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The FizzBuzz that did not get me the job

kranga.notion.site

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Re: The FizzBuzz that did not get me the job

#51

Post by em-bee »

yosito wrote: post #18

This article describes everything that's wrong with tech hiring these days. There is zero evidence that success on these arbitrary programming riddles have any correlation with success on the job, and yet we force candidates through a gauntlet of completely unrealistic brain teasers solving problems that they will literally never have to solve on the job. I've recently completed half a dozen 2-4 hour coding challenge…

i agree. this solution is to clever for its own good. but those requirements were essentially asking for a clever solution. if the challenge can't be solved without being clever then it is the wrong challenge.

this interview tells me that the candidate is smart and knows typescript well, but it doesn't tell me if they can write code that is clear enough so that a junior can understand and modify it. because the latter is the reality of work. a year from now, a junior will be asked to adapt this code to say replace 3 with 7 or something like that, and they will probably not be able to it without having to rewrite all of it from scratch.

Re: The FizzBuzz that did not get me the job

#52

Post by 317070 »

qsort wrote: post #26
riffraff wrote: post #10

I loved the article and would probably have hired this person. But as a suggestion to them: if an interviewer says "I don't think that will be a good idea" just take the hint that it won't be what the expect and change it. Also reminded me of my compiler class, we had some homework to write a pascal/C transpiler and a friend of mine somehow managed to implement it via bison errors(?). The teacher was not happy but ha…

> if an interviewer says "I don't think that will be a good idea" just take the hint that it won't be what the expect and change it. I'd like to underline this just in case the author reads the thread. He really does seem great and I wish all the best to him, but reading between the lines is a useful skill regardless of this specific situation. He says he doesn't speak English well, that might have played a role in t…

Yeah, it's an English thing. A literal translation in Dutch would mean "explain yourself here", and if you'd change tack because of the question alone, it would seem like you really lack self-confidence.

But after living in the UK for a bit, in the UK that is most likely an order.

Re: The FizzBuzz that did not get me the job

#53

Post by FridgeSeal »

hihiandrew wrote: post #35

Can imagine the interviewers squirming as they lose control to an OP candidate.

Dude casually whips out types and succinctly defeats half their puzzles is a pretty amazing mic drop moment.

Hope the author finds a good job somewhere that recognises and appreciates their skill.

Re: The FizzBuzz that did not get me the job

#54

Post by ch_123 »

mgaunard wrote: post #50

Normally, you learn during high school that when you take any exam, you should not reply with the best or smartest answer, but with the answer the teacher expects. The same applies to interviews.

If you are interviewing for a job - the "answer the teacher expects" can tell you a lot about the company you are potentially going to work for, as can the exam which you are given to prove your worth.

Re: The FizzBuzz that did not get me the job

#55

Post by throwaway-12341 »

camel-cdr wrote: post #32

I've got a hard time imagining they were going for a solution other than you adjusting the base. That seems to be what all restrictions, especially #7, lead to and it is a concept everybody that understands how module works should understand. > 15. Hardcoding matrices is forbidden. This was definitely meant to nudge you into the direction of adjusting the base. The excessive number of rules was really weird, surely t…

I have almost 30 years of experience and I would never have thought of changing the base. I would have failed that part of the test.

But I am confident that I would have been very productive in the type of work they actually perform in reality

Re: The FizzBuzz that did not get me the job

#56

Post by Angostura »

tcbawo wrote: post #41
sjducb wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At work, would you rather have a boss that makes you implement dumb ideas? Or would you prefer a boss who recognises that your idea is better, then rewards you for it? You are interviewing them too. I would also have hired the candidate.

The author’s answer was clever, but also unconventional. The company was probably looking for someone that would write code in a shared codebase that other developers will need to contribute to and maintain. Thinking outside the box and not following suggestions might have raised a red flag that this person might be a loose cannon. In a small company, hiring someone smart but unwilling to follow directions can be det…

Then don't say" "the interviewer noted that I could even use esoteric programming languages but advised me against because there would be lots of rules that would be hard to follow"

Re: The FizzBuzz that did not get me the job

#57

Post by FridgeSeal »

bhaney wrote: post #11

> I don’t think it would be fair to name and shame them. I disagree, but of course that's entirely up to you.

The more time that goes on, the more I think as a community we should unashamedly be name-dropping anywhere that has poor practices, bad comms, or bad behaviour.

Neglecting to name them just lets them get away with it.

Re: The FizzBuzz that did not get me the job

#59

Post by ocular-rockular »

chvid wrote: post #29

Asking a trivial question is a simple way to test a person’s basic skill but also more importantly his ability to communicate and work with others who may not have the same level of expertise. If you use it as a chance to make a mockery of the interview process/interviewer then perhaps that is not a good idea if you actually want the job.

But the interview process is a mockery.
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