Who really cares about algorithm on daily bases. How often you solve algorithm-heavy tasks at work?
Ask HN: What is the point of algorithm-heavy interviews?
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Re: Ask HN: What is the point of algorithm-heavy interviews?
#2Someone here once posted that they realize that it has little to do with work, but they don't have time to test work related things. Plus candidates hate coding challenges. So the algorithm is the closest to it.
It has a lot of false negatives, but companies like Google have so many candidates it doesn't matter.
I liken it to military push ups. Someone who can do a lot of them also has good enough physical strength to do all kinds of physical work.
Re: Ask HN: What is the point of algorithm-heavy interviews?
#3I realized that everyone needs a base level of algorithms knowledge to write and design good software. Ideally it is pretty basic (leetcode easy), but the initial employees at FAANG companies decided to have a hazing ritual by creating increasingly complicated questions (e.g. leetcode hard) and it is exacerbated by a large number of kids from universities who mindlessly play this game. It spread to all other tech companies too and the process is just destructive.
I don't see an end to this. Its as if all companies expect people to be competitive programmers, and they optimize only on one parameter :/
Re: Ask HN: What is the point of algorithm-heavy interviews?
#4Not all interviews are algo-heavy. I recently interviewed for a position in AWS and the challenge was a simple floodfill argo (leetcode easy).
Re: Ask HN: What is the point of algorithm-heavy interviews?
#5I once read it is a form of ageism because older people, in general, don't have as much time as young people due to family to study for those interviews.
Absolutely no idea if that is true but I think it is an interesting thought.
Re: Ask HN: What is the point of algorithm-heavy interviews?
#6Someone here once posted that they realize that it has little to do with work, but they don't have time to test work related things. Plus candidates hate coding challenges. So the algorithm is the closest to it. It has a lot of false negatives, but companies like Google have so many candidates it doesn't matter. I liken it to military push ups. Someone who can do a lot of them also has good enough physical strength t…
Except most people are trying to hire distance runners who will be lifting at most 5 pounds (~2.5kg).
Re: Ask HN: What is the point of algorithm-heavy interviews?
#7To waste your time.
> Who really cares about algorithm on daily bases. How often you solve algorithm-heavy tasks at work?
Practically no one and practically never for the majority of developers.
It's a trend started by Google, and since lots of startups don't bother thinking for themselves (and the interviewer wants to sound knowledgeable) some of them also ask these questions.
Perhaps this type of interview is more popular in some places rather than others - I've never had one like this, although occasionally people ask questions like "how many piano tuners are there in your city?" (answer: "let me check on Google..." or "why, are you thinking of starting a piano tuning company?").
Re: Ask HN: What is the point of algorithm-heavy interviews?
#8Someone here once posted that they realize that it has little to do with work, but they don't have time to test work related things. Plus candidates hate coding challenges. So the algorithm is the closest to it. It has a lot of false negatives, but companies like Google have so many candidates it doesn't matter. I liken it to military push ups. Someone who can do a lot of them also has good enough physical strength t…
Except most people are trying to hire distance runners who will be lifting at most 5 pounds (~2.5kg).
You could argue lifting 5 pounds running long distance demands a lot more energy than lifting 5 pounds and dropping it. And I'm sure they carry a lot more than 5 pounds of gear.
Re: Ask HN: What is the point of algorithm-heavy interviews?
#91. Ageism (prefer early 20s)
2. Making switching jobs harder
Re: Ask HN: What is the point of algorithm-heavy interviews?
#10To waste your time. > Who really cares about algorithm on daily bases. How often you solve algorithm-heavy tasks at work? Practically no one and practically never for the majority of developers. It's a trend started by Google, and since lots of startups don't bother thinking for themselves (and the interviewer wants to sound knowledgeable) some of them also ask these questions. Perhaps this type of interview is more…
> let me check on Google...
First of all, Newsflash! that's illegal in a programming interview, please solve this question using a whiteboard instead, show a mathematical proof if needed.
/s