It is humiliating to work for someone else. What else is new.
It is humiliating to have to do LeetCode grinding for
41–50 of 133 posts
Re: It is humiliating to have to do LeetCode grinding for
#42"I'm so smart that you should just hire me without any interview but also I have to practice for weeks before I can implement a topological sort or longest common subsequence algorithm."
Re: It is humiliating to have to do LeetCode grinding for
#43If you think something you have to do in an interview is “humiliating” when all they’re asking you to do is demonstrate some skill on a whiteboard you have some self-reflection to do. I don’t personally think leetcode is that great for interviews but candidates who act like it’s above them to figure out problems etc have a serious problem. In other fields this is not only completely normal but absolutely something pe…
There's possibly some worldview mismatch on your comment, because leetcode isn't "basic scales" programming for any specialty.
It's much closer to expect your world famous violin player to sing on the stage than it is to expect them to play scales on the violin.
But then, maybe not. Some people call all kinds of random exercises by "leetcode". The author may be one of those, I don't know if anybody can know this.
Re: It is humiliating to have to do LeetCode grinding for
#44If you think something you have to do in an interview is “humiliating” when all they’re asking you to do is demonstrate some skill on a whiteboard you have some self-reflection to do. I don’t personally think leetcode is that great for interviews but candidates who act like it’s above them to figure out problems etc have a serious problem. In other fields this is not only completely normal but absolutely something pe…
This tweet is about "grinding", eg the time-consuming prep work before interviews. I think.
I'm a prof. I grind when I prepare a lecture. It's part of the job.
Re: It is humiliating to have to do LeetCode grinding for
#45If you think something you have to do in an interview is “humiliating” when all they’re asking you to do is demonstrate some skill on a whiteboard you have some self-reflection to do. I don’t personally think leetcode is that great for interviews but candidates who act like it’s above them to figure out problems etc have a serious problem. In other fields this is not only completely normal but absolutely something pe…
Agree with everything but I don't know think James Maynard was actually being interviewed during that video.
Re: It is humiliating to have to do LeetCode grinding for
#46Just to give some balance here, I'll state a seemingly unpopular opinion. Personally, I have not had issues doing complex coding questions in interviews, or at work. And it becomes clear pretty quickly on the job, when your co-worker has weak computer science fundamentals. Reasoning from first principles is a very powerful technique.
The issue for me is that even if you have strong computer science fundamentals and lots of experience most of the time you won't be able to come up with an advanced optimized algorithm (that took years of research) on the spot, which is what is often required in these kind of interviews. Even if you manage the average kid that grinded leetcode for years will appear a better candidate than you, maybe he really is, but that's unlikely on the day-to-day job. In the end it's just about who grinds more, obviously if somebody is really weak on the basics it shows immediately without having to go through the hops, fizzbuzz is enough.
Re: It is humiliating to have to do LeetCode grinding for
#47If you think something you have to do in an interview is “humiliating” when all they’re asking you to do is demonstrate some skill on a whiteboard you have some self-reflection to do. I don’t personally think leetcode is that great for interviews but candidates who act like it’s above them to figure out problems etc have a serious problem. In other fields this is not only completely normal but absolutely something pe…
Author's point is not that it's too simple but that it is not relevant. It's not similar to asking a mathematician to do first year math problems, it's asking them to, dunno, remember obscure regulations on accounting.
Re: It is humiliating to have to do LeetCode grinding for
#48LeetCode and similar tests are why I got out of software development as a career. I was tired of jumping through hoops on interviews.
What did you switch to? (looking alternatives myself)
Re: It is humiliating to have to do LeetCode grinding for
#49I think you have two different 'leetcode' interviews. The first one if 'write detailed leetcode to solve our slightly different fizzbuzz' The second is 'we have this specific issue, please leetcode a prototype that will solve it.do not enter in details and edgecases' The second one is IMHO way better than any other way to find language-agnostic Devs, that's why I'm not against some kinds of leetcode.
You missed the third type, "write detailed leetcode regurgitating an obscure algorithm for this problem set up to have a very specific answer".
IMO, most complaints about leetcode are about that type. Nobody should need to "grind" to pass the "can you program at all"-type fizzbuzz problems. They're annoying, and indicative of a remarkable failure in our hiring system, but they're a minor nuisance.
Your second type, in my experience, is not typically referred to as leetcode at all, and is effectively impossible to "grind" for.
Unfortunately, my third type is extremely "grindable", as memorizing all the common algorithmic puzzles is a thing you can just do if you spend enough time on it.
Re: It is humiliating to have to do LeetCode grinding for
#50If you think something you have to do in an interview is “humiliating” when all they’re asking you to do is demonstrate some skill on a whiteboard you have some self-reflection to do. I don’t personally think leetcode is that great for interviews but candidates who act like it’s above them to figure out problems etc have a serious problem. In other fields this is not only completely normal but absolutely something pe…
I completely disagree with you seanhunter ( and everyone else mostly) so please dont take offence I could be wrong but the following is my opinion.
I am thankful most companies are gatekept by people who think like you as I feel it gives me and my company an advantage. In the UK over the course of nearly 20 years I was asked by random interviews to do "fizzbuzz" which I always refused to do out of principle.
The problem being anyone who doesn't know how to code could just memorize it.
My problem was it wasn't a "starter" question it was the equivalent of asking me if I wear shoes on a daily basis and if so, to demonstrate it in an extremely concise way.
I felt it was offensive regarding my ability, indicative of narrow minded testing protocols for candidates, and a lack of respect for why they had chosen to interview me as it meant they probably were unaware of my portfolio, which many companies were.
I am not saying this to convince anyone on HN they are a bad idea as most of them rely on codemonkey exercises like these to prove their worth straight out of college, I am just saying I think they are idiotic.