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posted by on Tuesday March 07 2017, @10:10PM   Printer-friendly
from the prove-Fermat's-last-theorem-using-only-a-protractor-and-straight-edge dept.

Saw this discussion on Reddit, and thought it might be of interest here, too (as such things perennially are):

I've been a successful software engineer for 10 years at various startups and small businesses. I do a lot of contracting on the side too. I've recently had cause to start looking for work again.

What the hell is up with these interview questions? They don't really have much to do with the ins and outs of clean code, architecture or collaboration. I had hoped they'd stop with this bullshit already. There's a lot of companies that promise 'No whiteboard interviews' like Triplebyte, only for that to be a complete and total lie.

They're more like annoying riddles I'd find in an Sierra adventure game or D&D. I'm just not very good at these types of 'riddle questions'. I know they always wind up having to do with binary trees, graph algorithms or something like that, but the dress-up and time constraints are unrealistically stressful.

I honestly wasn't very good at these questions when I'd graduated and I'm still not good at them now. How screwed am I? Are companies willing to hire based on projects and seeing live code?

I'm always careful to speak with my employers and convince them to write a 'portfolio' clause in my contract that allows me to keep code for the purpose of seeking further employment.

I really don't want to spend 3 months of my life learning how to solve riddles just to get another job.

I also suck at these kinds of questions, despite having designed and written a lot of software and systems. What say you, Soylentils, are these kinds of interview questions necessary to find good software engineers?


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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by BsAtHome on Tuesday March 07 2017, @10:28PM (5 children)

    by BsAtHome (889) on Tuesday March 07 2017, @10:28PM (#476201)

    Solving riddles is a different kind of thought process than programming. There are clear similarities, but those are usually edge cases for the most part and often only academically interesting. On the other hand, the thought process to solve a generic problem vs programming is more similar and can give insights into one's abilities. But also these insights are normally only interesting in academic context and real world problems demand a much broader knowledge and skill set.

    If an interview only focuses on the academically interesting part (usually because the recruiter is /not/ knowledgeable enough), then you should most likely tell him/her as such. If they cannot differentiate between academic skills and real world skills, then the job is probably not worth it and you should say so. Do not make yourself bitter, tell the counterpart what they are doing is wrong (in a polite and concise way) with a clear and understandable reasoning. That will normally impress and also says something about social and communicative skills.

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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by mhajicek on Tuesday March 07 2017, @11:19PM

    by mhajicek (51) on Tuesday March 07 2017, @11:19PM (#476215)

    No, it won't impress them, because they don't know what they're doing. They'll just cross you off the list. They're probably the same people who require the applicant have a certain degree, and will not even consider someone with equivalent experience. But then again, you don't want to work for someone like that.

    --
    The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
  • (Score: 3, Funny) by Ethanol-fueled on Tuesday March 07 2017, @11:55PM (3 children)

    by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Tuesday March 07 2017, @11:55PM (#476229) Homepage

    One time during an interview the manager informed me that I'd be doing a whiteboard interview with the requirement of correct syntax, with no electronic help.

    I motioned for him to come help me with something before I shoved two of the thick dry-erase markers up his nostrils, stuffed the eraser in his mouth, and finally shoved the nearby decorative ficus plant halfway up his ass and told him, " Traverse that tree, bitch! "

    • (Score: 3, Funny) by jimshatt on Wednesday March 08 2017, @09:56AM (1 child)

      by jimshatt (978) on Wednesday March 08 2017, @09:56AM (#476382) Journal
      And, did they hire you?
    • (Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday March 08 2017, @01:35PM

      by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday March 08 2017, @01:35PM (#476422)

      Holden: They're just questions, Leon. In answer to your query, they're written down for me. It's a test designed to provoke an emotional response.