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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

#391

Post by raverbashing »

kbr- wrote: post #278
raverbashing wrote: post #73

I'm getting peeved by interviews that asks for tests (especially take home tests) The main issue that I see is that interviewers get extra picky with all the minor details and they fail candidates due to minor issues that would get solved in a code review or just with a bit more time And while fizzbuzz using strings only is cool, it seems it didn't add anything to the predictive power of the interview

> The main issue that I see is that interviewers get extra picky with all the minor details and they fail candidates due to minor issues that would get solved in a code review or just with a bit more time You see a "minor issue that would get solved in a code review". I see a production outage. You cannot rely on others catching and fixing your bugs. It happens, but it's all about probabilities. You want to reduce th…

lol "production outage"

No, I see people complaining about a test not looking like what they expect, or minor nitpicks like variable names or not using the interviewer's favourite design pattern

Of course the same people who nitpick are the ones writing O(n^2) code and actually causing a major bug

Re: The FizzBuzz that did not get me the job

#392

Post by darkwater »

thebruce87m wrote: post #368
bhaney wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Although I was somehow offended No somehow to it, that's just offensive.

I’m no master of English, but I think “somewhat” is more commonly used here rather than “somehow”. Edit: I’m no master of replying to the correct person either.

GP here, thanks for the correction!

Re: The FizzBuzz that did not get me the job

#393

Post by Too »

guccihat wrote: post #103

I will go against the grain and say I do not consider OPs fizzbuzz solution to score particular well on readability or maintainability. And these were the only two stated core requirements. The solution is clever and demonstrates solid knowledge of TS. However, in my experience getting too clever with the type system is not always a good idea for ordinary application code maintained by a team of average TS developers…

Agree. While the solution is impressive, the choice of using the type system severely hampers the ways the code can be deployed. Instead of taking dynamic input, the DATA array must now be encoded up-front in an unexpected number-base and run within the tsc compiler. It limits the number of members in the team that can maintain it. Finally, he was lucky there were no further silly requirements like send a PDF report to the CTO if the number is divisible by 201 and it's a Monday. While i also disprove of the interview setup and their bizarre artificial limitations, in the real world shit also happens and you need to react to it, if you decided to prematurely constrain yourself for the sake of scratching your own itch, you could set back progress for weeks, i see this happen all the times with people choosing the wrong tool for the job or reinventing what already exists in the standard library. Long term maintainability and pragmatism is valued higher by the business.

In my books this choice alone wouldn't be cause for rejection, a good interviewer would question it though and depending on the reaction, it could be. Whether or not that happened here isn't clear. They could also have other even better candidates to pick.

Re: The FizzBuzz that did not get me the job

#394

Post by GoToRO »

Dansvidania wrote: post #390
Dansvidania wrote: post #190

The interviewing company does seem like a dodged bullet at first glance, but: - the requirements being weird might very well be modeling how weird things often get in reality. Rules are often not recorded and not repeated, and very often they seem arbitrary from the POV of the developers. - the interviewers hinted that the direction was not what they were looking for - a senior dev needs to apply his own common sense…

could you at least tell me why I am getting downvoted?

Blaming the victim?

Re: The FizzBuzz that did not get me the job

#395

Post by kbr- »

raverbashing wrote: post #391
kbr- wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The main issue that I see is that interviewers get extra picky with all the minor details and they fail candidates due to minor issues that would get solved in a code review or just with a bit more time You see a "minor issue that would get solved in a code review". I see a production outage. You cannot rely on others catching and fixing your bugs. It happens, but it's all about probabilities. You want to reduce th…

lol "production outage" No, I see people complaining about a test not looking like what they expect, or minor nitpicks like variable names or not using the interviewer's favourite design pattern Of course the same people who nitpick are the ones writing O(n^2) code and actually causing a major bug

Ok, I was thinking about something else than stylistic preferences, e.g. making an off-by-one error in an implementation of an algorithm during live coding. Something that indeed would be usually catched by a careful code review, but candidates sometimes undermine importance errors.

Re: The FizzBuzz that did not get me the job

#396

Post by mgaunard »

BeFlatXIII wrote: post #323
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.

Discrimination against the neurodivergent.

The world is discriminatory against people who are different.

Learn to blend in if you want to function into society.

Re: The FizzBuzz that did not get me the job

#397

Post by einsteinx2 »

pjmlp wrote: post #181
intelVISA wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

DACH is like the reverse Silicon Valley?

Including healthcare, vacation days, maternity leave, no calls after work or during vacations, not being on call unless paid for and is on the contract, unions,... Yep, the exact opposite.

Maybe you just have no experience with Silicon Valley or just hate it for whatever reason, but the only thing in that list that doesn’t apply to SV is the unions… Not sure the point you’re making.

Re: The FizzBuzz that did not get me the job

#398

Post by xkbarkar »

Interesting article and congrats on the original solutions, but wow!

Is there any other field where applicants are subjected to this?

Nepalese Ghhurkas perhaps ?

I once backed out of an interview when they sent me an 85 page manual on how to prepare for the interview with them. It was not even a FAANG company, just a small IT solution with mediocre benefits.

Re: The FizzBuzz that did not get me the job

#400

Post by codeguro »

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…

> I wish all the best to him, but reading between the lines is a useful skill regardless of this specific situation.

I disagree. This is not a fair ask, especially for a programming position. Programming and maths in particular puts a lot of emphasis on attention to detail.

If he can write it in X, and there's no rule against it, and the job gets done well, then there is no issue. Arguing any further of it is unproductive. He's applying for software development, not for public relations.

> "I don't think that will be a good idea" is not a suggestion, it's an order.

Then it should be a rule. "Reading between the lines" sounds like an excuse to me for bullshit criteria. It should be written, it should be explicit, and it should be known. If the interviewer is uncomfortable writing it down as a rule then that tells me they KNOW that it's too silly or pedantic. This whole idea of unwritten rules is a double standard designed to weed out neurodivergent or autistic individuals who are more than capable of fulfilling job requirements and, to me, seems like a potentially illegal form of discrimination that violates disability civil rights laws.

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