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How to Pass a Programming Interview

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Re: How to Pass a Programming Interview

#551

Post by graycat »

the_af wrote: post #393
graycat wrote: post #169

A candidate has an impressive STEM field educational background, say, Bachelor's, Master's, or Ph.D. degrees, has peer-reviewed publications of original research in the STEM fields including in computer science, has taught computer science in world famous US research universities, has created original, fast algorithms in computer science, has written successful software for a wide variety of applications in a wide va…

Because passing a programming interview is not what the candidate has been doing for years. Interviews are artificial, stressful situations which in many cases do not resemble what you will actually be doing at your job. Like well-known blogger Steve Yegge once commented about Google's interview process, sometimes it gets so bizarre that two interviewers in your queue wouldn't have hired each other ! Focusing on the…

So, right, programming interviews are from Alice in Wonderland and not about programming.

Gee, I'm glad I'm programming, for my own startup. Wait while I ask my founder, CEO if my programming is good -- got an answer back right away, my programming is fine!

Re: How to Pass a Programming Interview

#552

Post by cableshaft »

yoklov wrote: post #547
cableshaft wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a portfolio of past work (I made games that are still available, I even bring an iPad with them playable on them). I still get asked a ton of technical questions, and I'm lucky if I can even show them my past projects, because they never trust that I was the actual programmer on these projects (even though in the credits for a couple of them it says 'Lead Programmer: [cableshaft]'). It's a totally broken perce…

Why wouldn't they trust you? Sounds bizarre. Especially if you're listed in the credits.

Well really, they don't even usually let me get to the point with showing my work where I can show my name in the credits. My point is they could have checked that ahead of time and seen my name in the credits if they wanted to verify that I actually did what I said I did in my resume, and they don't.

The handful of people I've had to interview I always checked the interviewees portfolio ahead of time if it was available.

Re: How to Pass a Programming Interview

#553

Post by the_af »

graycat wrote: post #551
the_af wrote: post #393

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because passing a programming interview is not what the candidate has been doing for years. Interviews are artificial, stressful situations which in many cases do not resemble what you will actually be doing at your job. Like well-known blogger Steve Yegge once commented about Google's interview process, sometimes it gets so bizarre that two interviewers in your queue wouldn't have hired each other ! Focusing on the…

So, right, programming interviews are from Alice in Wonderland and not about programming. Gee, I'm glad I'm programming, for my own startup. Wait while I ask my founder, CEO if my programming is good -- got an answer back right away, my programming is fine!

> So, right, programming interviews are from Alice in Wonderland and not about programming.

I don't understand your irony. No-one is saying that. We're saying that programming interviews are often not ONLY about programming, and unfortunately the parts NOT about programming tend to overshadow the parts that are. Therefore, interviewing requires preparation.

Are you bitter that programming interviews are like this? If so, fine. So am I.

Are you saying that programming interviews are NOT like this and do not require training for? You are mistaken. It's a fact of the world, whether we like it or not.

Or are you saying you lucked out and didn't have to go through this hell? If so, congrats! It's known to happen. But still, it pays to be prepared for the average case of difficult, stressful interviews.

Re: How to Pass a Programming Interview

#554

Post by anotherproger »

graycat wrote: post #169

A candidate has an impressive STEM field educational background, say, Bachelor's, Master's, or Ph.D. degrees, has peer-reviewed publications of original research in the STEM fields including in computer science, has taught computer science in world famous US research universities, has created original, fast algorithms in computer science, has written successful software for a wide variety of applications in a wide va…

Academia is not industry programming. So the candidate had highly specialized knowledge and skills, big whoop. Guess how much of my original academic research I use? None. If that candidate wants to use those skills they should go into research.

Re: How to Pass a Programming Interview

#555

Post by anotherproger »

jorgecurio wrote: post #136

Well, technical interview questions are why I've given up on pursuing a programming career path and I was shocked that employers were still giving out technical interview questions for a product manager role, it didn't matter if I was a software dev years ago. Rote method still trumps real world experience building real commercial software that people will pay you for according to a lot of interviewers....and I've he…

You come off as a technophobe. As an employer, how am I supposed to quickly judge your independent work if you hate algorithms and new tech? I'm not going to pour through a repo; I don't get paid for that or care, to be honest.

If you're talking about PHP being better than JavaScript in a startup interview, you're not going to be hired most likely. Startups typically use new technology, and you clearly don't.

Re: How to Pass a Programming Interview

#556

Post by nathan_long »

lazerwalker wrote: post #502
quanticle wrote: post #72

Being a good programmer has a surprisingly small role in passing programming interviews. And that just says it all, doesn't it? I agree that interviews should test candidates on certain basic skills, including (time/space) complexity analysis. But do you really learn anything by asking the candidate if they can recite the time complexity of a moving window average algorithm (as I was asked to do by an interviewer yes…

My favorite sorts of interviews are ones where you're expected, either by pairing with an employee on your own, to fix a bug in an open-source project you use. Has all of the benefits of a take-home project over whiteboarding, but the end result is you have something tangible to show for your efforts even if you don't get the job.

This. Also, any interview where the candidate pairs with an employee lets both of them see how they like working together.

Re: How to Pass a Programming Interview

#557

Post by kafkaesq »

draw_down wrote: post #226
quanticle wrote: post #72

Being a good programmer has a surprisingly small role in passing programming interviews. And that just says it all, doesn't it? I agree that interviews should test candidates on certain basic skills, including (time/space) complexity analysis. But do you really learn anything by asking the candidate if they can recite the time complexity of a moving window average algorithm (as I was asked to do by an interviewer yes…

If you're a programmer, you like to solve puzzles, so think of passing the interview as just another puzzle! I mean, yeah, it shouldn't be, but here we are.

If you're a programmer, you like to solve puzzles,

No -- we like solving problems. Especially those that have a legitimate context (i.e. are explicitly linked to some actual, real, business or social problem). And for which our skills are truly relevant needed (specifically, for which no one has a readily available answer, at the moment).

But made-up "puzzles"? For which the asker already knows the answer, so they sit back and watch us dance?

Not so much.

Re: How to Pass a Programming Interview

#558

Post by kafkaesq »

soham wrote: post #337
thesimpsons1022 wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i was about to sign up but then it asked for my phone number. why do you need this information?

Simply because it is quite difficult to explain the concept in writing. What does it mean to have an intense bootcamp just to prepare for interviews? What's the method? etc. I want to take the time to talk to everyone who is interested in the course. Because the concept is new, people have all sorts of questions. Can't possibly address all of them in writing. I don't have a team of salespeople and haven't spent a pen…

Simply because it is quite difficult to explain the concept in writing.

Then maybe it's not such a good concept.

Re: How to Pass a Programming Interview

#559

Post by kafkaesq »

SonicSoul wrote: post #479
lewisl9029 wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I personally also prefer take-home projects over being grilled on my ability to solve obscure algorithms problems under pressure. However, this second route also comes with a number of issues. The most annoying of which in my experience is the amount of time investment each interview requires from the candidate. At least in the traditional technical interview, interviewers and candidates tend to be roughly equally in…

I've gotten a take home test that took all Saturday. I finally finished it happy with myself and with my work and emailed it in. The response was "thanks, are you ready for the next exercise?" i was like.. um.. I really need to get on with my weekend. This was deferred to the big boss who said "It's ok just do it whenever you have time next" .. ook so that was my next Saturday. Worst part is that after turning that i…

Simply because it is quite difficult to explain the concept in writing.

They might have a different point of view as to the quality of your work. Or they may have taken other factors in consideration (your portfolio, communication style, etc).

But not contacting you with any kind of a status afterward is definitely shabby, on their part.

And asking you to do a second assignment without taking a moment to evaluate your first (and apparently without bothering to tell you in advance that not one, but two or more "quick" assignments would need to be done), all the more so.

Re: How to Pass a Programming Interview

#560

Post by kafkaesq »

sgift wrote: post #443
Retra wrote: post #398

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It demonstrates that you have a passing familiarity with probably _the_ most fundamental tool of the trade.

The most fundamental tool of the trade is a profiler. The tool which is used in reality to find performance problems, unlike BigO, which is used in theory to find performance problems. Does BigO help? Sure. Is it the silver bullet people seem to think it is? No.

The tool which is used in reality to find performance problems, unlike BigO, which is used in theory to find performance problems.

Sorry, but this is just wrong.

I can guarantee you that BigO is very often used not "in theory", but in practice, to find real-world performance problems. And not having "situational awareness" of certain commonly occurring complexity profiles can be a significant source for performance headaches and technical debt.

One trivial-seeming, but frequently occurring example: not knowing when to use hash maps.

In fact, many people solve performance problems (including both those where order-of-magnitude performance really is the most important factor, and various other kinds) not by using a profiler but by, you know, understanding the code and thinking about it. Being as profilers, while they can tell you a lot about certain kinds of performance issues, are still generally quite limited in what they can tell you.

Is it the silver bullet people seem to think it is? No.

Of course not, and I've never heard anyone saying that it was, either.

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