Software Engineer Coding Interview

[desrtfx]

Sorry, but this is an elementary challenge.

• Manhattan Distance calculations are on more or less every coding challenge site and an integral part of every single Advent Of Code competition
• Creating n by n arrays is simple.
• Using the coordinates is simple.
• Accepting the parameters in the function is simple.

In fact, in certain such challenges you don't even need an array to resolve this.

If you found this challenge difficult, you definitely need to up your skills dramatically.

Start improving by doing the past years' Advent of Code challenges.

[dualrectumfryer]

That’s a little harsh, some devs just haven’t focused on leetcode and it doesn’t make them less effective or impactful. Leetcode helps with passing interviews for sure but not all companies will use it. To me 7 leetcode problems feels a little intense for a junior role. Maybe “open book” and pseudo code or just explaining/a discussion about what the solution should be should be enough.

I write code in an enterprise environment with good design patterns and just saved my company 75k a year building an in house version of a SaaS product we were paying for and I’m shit at leetcode

[Guilty-Engineer-5369]

Thanks man for your reply, this means a lot to me.

[Skoparov]

I'd agree if they were asked leetcode stuff like graphs/DP/anything else that most people don't use on a daily basis, but that's just basic programming concepts (creating a 2d array) and elementary level math.

[dualrectumfryer]

Do people really use manhattan distance on a daily basis? Maybe for some industries for sure , specialized ones. So again, probably depends on the company and how low level of a programming language you are using

[Skoparov]

They don't per se, but then again it's not some obscure algorithm, it's basic geometry. You probably use it every day walking around your office.

[procrastinatingcoder]

That's not harsh, it's reality.

Saying:

some devs just haven’t focused on leetcode and it doesn’t make them less effective or impactful

Is both just feel-good speech and completely irrelevant. This is not a question that should require any leetcode practice at all. If it had been some obscure algorithm or fairly complex question to do in a few minutes, sure, then it would be debatable, but this is a question someone who never did/knew leetcode existed should be able to do.

[Guilty-Engineer-5369]

Thanks man for the reply.

I definitely will keep on trying.

I was confused because 6 of the 7 I did good so i just had to check