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Google's interview system: it's not about solving the problem

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Re: Google's interview system: it's not about solving the problem

#431
post #115

Yet another "trust the system" message from the authority figure who enables the system. Similar: - Police officer: Just follow our instructions, be cooperative. - Car salesman: Just be upfront with what you want. Tell us about yourself, and we'll earnestly try to help you. The message is the same; the authority "just wants to help," but in reality the relationship is adversarial to a larger degree than it is coopera…

Some perspective from the interviewer's side may help here: - A Google interviewer's (and I would assume any interviewer's) primary goal is to come out of the interview with enough confidence to give a positive or negative score. If they sit down to write feedback and have to give a neutral score, the interview wasn't productive. This means that the interviewer is just as eager to find evidence for a positive score a…

I agree that everyone has good intentions, but at the end of the day these interviews can be gamed really easily.

Before interviewing at Google I spent ~3 weeks doing leetcode style problems on a whiteboard I bought just for this purpose. Did not make me any better as a SWE, but definitely helped me clear my interviews. Without the practice I would have failed my interviews.

Having said that, I don't think I have any better alternatives; any interview process is ultimately going to be game-able in some manner.

Re: Google's interview system: it's not about solving the problem

#432
post #427
post #412

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait, what? What sort of programming do you do where you don't use hash tables every day?

Although hash tables are used internally by libraries, they are not directly used by the application developer. When was the last time you had to hand code a hash table? Unless you are a library developer, its an example of a task and knowledge that will never be needed. If its something that is never used in that particular job, why ask it in the interview in the first place?

Well, our disagreement is just a matter of miscommunication then.

I never said anything about hand coding a hash table.

I would like prospective candidates for programming jobs to know that there is a thing in their language of choice that lets them make fast lookup tables.

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