Earlier quoted context omitted.
I was given the reason explicitly that I failed because I didn't use debugger to fix the bug.
ok then explain to us how you did fix the bug without a debugger ?
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Ask HN: Why I failed interview by fixing bug without using debugger?
21–27 of 27 posts
Re: Ask HN: Why I failed interview by fixing bug without using debugger?
#22Interviewer - Use the debugger to find the bug. You - No. Interviewer - I guess you don't know how to use the debugger and it is required for the job. Have a nice day.
I guess that the interviewer needs to in a put in a bit more effort to present a problem that warrants using a debugger. Who debugs a hello world program?
Re: Ask HN: Why I failed interview by fixing bug without using debugger?
#23Not really anywhere near enough information to answer the question as it is stated, but in order to provide you with an answer, it could come down to how you identified and/or fixed the bug. Did you put a bunch of print statements all over the place or really, any at all? Did you comment out some lines of code and repeatedly run the sample? Did you make changes of any kind and repeatedly run the sample to understand…
I always ask debug questions in when I interview candidates, because it's a skill way too many devs simply don't have. in that situation i'd tell them what you thought was the issue and why, then proceed to prove it through the debugger.
Yes it's tedious, and in real life you fix it and move on, but not all bugs are that simple, and it's an interview so the aim of the game is to demonstrate your ability as a well-rounded developer.
Re: Ask HN: Why I failed interview by fixing bug without using debugger?
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, I've never liked tests like that; they're insulting to intelligent people. It's like having a driving test at the DMV where they ask you to list all the steps in driving to a store nearby, and then they fail you because you missed a bunch of steps such as "open the car door", "close the car door", "put feet on pedals", "check adjustment of rearview mirrors", etc. It reminds me of an old 80's Twilight Zone episo…
My point was that maybe their test wasn't what it appears to be. The bug could have been anything - the test may have been to see if applicants are comfortable using a debugger.
Yes, I'm sure it was exactly that. My point is that it's a failure, because it's an insult to the test-taker's intelligence. "Here's a trivial problem to solve, now I want to see you solve it in the most inefficient manner possible."
Re: Ask HN: Why I failed interview by fixing bug without using debugger?
#25Not really anywhere near enough information to answer the question as it is stated, but in order to provide you with an answer, it could come down to how you identified and/or fixed the bug. Did you put a bunch of print statements all over the place or really, any at all? Did you comment out some lines of code and repeatedly run the sample? Did you make changes of any kind and repeatedly run the sample to understand…
I always ask debug questions in when I interview candidates, because it's a skill way too many devs simply don't have. in that situation i'd tell them what you thought was the issue and why, then proceed to prove it through the debugger. Yes it's tedious, and in real life you fix it and move on, but not all bugs are that simple, and it's an interview so the aim of the game is to demonstrate your ability as a well-rou…
I used debugger during the first few years of coding. Then I learned the idea of coding without using debugger. I tried it. It was unnatural at first. But I wanted to see if it is really good or not. Without realizing it, I have done with the last 5 years writing a lot of codes day and night without using debugger. I wrote C, ObjC, Go, Java, C#, JavaScript, PHP. I can write code as soon as I wake up all the way until the moment I need to sleep again. I can read code as natural as I read an English essay. Sure there are some very badly written codes that is hard to understand, as there are badly written English articles too. I fixed trivial bugs (such as edge cases or typo) by reading it, more difficult one by enabling debug logs (much more productive in long run), there are separate tools for memory leak inspection, a hanged process can be inspected by process dump log.
Re: Ask HN: Why I failed interview by fixing bug without using debugger?
#26not enough information, but one of the possibilities is they're trying to judge how you approach problems. You solved the bug great, but without using the debugger did you explain how you came to the solution? If they can't tell, there's no way for them to tell whether you just got lucky or if you actually have the skills to solve different problems
Re: Ask HN: Why I failed interview by fixing bug without using debugger?
#27Not really anywhere near enough information to answer the question as it is stated, but in order to provide you with an answer, it could come down to how you identified and/or fixed the bug. Did you put a bunch of print statements all over the place or really, any at all? Did you comment out some lines of code and repeatedly run the sample? Did you make changes of any kind and repeatedly run the sample to understand…
I read the code just like reading an English article and then I saw the bug and fixed it right on spot. Then ran successfully. No print statements were added. Existing codes were not changed at all. To give an example, one of the bug is for (int i = 0; i It is obvious so I just change <= to <.
Seems like not a good place to work at, if they didn't even design a proper problem that needs debugger to be solved. And expected you to use debugger.