I did not read the final solution but this was a little stimulating quiz, so this is my Ruby solution: https://gist.github.com/antirez/7231559
ehm, no it is not so simple :-) I'll try better after lunch!
I failed a Twitter interview
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Re: I failed a Twitter interview
#52I did not read the final solution but this was a little stimulating quiz, so this is my Ruby solution: https://gist.github.com/antirez/7231559
ehm, no it is not so simple :-) I'll try better after lunch!
Thank you for posting this and demonstrating how absolutely pointless these questions are for finding qualified candidates.
For those of you who didn't notice, antirez[1] makes a data storage system called "Redis"[2]
[1]: https://twitter.com/antirez
[2]: http://redis.io/
Re: I failed a Twitter interview
#53Re: I failed a Twitter interview
#54For a single pass from left to right, I think you need to maintain a counter for each y-value:
I actually think this is a good interview question, as playing devils' advocate and coming up with testcases that will break your initial code is a key programming skill, rather than assuming it is done and moving along.
Re: I failed a Twitter interview
#55Google cache: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?client=ubuntu&c... It's off-line for me and asking something about installing a server.
Hi creator of runkite.com here -
We currently host development environments so seeing this on the front page was a bit crazy. We just couldn't handle the load.
Sorry about that - working on making it better.
Re: I failed a Twitter interview
#56This is a really nice and elegant solution:
https://gist.github.com/orukusaki/bb189d9f69ad09e2cd5a
Re: I failed a Twitter interview
#57Once I failed at a google interview... I got 2 answers right but I couldn't answer a third math related question (because the time was over).
The recruiter asked me what was the maximum number of edges on a graph without cycles.
When I was on my way home (in a bus) I had this "a-ha" moment.
Well, they lost a great computer scientist in their team! :P
Re: I failed a Twitter interview
#58No offence to Twitter, but this is a seriously bad way of hiring developers. What are you trying to recruit mathematics scholars as developers? When will companies like Twitter learn not all great developers are math geniuses? I didn't even get a college education to get where I am, I failed maths in school as well, but I can code, so what does that mean? I think it means nothing in the greater scheme of things. By t…
The intended solution is basic math – addition and subtraction. I don't have a PHD, degree in CS, nor have I studied advanced math but I can still figure it out.
It's all about how you look at problems.
If you can analyse problems, break them down and create simple, novel solutions without much effort—that's not with an overnight sleep, as sometimes you'll need to craft solutions immediately—you're a good candidate.
That's exactly the sort of thing these questions test.
Re: I failed a Twitter interview
#59How will this solution work for cases like [1,2,1], when there will be no water held?
His final solution will return 0.
Re: I failed a Twitter interview
#60No offence to Twitter, but this is a seriously bad way of hiring developers. What are you trying to recruit mathematics scholars as developers? When will companies like Twitter learn not all great developers are math geniuses? I didn't even get a college education to get where I am, I failed maths in school as well, but I can code, so what does that mean? I think it means nothing in the greater scheme of things. By t…
"this is a seriously bad way of hiring developers" We can't reasonably assume that Twitter uses this sort of question in all their developer interviews. We don't have enough data for that. Perhaps this guy was going for a role where solving problems quickly and under pressure was a key requirement. If that were the case, this is pretty much a perfect interview question.
I have hard time imagining what position, at least if we're talking about software engineering, would require solving abstract toy problems in a timeframe of less than an hour without a chance to ever go back and improve your solution. I'd say it's "did you see this problem before" kind of question. Which means Twitter probably lost a capable and smart hire because he couldn't quickly give a perfect answer to useless puzzle (unless of course he was hired to repair the roof in Twitter's office and solving this puzzle is required for Twitter to survive the rainy season). Hardly a "perfect" way.