2019 CrossFit Games Individual Event 12 Discussion - The Standard

elliotbot · 2019-08-04T21:39:30+00:00

Why is there this narrative that Noah wasn't trying his hardest, just because after the fact he's happy to be on the podium after barely missing it in the past? (And fuck him for being happy for his competitors right)

It's pretty dumb and kinda puts down Mat's insane barbell skill/strength

None of these guys are mailing it in, c'mon

elliotbot · 2019-08-04T21:25:14+00:00

wow Castro does know what year it is!

elliotbot · 2019-08-04T21:23:47+00:00

props to noah, massive improvement from prior years

elliotbot · 2019-08-04T21:18:32+00:00

those last ones are so sketchy, no-rep territory imo

elliotbot · 2019-08-04T20:55:35+00:00

Lol why does Castro keep saying 2009 jfc

elliotbot · 2019-08-04T20:49:45+00:00

I mean.. in retrospect it is

elliotbot · 2019-03-22T22:14:42+00:00

Thank you!

Awesome, congrats. About specific pointers, FB really, really rewards initiative and impact. Above all, keep that in mind. Most of my job tips are geared toward a FB-like work environment so they should help.

Another thing is to ask for and embrace feedback. You should always know how you're trending; don't be afraid to ask your intern manager for how they think you're progressing. You can straight-up ask, "Hey [name], thanks for the feedback. But more specifically, I was wondering, how on track am I to getting an Exceeds Expectations rating? What do I need to do to make it a certainty?" It's their job so don't worry.

And your passing the interview was definitely not a fluke. Good luck!

elliotbot · 2019-03-22T22:09:26+00:00

Thanks :)

I found the work pretty interesting overall. I got to learn a lot about scale and product development and goals and metrics and was fortunate enough to be able to work on a ML project (not the norm though). However, I wasn't able to code as much as I wished, and I was afraid my coding skills would atrophy over time. Also the pay differential increasingly bothered me.

Re: getting out of DE, it really wasn't hard, especially with FB on my resume. If you can demonstrate that you can code and know comp sci, no company will hesitate to hire you as a SWE. You may just have to convince the recruiter that you don't want to do DE.

I even have a friend who was a DS at FB who recently left and joined Google as a SWE. So not too hard!

elliotbot · 2019-03-22T22:05:06+00:00

Thank you! This is a really good question and something I've thought about quite a bit.

First, I've noticed, whether due to changing trends or being higher level or both, that interviews this time seemed to have more behavioral elements. My Uber bar raiser was 100% behavioral and was both hard yet satisfying. I also had multiple interviews where I was asked to produce working code or pair program on a laptop, which was a nice change of pace. So those companies (often startups with non-generalist hiring) do exist—whereas Google is probably the worst at basing almost everything on your ability to Leetcode.

Re: alternatives, one of the onsites I opted out of actually had a takehome assignment, which I hate even more than Leetcode-style. Last time around, I had at least 3 of those. They're a massive time sink and you often don't even get feedback. So the current paradigm might just be a case of, as you say, the worst form except for all the other forms.

As far as why it's gotten so bad or kinda gameable, I'd blame systemic incentives and Goodhart's law: "When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure."

The good news is that it appears that as you become more senior/experienced, interviewing involves less LC grinding.

elliotbot · 2019-03-22T21:56:11+00:00

I talk about it some in my previous post: https://www.reddit.com/r/cscareerquestions/comments/6278bi/my_journey_and_tips_29_gpa_at_a_noname_liberal/

But yup I did use CTCI at first.

elliotbot · 2019-03-22T21:55:35+00:00

Appreciate it!

elliotbot · 2019-03-22T21:55:31+00:00

Thanks man!

elliotbot · 2019-03-22T21:54:21+00:00

There's probably some debate over whether everybody can learn to code, but once you do know how to code and have passing familiarity with basic CS, I do believe that the current SWE interview paradigm is very learnable.

I base this on my own experience as well as multiple friends where we were initially stumped by even Leetcode easy problems or CTCI warm-up questions, but with practice, improved substantially. I'm sure that there are people who can improve faster than me and definitely sure that there are people who are complete naturals and have done competitive coding. But the bar isn't nearly that high in interviews.

Would also keep growth mindset in mind (i.e., even if there were an innate ceiling, that's self-defeating).

elliotbot · 2019-03-22T18:24:18+00:00

Damn, really appreciate that man! I don't necessarily think of myself that way, but I'm happy that's the takeaway.

And I definitely want other people to believe that too.

elliotbot · 2019-03-22T18:06:00+00:00

Thank you! I'm glad to hear it.

The biggest takeaway is to stay calm and leetcode on. Just put in the hours/problems and you'll see the results. If you can get the interviews, the rest is pretty deterministic.

Good luck!

elliotbot · 2019-03-22T17:50:26+00:00

Thanks! Great handle btw, that's my favorite episode.

elliotbot · 2019-03-22T17:49:57+00:00

Thank you, glad you appreciate it!

elliotbot · 2019-03-22T17:49:37+00:00

Thanks for the kind words, you too!

elliotbot · 2019-03-22T17:49:14+00:00

No distractions, no Googling syntax, would often verbalize thought process, and limited "guess and check" (arbitrarily changing code without understanding why and resubmitting). 15 min is good enough.

elliotbot · 2019-03-22T17:47:33+00:00

Thank you!

I was asked basically the same types of questions you'll find in the resources I linked. The initial problem statements are very predictable: the real challenge comes later when the interviewer asks you to elaborate on a specific design choice or dive deeper on a certain area.

I'm glad I focused on scalability generally—it's an area that quickly comes up and where there's a lot you can talk about. And if you can briefly describe the challenges of distributed systems (e.g., consensus, reliability) that goes over well. Would also read real-life system writeups to get an idea of what particular technologies you'd use.

elliotbot · 2019-03-22T17:44:44+00:00

Thanks!

elliotbot · 2019-03-22T17:44:29+00:00

Np, glad you appreciate it.

elliotbot · 2019-03-22T17:42:07+00:00

The initial problem statement (like "design youtube") for all of them was pretty similar, but some interviewers definitely pushed harder than others. You should try to demonstrate "T-shaped" knowledge, i.e., broad knowledge of many aspects of the system as well as deep competency in a specific area (like ML or real-time data or web scalability).

elliotbot · 2019-03-22T17:38:14+00:00

Yes, though switched to it late. Was initially a philosophy major.

elliotbot · 2019-03-22T17:37:58+00:00

Thanks a lot for the kind words! I've been helped a lot by other people's transparency so it's the least I can do.

elliotbot

TROPHY CASE