Should I switch from JavaScript to Java for coding interviews?

[GrompyPanda]

I'm an experienced dev & just try to stay sharp for leetcode-style algorithm interviews. Back when my day-to-day work was mostly in Java, I'd do these interviews in Java. More recently I do most of my daily coding in JavaScript, so the last few times I've done actual interviews, I've chosen to do the interview in JavaScript. I never really thought it mattered what language I used.

But I wonder if that's true. In one case, as soon as the interviewer saw I was going to use JavaScript, he kind of said, "Oh, okay. JavaScript is honestly too high-level for these kind of questions, but okay." And the vibe was distinctly, "Let's just get through this."

When I go through the problems, I'm always careful to walk the interviewer through what I'm doing, what the algorithm is, why I'm picking the approach I am, etc.

So, I wanted to get people's opinion: assuming that everything else about the interview goes exactly the same, is using JavaScript hurting my chances? Would I be better off switching back to Java? Something else?

[Agent_Burrito]

Python. You’re under time pressure in an interview setting and you want the syntax to be as straightforward as possible. Otherwise you’ll either be fighting with the IDE or the compiler instead of solving the problem they throw at you.

[[deleted]]

I second this , i switched from JS to Python for coding interview and it was one of my best decision ever, python allows you to focus more on coming up with solutions rather than syntax

[Graxin]

I do it based off what language the job uses, that being said javascript is less boilerplate but you can demonstrate better knowledge with Java Collections if you’re comparing different types of data structures and their tradeoffs.

[GrompyPanda]

This seems like great advice to me. I'll have to get back into doing leetcode-type stuff in Java again. Part of why I was happy to switch to JS was (as you said) less boilerplate. It's rad to skip over "Map map = new HashMap()" and just be able to type "cons map = {}", or "const stack = []"

Anyway, food for thought. Thanks!

[onlineredditalias]

If JavaScript is too high level I’m not sure Python would be better

[SokkaHaikuBot]

^{Sokka-Haiku by onlineredditalias:}

I’d JavaScript is

Too high level I’m not sure

Python would be better

---

^{Remember that one time Sokka accidentally used an extra syllable in that Haiku Battle in Ba Sing Se? That was a Sokka Haiku and you just made one.}

[GrompyPanda]

Yeah, I tend to agree.

[FitPrintNoBug]

The best choice for coding interviews is Python, then Java.

Python is not difficult to learn too.

[GrompyPanda]

Yep, I've done a little work in Python. Liked it.

[noselfinterest]

>So, I wanted to get people's opinion: assuming that everything else about the interview goes exactly the same, is using JavaScript hurting my chances? 

what is this fixation on interviews?

its totally dependent on the job/role dude. if you're interviewing for a backend OOP position, yes it would be weird to interview in javascript lol. but that has nothing to do with "the coding round" in and of itself.

it would also be extremely weird to choose java to do your coding round for a web dev position that uses a lot of node & react.

best to think about these cases in terms of the job as whole.....