I can code it to perfection on any keyboard but not so great with whiteboard. Is it ok to tell interviewers to get a laptop or an Ipython notebook? Whiteboard is so old school. Generally screw some syntax or miss some indentation . Either join them or sit out as a remedial measure now solving 15 leetcode question on whiteboard post working hours . Any other stuff I should try to overcome my disability
So what's stopping you from writing the same on a white board? I had this mental block for the longest time and I then realized the only problem was I was relying on shortcuts too much and it just took longer to write on a white board. This increased time made me think I was doing something wrong in a interview setting. With some practice before hand this was quickly resolved. And also remember that in an interview setting the other person is not a complier as long as you are not doing something seriously wrong with syntax you get a pass for indention or some small typo
I prefer whiteboard coding to doing something on a computer. It’s a much better way to express your thought process which as an interviewer is all I care about. If the interviewer is looking for perfect syntax and indentation and all that then they need a reality check! I don’t care if things are misspelled, missing indention, or even if it’s all just pseudocode! I want a peek inside of your mind to see how you approach and break down a problem. It’s harder to do that when you’re typing away on a keyboard. The actual code that’s produced is the least useful part of an interview IMO
I explained my algorithm and tc and sc post that the board doesn’t fit Let’s say stock problem to fit the board I do use some one liners so I can fit the board. Is it recommended not to use one liners and optimizations within? Or it’s just better to copy paste leetcode so most interviewers know the answer to the solution?
This is exactly what’s wrong with interviews now! We think we can boil it all down to a few LC problems. Really the whole tech interview process should be revamped. And it’s also very dependent on the person interviewing too, I can just tell you what I look for. I really couldn’t care less if you get the problem right or wrong as long as I can see how you arrived at your solution and you explain it along the way. I’ve passed on people who coded out the correct solution first time because they didn’t say a word the entire time just wrote code on the board. That’s a waste of everyone’s time. I’ve recommended people who didn’t fully solve it because I could see what they were doing and the track they were on. It depends on the role too but communication is just as important as technical chops. There’s a video on LinkedIn talking about why you should fire your top performing people... watch it!
In a 45 min 2 questions how do you generally allocate your time ? Assuming 10 mins for person to chalk out Q inclusive of resume walkthrough
1. Minor syntax and inventing doesn't matter much, don't worry about those things. 2. Not all companies let you use a laptop, so you will have to practice whiteboarding anyways. 3. No one is comfortable with whiteboard coding right away, you just need to practice until you are.
The whiteboarding is tricky that your speed, spacing between characters, limited space on board, the devious 5% tilt etc play role. I use unruled papersheets (A4 etc) to practice sometimes but that's all I do. Soon I'll know where I stand. Also as a habit i developed during LCing is to use a variable before declaring it and then do a second pass to declare them. This becomes tricky if i haven't left enough space on the whiteboard before writing the algo :)...the list of these little mistakes keeps growing.
Better than paper coding lol
Try whiteboarding in Python. A lot less to write.
Practice?
Yeah but just not my normal speed or strength I do practice