Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Stop Interviewing with Leet Code

fev.al

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

271–280 of 675 posts

Re: Stop Interviewing with Leet Code

#271

Post by PragmaticPulp »

adamors wrote: post #220
anonymoushn wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People frequently post here saying that they are senior and needed to do that or would need to do that.

Yeah, there are multiple blog posts from senior engineers who took 1-2 months off to grind LC just to get into Google/Meta etc.

> there are multiple blog posts from senior engineers who took 1-2 months off to grind LC just to get into Google/Meta etc.

Don’t read too much into blog posts. This is engagement farming to capture search traffic and trending topics related to LeetCode.

Taking months off to grind LeetCode all day isn’t common and doesn’t even make sense. LeetCode can be done on a lunch break. Even one problem per day in the evenings is more than enough for a senior to prep for an interview.

Having done LeetCode, I’m not even sure how a senior could justify spending 2 months doing all of the problems full-time.

Re: Stop Interviewing with Leet Code

#272

Post by 71a54xd »

If you want to break the $200k TC barrier - leetcode seems to be the way to do it.

Does it suck? Yes.

Is it basically the only way to make real money in tech aside from toiling away with startup after startup. Also yes, from a person who spent five years thinking I was getting somewhere working for startups.

Re: Stop Interviewing with Leet Code

#273

Post by bogwog »

sumeno wrote: post #229
bogwog wrote: post #203

> you can pick a ticket and pair program. Have them review an actual PR. Etc. This seems so obvious. If you pick a leetcode question, there’s always the risk that your candidate has memorized the answer to that particular question. But if you pick an actual bug/PR from your codebase, that problem disappears completely, and you get to see how they would perform on the actual job you’re hiring for. Can anybody think of…

I've never worked somewhere with a codebase simple enough for a new engineer to find and fix a non-trivial bug on their first day. Especially not with someone looking over their shoulder deciding whether to hire them.

There are always bugs that don't require extensive familiarity with a codebase. Even if it's easier than most day-to-day work, it still shows the candidate's approach to problem solving, how effective they are at reading code, allows them to show off some relevant domain knowledge, etc. And as a bonus, it easily works to weed out those people who don't actually know how to code.

> Especially not with someone looking over their shoulder deciding whether to hire them.

That would help in this case, since presumably the person looking over their shoulder is familiar with the codebase (or at least as much is relevant to the question), and can answer questions.

I think the signal-to-noise ratio on an exercise like that is going to be way better than with leetcode questions.

Re: Stop Interviewing with Leet Code

#274

Post by rusticpenn »

yonaguska wrote: post #179
gitfan86 wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems like a huge inefficiency in the economy that thousands of people are studying and practicing for an entrance exam that has no value in the real work that the companies actually do. But overall that may be a good thing for society. If Google fired all their leet coders and replaced them with real engineers they would not need as many. And the biggest problem may be that there is a limited number of real engin…

In your opinion, what's the difference between a leetcoder and a real engineer? In my mind, a real engineer really shines in the non technical aspect of things, like coordination, communication, prioritization, and getting hard questions answered. But that's just me, I'm curious what everyone else's experiences are.

One has time and patience to practice for leet code interviews, while the other is too busy for it.

Re: Stop Interviewing with Leet Code

#275

Post by ditonal »

shantnutiwari wrote: post #83

We keep seeing posts like these on HN/Reddit, yet companies keep using them. And companies like Faang (or is it Manga now??), whose engineers I would think would hang out on HN So it either means: 1. HN's influence is even less than we thought-- even MANGA engineers /10x silicon valley types dont hang out here 2. Everyone agrees its a good idea, but no one cares. Like everyone agrees we should care about the environm…

You are learning that perceived consensus on an upvote/downvote site doesn’t mean much because if 60% of people agree with something because of upvotes it seems like 99% do. Reddit rediscovers this every election.

People often downvote thoughtful discussions they disagree with. It’s tiresome to see your text fade with downvotes so often people don’t bother.

If you hang out on Hacker News you might also think every engineer thinks crypto is a scam and no engineers want to return to the office. Neither situation is the case but if you disagree with the majority on those topics you will get downvoted to oblivion, your comments won’t be visible after a point, so why bother?

I personally don’t care about the endless leetcode debate but it’s a bummer there’s so much exciting technological advances in crypto that can’t be discussed on this site without an army of “crypto=scam” bros emerging from the woodworks.

Re: Stop Interviewing with Leet Code

#276

Post by exdsq »

brandall10 wrote: post #264
jmvoodoo wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder which came first? Did they hire those people because they implemented leetcode style interviews, or did they implement those interviews because they originally hired or were founded by ex-bigco folks that simply did what they knew?

I notice quite a few early stage startups that recruit w/ large initial funding rounds (ie. a $20-40M series A) almost invariably have a note about how their founders are ex-FAANG. I can't help but believe it helps a ton w/ funding, professional networks, team building, etc. Again, no different than having an Ivy League education. There are big advantages to scope/reach/opportunities in the industry.

Signaling is definitely a thing!

Re: Stop Interviewing with Leet Code

#277

Post by quickthrower2 »

koonsolo wrote: post #150
quickthrower2 wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if that test was done once by an external company, and then the stamp of approval is good for a year of job interviews. That would save the candidate and interviewer a lot of hassle!

I agree. You would expect that from a bachelor or master degree. But nowadays you have a lot of people coming out of coding bootcamps, and their level can vary a lot. A hole in the market!

Or a hole in national / international standardization. Just create a further education (like 16-18 typical age) course and exam for it.

Re: Stop Interviewing with Leet Code

#278

Post by exdsq »

bpicolo wrote: post #181
gitfan86 wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems like a huge inefficiency in the economy that thousands of people are studying and practicing for an entrance exam that has no value in the real work that the companies actually do. But overall that may be a good thing for society. If Google fired all their leet coders and replaced them with real engineers they would not need as many. And the biggest problem may be that there is a limited number of real engin…

> replaced them with real engineers nice gatekeeping. Shame on them for working to get a job they want.

Is it gatekeeping? They hire so many junior devs, do you not think it’d be possible to strip the team down by hiring far more capable engineers? Would Google crumble if they only hired senior devs like Netflix? I’m convinced they hire so many purely because they have the money and managers want bigger teams to go up the managerial track.

Re: Stop Interviewing with Leet Code

#280

Post by gautamdivgi »

I hear this all the time. Don’t use programming tests, don’t use LC or HackerRank, etc. What do other professions that demand high skill do? As an example - medicine. How are doctors interviewed when they switch jobs?

The beauty of LC type interviews is that it requires no validation by your existing employer or no public record or demonstration of work. In the absence of LC, I’m afraid we have to settle for some of that.

Post reply on HN