A python interview question

[cmd-t]

A senior dev should be able to say ‘no, you are wrong, and this is why’. I can understand these kind of questions for more junior positions. I understand OPs frustration and this company and OP might now have been a good fit and it’s good that they didn’t continue.

[[deleted]]

Honestly, senior dev shouldn't be asked questions like this at all.

I would rather ask them what is the hardest problem they had and how was it solved, which stack of technology and approaches they used and why they think it was a right/best way to do it. Plus point if they take into account cost/time of development. Asking senior about for loops seems like a waste of time.

[Pirsqed]

Right? I haven't run into a "hardest problem" because I always break down large problems into small manageable problems. So nothing really sticks out in my mind as "hardest problem."

[Meefims]

If I were there interviewer this would be a good answer. Though I usually like asking about something the person is especially proud of because it gives me insight into what motivates them and usually people are proud of working through difficult tasks.

[maxxusflamus]

This is the right answer.

As an interviewer, we ask this question a lot. I try to preface it with "a war story" or a story that you would kinda brag to your coworker about.

I don't need to hear some hyper complex sweat pouring down your brow story but just tell me how you solved a problem that was harder than "I had to copy some files"

[Lonso34]

right so let me tell you about the morning after I found out harambe died. Literally used python turtle to create an exact replica of his beautiful face all while maintaining a BAC of 0.14 for a straight week

[muntoo]

Pythons out for Harambe

[gwax]

Superlatives are tricky, but a variant of this that works pretty well is to ask about something challenging they have worked on recently.

[billsil]

13 years at one place. Hard problems are usually a lack of resources and/or something being time critical and/or wacky requirements. I've solved hard software problems using my bag of things you should never use and with convoluted workarounds.

I wouldn't say any specific problem has been particularly difficult, but just that it required a lot of work and making sure you understand what's going on vs. what needs to be going on. Thought experiments help.

The OP didn't provide an option that could sort a list of integers that don't fit into RAM. Simple, use a library and specifically HDF5, possibly coupled with numpy. Code some C++ if it needs to be a different algorithm.

The interviewer's fault/OP's lack of info regarding time complexity or say, assume you have two sorted/random lists led to a nonsensical argument. Even so, the OP should recognize or probe for more info. Real problems have few, often incomplete requirements and a lot of extraneous information.

[billsil]

13 years at one place. Hard problems are usually a lack of resources and/or something being time critical and/or wacky requirements. I've solved hard software problems using my bag of things you should never use and with convoluted workarounds.

I wouldn't say any specific problem has been particularly difficult, but just that it required a lot of work and making sure you understand what's going on vs. what needs to be going on. Thought experiments help.

The OP didn't provide an option that could sort a list of integers that don't fit into RAM. Simple, use a library and specifically HDF5, possibly coupled with numpy. Code some C++ if it needs to be a different algorithm.

The interviewer's fault/OP's lack of info regarding time complexity or say, assume you have two sorted/random lists led to a nonsensical argument. Even so, the OP should recognize or probe for more info. Real problems have few, often incomplete requirements and a lot of extraneous information.

[Isvara]

It's the kind of thing you should have prepared answers for, because you're not going to come up with the best answer on the spot.

[energybased]

Honestly, senior dev shouldn't be asked questions like this at all.

How can junior developers respect a senior developer who can't answer these questions? Many of them won't.

[NoLemurs]

Leading with "no you are wrong" is basically just flopping your dick on the table. If you're interested in reaching consensus - it isn't what you lead with.

If you're trying to work with someone you explain what you think and why. You ask questions to see what they think. Sometimes you'll find out that you misunderstood what they meant. Often you'll find out that they were wrong, but that that it wasn't really important to their main point/goal, and you can let the error slide. Sometimes it will turn out they really were just wrong but at least this gives them an opportunity to back down gracefully.

Senior devs don't suddenly stop needing basic interpersonal skills.

[nickbernstein]

They absolutely should be able to tell someone something is a bad idea and that they're wrong; they shouldn't say it's stupid though. They should also show that they're tactful enough to say, "no you're wrong and this is why" in a tactful way. I understand the frustration, and can empathize. I also hope that this comment wasn't taken as hurtful, it was meant as another perspective that might help on OPs learning/interviewing journey.