More or less the same reason why psychologists use the Rorschach test [0]
Sometimes they are not worried about the specific answer, they're trying to find out your (software engineer) unconscious mind reveals during the process.
Why do big companies ask unrealistic software engineering interview questions?
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Re: Why do big companies ask unrealistic software engineering interview questions?
#22Don't publish anymore on Medium, people!
https://archive.md/Xk2F4
I find it hard to trust the opinion of any “techie” who writes on Medium personally. It reeks of “I want to be an influencer!” type personalities.
Re: Why do big companies ask unrealistic software engineering interview questions?
#23Can't view all the text without signing in to Medium. Even after trying to sign in with Google, I'm repeatedly taken back to the home page. Does anyone have an archive link?
Hou can always create your own: https://archive.is/Xk2F4
Re: Why do big companies ask unrealistic software engineering interview questions?
#24That's the thing I was struggling with, I can solve many of problems for the avg company – but I don't know how to solve a leetcode problem. I bet there aren't as many companies solving the complex problems on a scale. But if we look from the perspective of the company – maybe it's just an filter to get someone very dedicated and nerdy about programming. Less churn, less questions.
Thank god I never had these interview questions at the companies I interviewed for, here in Germany. Most talks were simply a 30min chat with the actual developer there. Mostly about the job, what they do, and some of their current issues. Then they would ask me how I would tackle them.
It's roughly the same in France, aside from some startup bros who have been told leetcode and brainteasers are the way of unicorns. I think it's in part due to the higher trust we put on credentials like Eng degrees.
Re: Why do big companies ask unrealistic software engineering interview questions?
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
This feels like a retcon. The real reason is most likely that Google started interviewing people this way and then that's the culture that developed in the industry. Once a culture develops, it's very hard to change.
It's also noteworthy that if you're building a search engine, these types of questions are actually pretty relevant. As a field Search demands both a breadth and depth in CS fundamentals in a way that rare in most other places.
Most Googlers joining Google today aren't gonna be tasked with the elbow grease of building a search engine from scratch, not even close.
You'll be a small cog in a large machine, engaging in theatrics justifying in length why your 10h/week of serializing/deserializing JSONS was so difficult and important to the company, while you rest and vest playing videogames at home, asking on Reddit if everyone working in FAANGs is as bored as you.
Re: Why do big companies ask unrealistic software engineering interview questions?
#26That's the thing I was struggling with, I can solve many of problems for the avg company – but I don't know how to solve a leetcode problem. I bet there aren't as many companies solving the complex problems on a scale. But if we look from the perspective of the company – maybe it's just an filter to get someone very dedicated and nerdy about programming. Less churn, less questions.
I have a controversial, philosophical explanation why that is: Leet code is useless in the real world, everybody knows it. But one would find that people that are able to sit down and learn something useless and stupid only because their boss asked it makes for better employees. The modern corporate world does not like free thinkers, if not within easily controllable parameters. The solution for the ones that have be…
I don't think that's controversial at all - maybe only in the sense that people generally don't like hearing it, but I'm sure that anyone who has ever worked in a corporate environment knows this.
Re: Why do big companies ask unrealistic software engineering interview questions?
#27For largely the same reasons why graduating from top schools is given more credit than any old college, even if the level of teaching is similar. Getting in takes determination, intelligence, and discipline. Same with getting good at Leetcode.
That still doesn't say anything about the candidate besides the fact that he/she farmed algorithm questions.
It's an extremely poor predictor of a candidate's quality.
It should only be used in those companies where the number of applicants is way larger than the number of open positions where you can accept the trade off of losing few great applicants if you can also lose the many more bad ones.
Re: Why do big companies ask unrealistic software engineering interview questions?
#28"Create an account to read the full story."
No Thanks.
Re: Why do big companies ask unrealistic software engineering interview questions?
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
This feels like a retcon. The real reason is most likely that Google started interviewing people this way and then that's the culture that developed in the industry. Once a culture develops, it's very hard to change.
This is the correct answer. Microsoft used to ask things like "Why are manholes square" or "How many dentists are there in USA". For a while it got trendy to ask those sort of brainteasers in interviews (thankfully it didn't seem to stick). It is very hard to change established processed - especially when the people doing the interviews have gone through the process. They had to suffer, so why should the people after…
>They had to suffer, so why should the people after them get an easier ride?
People in the middle ages and WW1 had it pretty bad, why should people after them get an easier ride?
Because humanity progresses when we make things easier for the next generations instead to clinging to the 'crabs in a bucket' mentality of perpetuating the cycle of collective suffering and suckage.
Re: Why do big companies ask unrealistic software engineering interview questions?
#30If you'd like an article giving an explanation for this that doesn't require upgrading to a paid Medium subscription, try this one I wrote a few years ago:
https://blog.plan99.net/in-defence-of-the-technical-intervie...
It is, natch, hosted on Medium, so you will see a banner, but unlike this paywalled article it's dismissable. Just click the X to make it go away and then you can read the whole thing for free.
The summary is that many interviewers ask "unrealistic" algorithmic questions because:
1. They fit in the short amount of time available.
2. They get people writing programs that cover all the basic features of the language.
3. They don't ask people to do excessive amounts of work (e.g. takehome assignments)
4. They wash out people who lack basic skills you'd expect programmers to have, like actually starting a new project and being able to compile/run it in their self-chosen editor.
5. They are general and don't tend to require knowledge of specific frameworks or even specific languages.
The questions are unrealistic because they're designed to be fast ways to extract information in an interview setting, not to actually be an accurate sample of the daily work (which in the time available may only cover a fraction of the skills required of a working programmer).