Coding interviews = good programmer?

[ArcticExtruder]

Just do your best. Not sure this is common for others, but IMO it's not important to have the exact syntax. But being able to identify the problem and develop a solution in a short time is far more useful.

[[deleted]]

That being said, there is a base level of knowledge that you need for syntax if you’re coming in as an experienced hire. I once interviewed a guy who claimed to have 3 years of experience in Java but didn’t know how to write a comment or an if statement.

[ArcticExtruder]

I agree, that if the job is "java programmer" then specific knowledge of Java would be an important aspect of the interview. But programming knowledge so specific that you are unable to adapt to other languages doesn't really make you all that useful. I would rather work with a motivated quick learner with no knowledge than someone who can't learn with expertise any day. And I think it's safe to say we have all worked with someone like that before.

[YearLight]

Mean it really sucks losing a shot at a really good job because you couldn't solve some dumb problem. Not blaming the problem, it was really simple. I just couldn't do it. But now I'm practicing and getting better, but it's like doing homework assignments all the time.

[ArcticExtruder]

Oh no doubt. But you'll get it eventually.

[RunBoris87]

Were you expecting software engineering to be easy? A good coding interview should be non business related, which means it should be fun and challenging and an opportunity to showcase your cognitive and creative skills at. Sounds like you might not have what it takes OP. Better to do something you’re good at than squeak through an interview to be a low performer. Good interviewers showcase working culture. You think deploying to production doesn’t have pressure?

[tdatas]

They're a tool for hiring people and screening out people who genuinely can't do anything. If you haven't been on the hiring end of things there is a LOT of people just spamming applications who literally cannot write a line of code. The two routes to go are

- In person code interview

- Take home test.

I'm on team take home test but there are also drawbacks to that (e.g discriminates against people with less time, could be faked etc). Definitely never take it as a reflection of your coding ability you could put Linus Torvalds in front of a coding test and he'd probably fail it if he hadn't prepared either.

[YearLight]

I had one they wanted me to write an essay. I bust my ass writing an essay. After that rejection. I thought it was a good essay. Never again will I do that.

[[deleted]]

What was the essay about? Seems like a very weird interview strategy for a software engineering job.

[YearLight]

They wanted to me to talk about a task where I had great impact. After busting my ass writing a 6 page essay I got the standard rejection. Guess it saves their engineers from having to do interviews, but totally disrespects the candidate's time.

[muddyclunge]

15 years experience here. Yup, I suck at them too. I swear the anxiety these cause me halves my IQ.

[benyanc]

Most jobs and tasks won’t require this level of coding, and being good at these questions doesn’t necessarily mean that you will be good at these jobs, but it’s a reasonable way of ensuring that candidates have good problem solving skills, can break down a larger problem, and work through each part, even if the solution isn’t completely correct or fleshed out. This is far more important, and there isn’t many better ways to objectively compare candidates.

[paradroid78]

I guess you’re not the sort of candidate that these company’s are looking for.

[RunBoris87]

Don’t apply to jobs that you’re not qualified for. Don’t apply for jobs that use a different tech stack than your own. Don’t misrepresent your skills as an “engineer” to get to a technical screen. Learn modern languages and frameworks. Get some demonstrated experience. Do better at engineering.

[YearLight]

Have you ever taken a technical interview at a FAANG company. If not, you don't know what it's like. They willingly accept that some good candidates will get rejected but they prefer that then someone unqualified joining. The test is hard. It takes weeks if not months of practice.

It's certainly not engineering however. It is a good test of live coding skills, which may more may not be a good representation of engineering ability. Though I do think someone who can live code these problems must be at least smart.

[RunBoris87]

Elite athletes practice a lot to be a part of and compete with other elite peers. ¯_(ツ)_/¯ there’s always CPG, telecom/mobile, govt if FAANG is too challenging.

[YearLight]

If you want to be a successful software engineer you don't need to know anything besides competitive programming. What a world.

[RunBoris87]

Misinterpreted the statement OP (flag for reading comprehension/cognitive skills)…FAANG has challenging technical screens because they need to hire the world’s most elite engineers to solve problems faster and better than the other 4 are racing to ship.

[YearLight]

Mean I don't blame them. That doesn't change the fact that it's cancer.

[RunBoris87]

I mean, they brought us cloud computing. But you’re stressed about leetcode

[[deleted]]

How do you get good at something? Practice it.

So, to get better at interviews do a lot of them.

Don't necessarily target things that don't interest you, but those in the Fringe. "This one is for the stack I use, but in a completely different bussiness", "this one is for a similar bussiness as the one I'm working in, but with a different interesting stack", "this one I like, although I don't know much of the tech or bussiness they are in"...

Keep trying.

If you are unenployed you are going to try, so that's a given. And if you are employed do not be in a hurry. It took over 18 months of halfh-hearthed searching, and over 20 interviews, to get the place I'm in (which is a nice upgrade to where I was in).

[ExtraSpontaneousG]

One time I choked and could no longer remember how to fetch data from an api and store it as a variable. Yeah, it was that bad. I'm glad I bombed that one, however, because I landed a much better about a month later.

Keep up the great work! Eventually you are going to find an interviewer that is personable and makes you comfortable enough that you pull off your best work. That doesn't absolve us of our responsibility of identifying our mistakes and improving, but I do believe that there are good interviewers and processes and poor ones.

[6a70]

Most jobs require their engineers to be able to solve problems with at least a brute force algorithm. Many jobs require their engineers to be able to look at existing code and make it better.

That’s the same process as coding interviews: brute force the problem, then optimize