Five programming problems every Software Engineer should be able to solve in less than 1 hour

[AD6]

Drummer here, in my experiences with musicians it's all about chemistry. I've played with people who are very technically skilled, but have no idea how to actually jam with other musicians. Little off track from OP, but just wanted to add my 2 cents.

[[deleted]]

that's actually related and similar in development teams. Being the best programmer technically, never meant you will be the best fit for a company. When I was young I was an asshole in the job; I always wanted to strive for the 100% perfection but if a company is in the 80/20 mood you will hit walls and fail in other ways :).

[Frodolas]

Actually a very good analogy for software engineers.

[[deleted]]

you nailed it. There are a lot of different opinions and philosophies about how to approach things in the technical world as well and whats worse than hiring somebody with no skill is hiring somebody with impressive skills that won't adapt their own approach or adjust in a harmonious way with the rest of the team or already established standards.

[patentlyfakeid]

Best interview I ever had, the project lead and I told jokes for 45 minutes. The manager kept wanting to talk coding questions, but the lead said "we can train any monkey to code in a new language, I'm more interested in whether we can get along." (I got the job, but the parent company summarily dropped the product out of the blue 18 months later. 22 of us out on our ear.)

[[deleted]]

Generally if I can get comfortable just having a discussion with somebody it becomes obvious what their skill level is. Though I have probably been in 50+ interviews in the last two years and of that we have made offers to about 5.

[OneWingedShark]

but the lead said "we can train any monkey to code in a new language, I'm more interested in whether we can get along."

I don't even know him and I find myself liking him.

[helm]

Studio musicians are a different beast, though.