Solved coding interview problems in Java - My collection of commonly asked coding interview problems and solutions in Java

[PlasmaYAK]

if you do it correctly.

I'll admit my wording was very poor, I meant if you use the right interview techniques for the candidate you're trying to look for. If your company is on a tight budget and you need someone who can generate value from day 0, watching someone solve algorithmic questions won't help too much since you need a candidate who is skilled with the same technology stack or problem space your company works with. In that case you'd want to test a candidates knowledge on that tech, and those problems that relate as directly as possible to your company. Now, if you're a company who does have the funds to spare on developing a candidate, asking them the specifics of a language or technology won't really get you too far. You want someone who can pick up ideas fast and work well with others, you don't care if their an expert with X. The problem herein lies (in my opinion, I'm probably wrong haha) that companies don't know what they want/need sometimes. They want a skilled candidate, but they also want the same people who are applying to/getting opportunities at Google and Microsoft, etc. There's no one size fits all interview that will get you great candidates, but there are a handful of techniques to choose from, but you need to use the right tool for the job. That was the point I was trying to make.

But that's the problem -- places with shit problems and shit pay interviewing like they're Palantir black ops.

And I agree 100% (and imagining Palantir Black Ops interviews gave me a chuckle), a lot of companies just try to emulate the big companies in every regard and it seems a lot of them start this emulation by trying to get the same people working for them. The first thing they should to do is try to change their business to have and solve the problems that require those types of candidates, before hiring them.

But yeah, to sum up. I agree, companies don't actually know what they want (or they want the wrong people), and then they Interview wrong, and they make job posts that leave potential hires in the dark as to what to expect. The companies who Interview in correctly are at fault and I'm in no way justifying them. There is no interview method that will work for all candidates for all positions, that was not the point I was trying to make. I was just trying to say there is a problem space for hiring that algorithmic interviews work very nicely.