Would it be weird to bring my own colored whiteboard markers to an interview?
I’ve been practicing with a color system to help with whiteboarding and I want to make sure there are colored markers available. Is that weird?
I’m planning to bring my own as well but what’s this color system you speak of?
Mostly pseudo code in green, code in blue. When I try the algo with actually data this data is in red
Bro, that's weird. Interviewer won't say it to you but you know they will be thinking it.
I feel like the being prepared part is fine but the color scheme thing would weird me out a little. And why write pseudo code?
So you guys don’t think out your solution and put your thoughts down before writing the code on the whiteboard? Not judging just wondering if I’m being to thorough
I write pseudo code when I get an LC hard question. It shows that I can work out the problem without diving straight into code.
yes, it’s weird. Disqualifying weird...... no.
Interviewer’s follow up question would be: have you ever killed someone before?
And with what color knife?
Working with different color schemes won't make your solution better, and starting to erase answer parts and rewriting them will make the interviewers impatient and you feel nervous. Writing a clean correct solution is more important and should be your main focus area. To deal with one marker you can devide the whiteboard into sections.
So you guys don’t think out your solution and put your thoughts down before writing the code on the whiteboard? Not judging just wondering if I’m being to thorough
We do, and im also laying this out as an interviewer, it might look weird that you bring in your own stuff, and the extra minimum hassle might go against you. If you want to standout, that's quite a gamble depending on your interviewer.
Not weird. I'll definitely give you bonus points for being prepared
None of the markers worked in my Amazon interview. The interviewer had to get more from another room. The first marker I tried from that room was dead. There is nothing wrong with being prepared.
None of the whiteboards worked in my Google interview. They kept falling off the wall. That's harder to fix by bringing your own though :)
I think it’s fine to bring markers in case the room markers are dry. And switching colors to test seems fine. But I caution you against trying fancy color coding. Rather than waste time switching markers between code and pseudo code, just write code. Even if you have to write a little pseudo code, don’t make it standout and don’t show that you were preparing to cut corners. Plus changing colors under pressure seems little adding more burden. If you can organically switch marchers at the end to test, that seems fine and perhaps useful. Ideally if they already just have 2 markers. If you waste time with the markers it will be a distraction and look like you don’t know how to manage your time/priorities.
No. Also guards against there being dried out or janky markers in the room.