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Amazon software engineer interview

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Re: Amazon software engineer interview

#181

Post by krolley »

f0under wrote: post #144
WalterBright wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Studying algo/data structure questions is not gaming the system. I'd far prefer to hire someone who did this over someone who didn't prepare and just tried to wing it, then complained about how unfair it is to ask such questions.

Why is that? Besides preparing for understanding the role, culture, etc why would you need someone to brush up on their algo knowledge for your job interview? Do you believe that algo prep would make them better at their job?

Not to mention the grandparent suggested showing them his GitHub profile and committing fixes to their open source repos. Uhh, yeah, I'd hire you too! Are we forgetting that most developers don't have GitHub profiles or aren't able to patch open source projects.

Re: Amazon software engineer interview

#182

Post by pconner »

ideaskid wrote: post #13
pconner wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Get the book, "Cracking The Coding Interview." It was the most valuable resource for me in preparing for technical interviews near the end of my time in undergrad.

Yes, I bought it last week. But, couldn't answer through the questions because I didn't know the concepts and DS's. Could you answer these 2 questions? 1. Where did you learn how to implement the Data Structures and Algorithms? 2. Also, I'm in a dilemma between using Python and C/C++. Which one would you suggest?

Late reply from me, but:

1. Introduction to Algorithms/CLRS (~The~ algorithms book) https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/introduction-algorithms

Also, Skiena's "Algorithm Design Manual" for something a bit lighter.

2. I chose to use Python when possible for technical interviews, as it allowed me to focus more on the algorithms/solution, rather than boilerplate. I rarely use Python in my actual job, but I still prefer it for interviews.

Re: Amazon software engineer interview

#183

Post by geoelectric »

lsh wrote: post #167
geoelectric wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Assuming you're serious, there are a number of books out there about working with people with unfortunate personalities. I've generally found those kinds of books more instructive towards my own behavior than books that claim to fix your own personality. Sometimes you need perspective more than instructions. My experience (both first and third-hand) is that being terrible to work/play/exist around often comes from no…

people don't have homogeneous personalities that allow them to neatly fit like bricks into office culture. the natural pressures of any business weed out the dissenters and those that can't quietly work with others or with the decisions being made or [... whatever your problems are ...]. Changing your 'unfortunate personality' (so condescending!) with a book is probably not the answer - you'll change naturally at you…

I'm sorry you found it condescending. I meant exactly what I said, because a personality is just a thing but some of them are unfortunate for the context in which you want to succeed. It truly is luck, and I called out it as such. Contrast with people who are deliberately hostile and deserve what they get.

We can debate neurodiversity and range of personality vs. dysfunction and "unfortunate," but the truth of the matter is some people do things that make them hard to work with and will make them hard to work with in any setting. Some examples might be as simple as interrupting and not letting anyone else speak, or always saying no, or never thanking people and always criticizing, and so forth. If you've never met one of these people then I'm happy for you, but they're not rare in tech. We're all a little mad here, as the old cliche almost goes.

I really have no idea what the OP's issues are that they were asking about--for all I know they think they're terrible to work with because of an inferiority or confidence issue. But my advice stands: get some perspective by reading about other people terrible to work with. Either you'll find out you're not so bad or you'll get the right input to tweak your own behavior.

I appreciate your advice too, but not everyone has to skills or opportunity to "freelance or job-hop" until they find something that works, and the idea that everyone needs to accommodate you while you find the right fit is laughable in the real world. We're not bricks but we're expected to supply our own glue code between us and everyone else, at least to the halfway point, and it's downright narcissistic to expect otherwise. And tight settings like Silicon Valley, you'd be surprised how easy it is to get a reputation as an asshole or team liability while you learn to do that if you're not crisp about it.

For 90% of the people out there, some small tweaks to behavior in order to learn to play the game is the right answer. I'm glad you've apparently found an alternate route to success, but I wouldn't dismiss the typical ways either.

Re: Amazon software engineer interview

#184

Post by geoelectric »

vocatus_gate wrote: post #175
bronz wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what do i do if im a terrible person to work with? its something i really struggle with.

Honestly, the old but still excellent "How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie changed forever how I interact with people. And, to answer a maybe obvious question, no the book isn't about manipulating people. It's more about dealing quirks of human nature and being excellent at negotiating and interacting with people. Can't recommend it enough if you're honestly looking to improve in that sphere.

I second this recommendation. I've also found "What Got You Here Won't Get You There" and "The No Asshole Rule" to be personally useful.

Re: Amazon software engineer interview

#185

Post by [deleted] »

vocatus_gate wrote: post #175
bronz wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what do i do if im a terrible person to work with? its something i really struggle with.

Honestly, the old but still excellent "How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie changed forever how I interact with people. And, to answer a maybe obvious question, no the book isn't about manipulating people. It's more about dealing quirks of human nature and being excellent at negotiating and interacting with people. Can't recommend it enough if you're honestly looking to improve in that sphere.

[deleted]

Re: Amazon software engineer interview

#186

Post by [deleted] »

WalterBright wrote: post #166
tluyben2 wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That's not been my experience. I've seen a strong correlation. Like said, might be culture or maybe I have been lucky. In my country (I haven't lived there for a while so might've changed but I don't think so) and my company we were not so salary obsessed, so 'at the salary you pay me' is a phrase used never in our office of few 100 colleagues. If you make 5 or 9 figures a year; if the boss tells me 'do it cuz i'm…

I don't know if it's a culture thing or not, but if I'm paid low I expect I am being paid to do what I'm told, but if I'm paid high I expect that I am being paid for my expertise, and that includes advising the boss. (It's not about being obsessed with salary.) None of this should be construed as a master/slave relationship. For an analogy, if I go to McDonald's I am not interested in the opinions of the cashier, I j…

[deleted]

Re: Amazon software engineer interview

#187

Post by bespoke_engnr »

cs2818 wrote: post #118

This whole prep for interview testing seems very unpleasant and of questionable value to me. Are these interviews in any way representative of day to day operations in the job you are applying for? I worked as an independent software developer while doing my undergraduate in CS and was very successful just by using fundamentals I learned in courses and then reading and supplementing new things. I then transitioned in…

Don't worry too much about it. I had the same feeling, since I read HN a lot. Now I'm going through the interview process with several companies and have had a great experience with all of them. Not at all what I expected, based on HN interview threads.

I don't have a CS degree and don't have a clue when it comes to the "rebalance a red-black tree" stuff. In all of my interviews, this hasn't been an issue -- I can think intelligently about problems and solve them, ask questions, and show correct, well-documented, maintainable code that I've written in the past. I'm good with people and with translating between biz problems and tech solutions.

Even in a large tech city (Boston) with lots of well-funded tech companies, my experience has been FAR from the hell you'd imagine from reading HN. I think a lot of this just comes from the SV bubble overrepresented here. And maybe from the huge crowd of people here who, for various reasons, desperately want to get into one of the big 4.

Those few enormous advertising companies (G, F, A, etc.) represent such a small fraction of the actual work out there, and make so much of the noise, that it's hard to keep an accurate perspective.

Anyway, don't worry about it. It sounds like you'll have an easier time than me, and I've had it surprisingly easy during this whole process.

Re: Amazon software engineer interview

#188

Post by bitbreaker »

scaleout1 wrote: post #124

This article makes me sad. Interviewing in our industry is so broken. I have been out of school for a while and switch jobs every few years and this is the technique I use to beat the bullshit interview process . Make a list of companies that I would apply to and sort them from most interesting to no-way-in-hell-i-am-working-here order . spend a weak reviewing typical algo/data structure questions . For the companies…

I have exactly the same experience. In my case I took first interviews where I actually wanted to work and didn't pass them. I did interviews where I didn't want to work later on and passed those. Then used my FB offer to bump up offer at the place that I chose among those where I passed.

Re: Amazon software engineer interview

#189

Post by linkregister »

spapas82 wrote: post #151
linkregister wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hear the temporary-work evaluation advocated on HN frequently, but this is a viewpoint almost exclusively held by junior developers. Those with families would find it difficult to accept the risk they may be terminated after the eval period. Senior developers aren't going to quit their job on the hope they won't be terminated at the end of the evaluation period. Job searching from scratch takes time and is stressfu…

Agreed to your argument about the temporary-evaluation job being only possible for a junior developer and not to somebody that already has a job. However you should also add to them all the cases of senior developers without jobs (yes, such cases do exist) -- a temporary evaluation job is better than nothing. Senior developers that have jobs won't take the risk of leaving their current job and going to an evaluating…

Excellent point. Thanks for reminding me of this very important demographic.
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