enough about various algorithms to suggest different ones and their trade-offs in a brainstorming session when presented with a (vague) problem is something that actually happens in some jobs. That part is fine to simulate in an interview if it’s an important part of a particular job.
What most software engineering interviews should have but don’t are sections on fixing bugs and adding features in existing codebases. These are the bread and butter of a lot of jobs. But that doesn’t allow for interviewer dick waiving, so it’s pretty rare.
Re: Ask HN: What is the point of algorithm-heavy interviews?
#96Earlier quoted context omitted.
The obvious solution is to increase H-1B. They won't know anything about algorithms either, but they'll cost less and can be worked like slaves.
This is such BS. FAANG H1B salaries are the same as regular employees. You have no idea what you're talking about and clearly just form your opinion on hearsay.
I'm not American, so I'm not endorsing the same belief, but isn't the main criticism against the treatment of H1B visa holders related to workplace treatment (i.e. work longer hours/accept extra work or you're kicked out of the country) instead of pay?
Re: Ask HN: What is the point of algorithm-heavy interviews?
#97Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is such BS. FAANG H1B salaries are the same as regular employees. You have no idea what you're talking about and clearly just form your opinion on hearsay.
I'm not American, so I'm not endorsing the same belief, but isn't the main criticism against the treatment of H1B visa holders related to workplace treatment (i.e. work longer hours/accept extra work or you're kicked out of the country) instead of pay?
This maybe true of Infosys or Wipro etc. This is not the case in FAANG companies. They get the same salaries in FAANG and are no different from regular employees. Don't let HN skew your world view. It's cool to be anti FAANG where as people posting these are living somewhere remote, salty about immigrants.
Re: Ask HN: What is the point of algorithm-heavy interviews?
#98Earlier quoted context omitted.
Then they complain to Congress that they can’t hire enough workers.
The obvious solution is to increase H-1B. They won't know anything about algorithms either, but they'll cost less and can be worked like slaves.
This is such a veiled racist attack. "immigrant devs" bad, "American good". You know nothing about FAANG salaries for H1Bs. They are on par if not more than regular devs.
Re: Ask HN: What is the point of algorithm-heavy interviews?
#99Earlier quoted context omitted.
The obvious solution is to increase H-1B. They won't know anything about algorithms either, but they'll cost less and can be worked like slaves.
This is such a veiled racist attack. "immigrant devs" bad, "American good". You know nothing about FAANG salaries for H1Bs. They are on par if not more than regular devs.
We've asked you repeatedly not to break the site guidelines. You've continued to break them repeatedly. If you keep doing that we will ban you.
I'm sure you can correct misinformation and make your substantive points thoughtfully if you want to. Please use HN that way, not this way or like https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21459960.
Re: Ask HN: What is the point of algorithm-heavy interviews?
#100Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is such a veiled racist attack. "immigrant devs" bad, "American good". You know nothing about FAANG salaries for H1Bs. They are on par if not more than regular devs.
We've asked you repeatedly not to break the site guidelines. You've continued to break them repeatedly. If you keep doing that we will ban you. I'm sure you can correct misinformation and make your substantive points thoughtfully if you want to. Please use HN that way, not this way or like https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21459960 .
This is egregious as well -
"They won't know anything about algorithms either, but they'll cost less and can be worked like slaves."
It's hard to have a logical rebuttal to something like this. It's engaging in the worst stereotypes.