In particular I don’t see anything else to replace leetcode from big companies’ PoV. They are simply too big to have people submit homework lol. Thoughts?
I’ve heard internal grumbling around Leetcode questions with some managers opting for “easier” coding questions and focusing on discussing good coding practices (less rote memorization, more discussion). Also, more focus on design and behavioral questions. Some still hammer Leetcode though :/
My Uber phone screen was a LC extra spicy. Brute force was sliding window matrix. Optimal was dynamic programming. I was like “come now!”
Slack doesn’t ask algorithms in their hiring process.
There is only a small set of people who will grind away at leetcode. If you use the same hiring practices, how can you hire diverse people? Not many of the people I know will sign up for months of leetcoding on ends just to pass onsites. They have better things to do w their time. If you’re using Leetcode to hire, don’t complain that you cannot hire. Thousands of startups out there don’t hire leetcoders and they’re doing just fine. Also, junior engineers tend to be better Leetcoders than senior ones because they’ve had 4 years of practice, whereas senior engineers did it 10 years ago
Thing is - the big players pay the big bucks. You want to get paid in cash instead of options? You gotta play the game.
No doubt. ***if you want to play the game*** in reality it’s the employers who need us more than we need them. Engineers are not complaining not being paid enough. We only hear about employers whine about there aren’t enough software engineers. The reality is that you need different types of engineers to do different jobs. There is not a single type of work in engineering. Take that bootcamper. I’m sure he’s willing to do a lot of extra shit necessary to the core product that the elite developers might not want to do.
I hear there’s a new tool people are using to evaluate candidates: Super Mario typing
leetcode is like SAT or GRE or even school GPA it doesn’t mean shit except that someone can tell you “hey, if you wanna get in, study for this shit” it cuts out people who are unwilling and / or incapable of straightforward studying related to CS “but like coding bootcamps prove that a cs degree is optional” - yeah, but fuck off, i’ll take the top 10% of cs degree earners over the top 1% of coding bootcampers any day of the week, it’s a more reliable, consistent, well established way to filter people out is it stupid? sure. so is school. so is society. leetcode is one of the few straightforward, guaranteed ways to get into the top 1% of the world economically with just a few months of studying. nothing comes even remotely close in terms of opportunities
You have 4 years to study for CS, boot campers only have 4 months. Of course you’re going to be better, but it doesn’t mean you will always be better. One day they will close the gap.
Also, there are the other side of the story. My friend has a PhD in EE at a top 5 school but she will never study for Leetcode. Does that mean you are better than she is? I doubt it. I know people like her will never spend one day studying for Leetcode, but she spent many years for her PhD. You get a lot of experience having worked as a software engineer. At Apple and google, your experience and skill set will be narrow and deep. At a startup, you need a wide breadth of skill set. Does it mean one type of skill is better than the other? You think you’re a more valuable engineer because you’ve got your Leetcodes, but tons of engineers in the world are as valuable as you.
Real mini project that can be completed within an 8 hours (a day of work), will tell you alot about the code quality, design, cs fundamentals, innovation and many many other things that leetcode will never be able to scratch.
cheating / plagiarism? time to grade? did they do it on their own? unpaid work?
You come to my team office here is the project you will do today, and you can ask anyone about anything, real experience for both of us. Instead of 6 shitty hours interview, one day project interview more enjoyable.
Pair programming sessions are not very uncommon nowadays.
Many leetcode problems are tricky, if you didnt meet it before interview, you're doomed
Almost all
“here is an application of a well known and well studied algorithms 101 question” “nooooo it’s a trick! my EE phd and 100 fpga publications never taught me how to apply basic algorithms fundamentals, therefore i deserve special treatment!” there are like 5 core concepts you need to grok to figure out the “trick” in just about any leetcode question
One solution is if both interviewer and interviewee don't know the question before interview. When interview begins, a random question pops up on screen and both interviewer and interviewee discuss the solution with interviewee driving most of the talk. That way, interviewer can evaluate the candidate based on his/her own skill level. Like if they are struggling to find a solution, its fair that candidate is having hard time as well. That's how real world problem solving is in everyday work. You get a problem, you discuss it out with the team.
There’s actually a very famous guy Nicolas Zakas who’s considered to be a Frontend guru. He interviewed at Google and got rejected bc he doesn’t know algorithms. If you apply one type of filter to hiring you cannot expect all good engineers to pass. The way around this is have multiple ways to bring people in, not to weed potential good people out.
there’s also the homebrew guy, but honestly, if you can’t figure out how to invert a binary tree, you’re pretty fucking stupid. it’s a super easy problem that doesnt require any algorithm knowledge, only a vague understanding of what a pointer is
It seems like you have no idea what stupid is. If he built Homebrew, he’s definitely not stupid. He just has a different set of thinking brains than yours and you’re obviously not smart enough to recognize it. It’s easy to you because you’re cognitive ability is different than his. That’s what makes you you. If you’re unable to recognize and value other people who are different, then that’s your problem.
None. Leetcode is the surefire way to figure out if a senior engineer absolutely know their stuff.
ROFL!!!
I like this guy. Very text book.