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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?
(Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday March 08 2017, @02:49PM (3 children)
Interestingly, two of those (separated by hundreds of miles and many years) insisted on drawing an exponentially decaying sine wave instead of the specified linear decay.
Let me take a (not so) wild guess, both EE turned programmers. I bet the linear decay guys did something simple like multiply a y-axis gain factor like the reciprocal of the X pixel value whereas the EE guys, having successfully completed DSP class, tried to implement a IIR DSP filter using like 5000 lines of assembly code. If you want to troll them ask them to prove their solution is provably stable or if passband ripple is showing up on the screen. Or if you really want to mess with them, the comments probably indicate if they used a tsyhebyshev, butterworth, or elliptic design and whichever one they used, tell them they chose the wrong one, LOL.
Its been a long time but IIR filters have an exponential decay curve so asking an EE about sine wave decay is like waving a red cape in front of a bull, they're gonna go all DSP because they suffered thru a semester of designing the math for IIR DSP filters that is, in fact, exponential decay of a sine wave when you remove the signal from the input.
EE RF is fun but personally I think filter design is about as exciting and fascinating as an accounting audit. Still, it'll pay the bills.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday March 08 2017, @03:04PM (2 children)
One was an EE, but I believe they both stuck with the exp() library function (after all, it was supposed to be a quick test)... One had a bit of angst about how to make 10% at the end, do you measure amplitude at the extreme right side of the screen, or peak of the last wave? The non-EE was a self-taught OpenGL programmer - young kid, we hired him. Funny thing was, we gave them 30" monitors, and he liked some kind of pink colored chat board or something, when I'd walk up to his desk, his face would be illuminated pink by the screen, then he'd click quickly and the pink light would go away. I don't want to know what he was looking at, but I wish he wouldn't have insulted my intelligence by being so obvious about it.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday March 08 2017, @04:47PM (1 child)
I believe they both stuck with the exp()
Ugh cheaters should have implemented the whole DSP filter not merely simulated its response. Still you look at trailing edge waveforms long enough, "all sine waves should exponentially decline" its their nature LOL.
My second guess would have been seismograph interpreters but that's almost like "the engineers of geology" so it all boils down to they were engineers of one sort or another.
some kind of pink colored chat board
4chan color? Look on the bright side you can only control how you feel, not how he acts, and at least he's showing respect by giving you 100% of his attention when you walk up. I'll click perfectly legit stuff down when people walk up to me in meat space, just to signal to them that I'm not ignoring them while they talk, if they thought it was important enough to physically walk over, I'll respect their gesture enough to make a gesture of my own of minimizing all my windows. If it wasn't super important they would have email, IM, slack, etc.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday March 08 2017, @06:22PM
some kind of pink colored chat board
4chan color?
Is that what 4 chan looked like in 2007? I've only seen 4 chan screen captures on Reddit...
Anyway, I never made a thing of it with him - you're right, it's a degree of respect, but I also honestly believe he had no idea just how dramatic the color change on his face was.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end