I got asked LeetCode questions for a dev-ops systems engineering job today • Hacker News Board

Re: I got asked LeetCode questions for a dev-ops systems engineering job today

#11

Post by opportune » Fri, Jun 14, 2019, 1:43 PM UTC

itake wrote: post #8

opportune wrote: post #4

I guess if you don't like the company's interviewing process you don't have to work there. Unemployment rate for software engineers is pretty low these days so just go with somewhere else. I'll keep working at places that ask programming questions because basically all the highest-paying places do that these days. And as snobby as it sounds, I want to keep working with other people who can pass algorithms teasers Als…

I'd be frustrated for wasting my time. The recruiter should have better explained the review process.

Palantir is pretty well known for giving algorithms problems so it would have likely been solved by a cursory google "palantir software engineering interview"

Re: I got asked LeetCode questions for a dev-ops systems engineering job today

#12

Post by scottLobster » Fri, Jun 14, 2019, 1:45 PM UTC

In a few months I'm going to be sniffing around for embedded software engineering positions (c on microcontrollers, DSP, maybe even some PCB or FPGA design).

I'm still buying a copy of cracking the coding interview and doing leetcode in the weeks leading up to applying for precisely this reason. It's dumb but I'm not going to give up an otherwise promising opportunity in protest, although in the interview I might politely ask (after solving the problem) what relevance it has to the job, just to make the point. ("I thought I was a applying to do X, and this doesn't seem to fit the job description. Does the job involve a lot of work like this?")

Re: I got asked LeetCode questions for a dev-ops systems engineering job today

#13

Post by vonmoltke » Fri, Jun 14, 2019, 1:46 PM UTC

opportune wrote: post #11

itake wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd be frustrated for wasting my time. The recruiter should have better explained the review process.

Palantir is pretty well known for giving algorithms problems so it would have likely been solved by a cursory google "palantir software engineering interview"

Why would I search for software engineering interviews if I'm applying to be an IT systems engineer?

Re: I got asked LeetCode questions for a dev-ops systems engineering job today

#14

Post by NikolaeVarius » Fri, Jun 14, 2019, 1:47 PM UTC

I find it much easier to just study those problems when I interview versus complaining on the internet. The bar is damn low for most leetcode problems and refreshing is not that hard.

Re: I got asked LeetCode questions for a dev-ops systems engineering job today

#15

Post by NikolaeVarius » Fri, Jun 14, 2019, 1:48 PM UTC

vonmoltke wrote: post #13

opportune wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Palantir is pretty well known for giving algorithms problems so it would have likely been solved by a cursory google "palantir software engineering interview"

Why would I search for software engineering interviews if I'm applying to be an IT systems engineer?

Because these days "IT Systems Manager" are expected to know basics of coding.

Re: I got asked LeetCode questions for a dev-ops systems engineering job today

#16

Post by marcinzm » Fri, Jun 14, 2019, 1:49 PM UTC

xfitm3 wrote: post #9

marcinzm wrote: post #2

That depends on what is expected of the DevOps position I feel. If you're going to need to dig into the source code of infrastructure pieces to find/fix bugs or write your own infrastructure pieces then a SE interview makes sense. If you're doing things at scale or using newer technologies then these come up often enough and resolving them can have significant business consequences (not getting into if choosing that…

Being able to read and debug code is a different skillset from first hand development.

If you're depending on open source software then you also need to be able to fix the code in question. And do so in a way which the project would accept. Otherwise, your bug report may linger until the end of time.

Re: I got asked LeetCode questions for a dev-ops systems engineering job today

#17

Post by OldFatCactus » Fri, Jun 14, 2019, 1:51 PM UTC

90% of my devops interviews have included a tech screen with some whiteboarding of a fundamental CS problem

Re: I got asked LeetCode questions for a dev-ops systems engineering job today

#18

Post by opportune » Fri, Jun 14, 2019, 1:53 PM UTC

vonmoltke wrote: post #13

opportune wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Palantir is pretty well known for giving algorithms problems so it would have likely been solved by a cursory google "palantir software engineering interview"

Why would I search for software engineering interviews if I'm applying to be an IT systems engineer?

I guess there is a disconnect where some people don't think dev-ops people are software engineers and others do. I fall in the latter camp and have never worked with devops people who weren't also software engineers

Re: I got asked LeetCode questions for a dev-ops systems engineering job today

#19

Post by liveoneggs » Fri, Jun 14, 2019, 1:54 PM UTC

cryptozeus wrote: post #7

They can, it depends on the role. Not referring to you but I have never understood why DevOps at many companies can’t program and are just hired to copy paste files. “DevOps is a set of software development practices that combines software development and information technology operations to shorten the systems development life cycle while delivering features, fixes, and updates frequently in close alignment with bus…

yeah it's weird. I never understood why we hire developers to copy and paste stackoverflow all day either.

Re: I got asked LeetCode questions for a dev-ops systems engineering job today

#20

Post by simplyinfinity » Fri, Jun 14, 2019, 1:55 PM UTC

opportune wrote: post #10

cryptozeus wrote: post #7

They can, it depends on the role. Not referring to you but I have never understood why DevOps at many companies can’t program and are just hired to copy paste files. “DevOps is a set of software development practices that combines software development and information technology operations to shorten the systems development life cycle while delivering features, fixes, and updates frequently in close alignment with bus…

Most of the devops (side question, is SRE technically devops?) people I work with are programmers who know a lot about test+build frameworks, CICD, cloud resource management, etc. I don't think it would be appropriate to call someone copy-pasting templates, manually adding VMs, etc. "devops"

In my previous job we had hired a windows system administrator with no coding/scripting skills whatsoever with title as DevOps engineer, he didn't know anything about what developers do and CI & CD practices. So he ended up just managing updates (manually) on vms and restoring backups . But i see this more of a failure of management rather than the guys fault. Management heard a buzzword, and hired based on what they have hired before.