It's always been strange to me that tech interviews tend to check for basic CS, rather than deep engineering.
When was the last time you had to implement bsearch() in a real project?
How to Pass a Programming Interview
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Re: How to Pass a Programming Interview
#72 Being a good programmer has a surprisingly small role in passing programming
interviews.
I don't have the answer, but I just don't see how the questions typically asked in programming interviews give you a good picture of the candidate's actual programming ability. I much prefer "homework" projects, even if they involve me working "for free", because I feel like they ask for actual programming skills rather than the "guess the algorithm" lottery of phone screens and whiteboard coding.
Re: How to Pass a Programming Interview
#73As a junior in university looking for internships this summer, I can attest that going through the programming interview process is a pretty foreign process compared to traditional interviews. I just stumbled through my first programming interview last week. I believe in the future point 3 will be especially helpful. The hardest parts for me were trying to figure out how appropriate it was for me to be rambling as I…
It gets better! After a few interviews you start to get the hang of things and can begin to read the situation and understand what's in your best interest to do. Some interviewers like to test your knowledge of C.S. curriculum like you just mentioned, others prefer a friendly person who isn't afraid to ask questions and be honest about what you can and cannot do, others prefer both. It gets better.
I definitely will be far more prepared for my next programming interview from the experience I gained going through the process once already. It's just sad that my first interview process had to be with a higher-profile company that would have been a ticket into silicon valley. Those interviews don't come easy in the first place. Haven't heard back from anyone else yet, but I trust they'll come along.
Re: How to Pass a Programming Interview
#74Another tip which I give: Interviewers vary widely in how much they care about whether your syntax is accurate, whether you handle invalid inputs, and whether you write unit tests. It's really useful to ask the interviewer whether they want you to worry about those things. If you handle invalid inputs for an interviewer who doesn't care about that, they're going to be a little annoyed by you going more slowly than ne…
You can always preempt the whiteboard issue by bringing a laptop along.
"Hey, I'm a lot more comfortable writing code on a keyboard and with an IDE. Lets program this together in a text editor instead of a whiteboard".
Re: How to Pass a Programming Interview
#75Another tip which I give: Interviewers vary widely in how much they care about whether your syntax is accurate, whether you handle invalid inputs, and whether you write unit tests. It's really useful to ask the interviewer whether they want you to worry about those things. If you handle invalid inputs for an interviewer who doesn't care about that, they're going to be a little annoyed by you going more slowly than ne…
Is there any reason an interviewer should care about syntax, etc? When I interview, I ask for psuedocode - I don't really care what language the interviewee uses, I do care that they can get their point across.
You should be able to carefully review a few lines of code for syntax errors. This is important because incorrect syntax might be ambiguous as to what it could mean.
You should not be expected to write syntax-error free code on your first pass while solving a problem , without machine assistance
Re: How to Pass a Programming Interview
#76I really wish that at some point during my CS education I would have realized how typical programming interviews worked and just how impossible they are for me. None of my internships had this sort of stuff and after a long string of failures interviewing after graduating, I can openly admit that being able to solve algorithm stuff just isn't in my blood. It doesn't matter how many books I read or questions I practic…
There are jobs for CS that care about other traits.
System design, user interface design, HCI, software engineering (methodologies, management, architecture), infrastructure, etc that don't lean as heavily on the algorithmic side of CS as they do other aspects.
I know that while interviewing where I work, a candidate's attitude and enthusiasm for programming are much more important to me than their ability to solve some riddle in half an hour. It's not the solution I'm looking for, it's how they get there.
Re: How to Pass a Programming Interview
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is there any reason an interviewer should care about syntax, etc? When I interview, I ask for psuedocode - I don't really care what language the interviewee uses, I do care that they can get their point across.
>> I do care that they can get their point across This is kind of the point, right? Most places I've interviewed are far more interested in your communication skills, logic and thought process than writing perfect code on a whiteboard. Many of my friends have failed to see this is actually the reason they have you write code on a whiteboard.
friends who are candidates, or friends who are hirers? I see that problem on the hirer side.
Re: How to Pass a Programming Interview
#78I hated this article. A good technical interview reveals an aptitude for programming or a lack of same, and can distinguish a true aptitude from an ability to fake it. I've been interviewing programmers for a very long time and I'm pretty good at avoiding "false positive" results with a few straightforward questions.
If you have aptitude and talent, brush up on your algorithms and try to have fun with the interview. If you don't, then I'm sorry, but maybe you'd be happier doing something else.
Re: How to Pass a Programming Interview
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
My credential represents hundreds of hours of programming projects over several years. For that reason alone it is a much better signal than an interview will ever be. It also establishes depth and breadth of familiarity with a variety of fundamental topics demonstrated through exams and large programming projects: program design, networking, operating systems, security/cryptography, team software engineering practic…
Your experience doesn't directly translate to what is relevant for the company you are applying to though. You may _think_ it does based on their general description, but it may not. One of the questions we give has you design a data model to store certain information and then query it out. It's not complex at all, and they are in full control of the design. You'd be surprised how few people with 15 years of experien…
I guess that's possible, but I think you might also be surprised how much better people are at SQL when they have access to references and ability to develop iteratively with feedback from a real computer.
Re: How to Pass a Programming Interview
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've had people interview claiming to know X and then not code in X correctly. So... that's a red flag. We allow interviewees to pick their strongest language. But if you end up picking something that doesn't exist, well, you aren't earning yourself any points.
I wouldn't pass then since I live in post 2000 and am used to let the IDE handle the nitty gritty details while I focus on the actual meat of creating software
I've had this problem as well. I go back and forth between Obj-c, python, javascript, matlab etc. so much without spending a significant amount of time on any one language that I often feel intellectually deficient because I don't know the nitty-gritty details of any of them. Curious to see what others think - is this something I should stop and focus on? Or in today's development environment is it considered acceptable to have to occasionally lookup language nuances in any given situation?
For example, I couldn't tell you off the top of my head how to test for null in python. I'd assume it'd be if(obj), but after a quick google search it seems like if(obj is not None) would be the correct answer.