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I am sick of LeetCode-style interviews

nelson.cloud

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Re: I am sick of LeetCode-style interviews

#101

Post by resource_waste »

pkos98 wrote: post #91

Since 99% of people have to study hard to pass LC (medium/hard), it effectively acts as a selector for employee conformity. People who play by the rules imposed upon them, who work long hours if corp wants them to etc. All the talk about diversity, but no diversity of thought. Only LC chasers. I genuinely believe this decreases innovation massively.

>All the talk about diversity, but no diversity of thought. Only LC chasers. I genuinely believe this decreases innovation massively.

Nice belief, but good luck proving it.

I imagine the people grinding LC are harder working/more innovative than people who watched TV instead.

Re: I am sick of LeetCode-style interviews

#102

Post by dsotirovski »

guardian5x wrote: post #21

I wonder if its just to see how someone handles stress.

likely not as there are other, more efficient ways to roughly gauge that. It does however test one's conformity to arbitrary processes to some extent albeit in not the most efficient manner as well...

Re: I am sick of LeetCode-style interviews

#103

Post by throwaway346434 »

boshalfoshal wrote: post #17

I see these posts a lot, and I sort of disagree with where they are coming from so I'll play devils advocate. Leetcode is used to select for one of (or both of these) 2 things for the average IC hire: 1. Do you work hard (i.e a person who studies many problems, memorizes solutions, and regurgitates then) 2. Are you smart (i.e a person who doesn't do any leetcode but knows the fundamentals and can sythesize past knowl…

Yeah, no. Show me your GitHub commit history, and point out where you used some leetcode magic. Should be easy, right? Like every other week you'd be using it? Or... is 95% of code somewhat boring, and ideally maintainable?

Re: I am sick of LeetCode-style interviews

#104

Post by Aunche »

Benjammer wrote: post #48
emodendroket wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure anyone determined to do so can act unfairly regardless of what process is in place, but the fact that there is a standardized test in my mind does the opposite and makes the process much fairer. Assuming a fair-minded interviewer, the process gives a chance to a candidate whose resume may have less vaunted names on it to demonstrate their skill. I'm quite sure that I'd never have had some of the opportunitie…

So are we just going with a base assumption that interviewers can NEVER be trusted with anti-bias training and learning how evaluate people fairly? The examples mentioned in this comment section are all blatantly intentional biases that people are choosing to use. The amazing part is that all the “standard test eliminates bias” people seem to the most ignorant to where bias helps THEM. Forcing people to study for two…

> Forcing people to study for two months is blatantly discriminatory to age and family status, at a systemic level.

How is this any less discriminatory than any other assessment based interview where you need to prepare? Non-assessment based interviews end up being vibes based which is much more discriminatory.

Re: I am sick of LeetCode-style interviews

#106

Post by throwaway346434 »

fvdessen wrote: post #9

The unfortunate reality is that If you don't do this you'll hire people who can't program

Nonsense. Ask a candidate to add a feature to an open source product similar to your own, and share the PR. Ask them to do it with a time box. Guaranteed better results.

Re: I am sick of LeetCode-style interviews

#107

Post by FL33TW00D »

resource_waste wrote: post #97
FL33TW00D wrote: post #36

Another interesting point about Leetcode-style interviews I've not seen raised: it's a form of intellectual hazing. It's been proven many times that the severity of an initiation ceremony significantly boosts the commitment of those admitted to the group.

The problem is that losers cannot pass the test, but winners can. What is a better capitalistic company hiring programmers: >Lots of smart similar people who believe in correct answers >Lots of random skilled people If you said the latter, you are idealistic and your opinion genuinely doesnt matter. Nature will replace you with someone smarter and realistic.

Did I say I don't think leetcode-style interviews have value? I was merely commenting on how this is another useful aspect for companies.

Re: I am sick of LeetCode-style interviews

#108

Post by davedx »

boffinAudio wrote: post #71
apples_oranges wrote: post #38

A friend once in the middle of a technical interview stopped speaking, stood up and went out. They ran after him, "what's wrong, you're doing fine!" and he told them it depresses him too much and he's not interested anymore. Sad, given that this is a fun profession for most of us (I assume)

I've done the same thing, at a games company well-known for its perks and benefits, but also its crazy production schedules .. I thought I wanted to work there, and up until about half-way through the interview, I did, but then out came the whiteboard and in came the peers to see me implement basic things in pen, and actually it felt like a ritualized mobbing, because as I progressed through their challenges, things…

Yeah games company interviews can be hilarious.

I had an interview for a company in the south of England a long time ago. The first half went okay, then in the second half the whiteboard came out, and I was asked to "implement C++ object oriented method dispatch in C" with a chunky marker pen. I mean, it's not exactly a rocket science question, but it's not easy either (on a whiteboard, with a chunky pen), and in the end it just felt like it was some weird hazing rather than any test of my actual software development or programming ability.

I stayed in the interview, went home, never heard from them again. I ended up getting a job at a different studio that had a slightly saner technical interview, and after I started there, I heard the first place had gone bankrupt! Sometimes you just dodge bullets...

Re: I am sick of LeetCode-style interviews

#109

Post by weatherlite »

What you're tired of solving algorithmic riddles that have very little to do with what you've been doing the last decade, all this under pressure with a shared screen in front of two bored interviewers? I don't understand how you can get tired of it its so much fun!

Re: I am sick of LeetCode-style interviews

#110

Post by kristopolous »

codegladiator wrote: post #93
kristopolous wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd give a bit of guidance. This can go so many ways. I can see many right but totally different answers. In any interview, I kind of presume that the interviewer has a "perfect answer" in mind and is playing some game where I basically need to guess what number they're thinking of. I'd make it clear that anything is ok. Just go some direction

Oh definitely. I start with very basic syntax level changes. I want to hear the candidate say "switch case or if/else tree" within the next 20 mins at the least (for SDE I). And the problem can be scaled to any complexity. Distributed/Design/Data Storage

I'd actually ask under what conditions leaving it exactly as-is is the right decision.

If they give a compelling enough set of answers, I'd just skip the rest of the exercise and be done.

After learning how to do anything, the next 20 years is about learning when not doing anything is the right move.

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