Google SWE Interview - Code Completeness

Facebook / Eng
jjbros

Go to company page Facebook Eng

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Thomson Reuters
jjbros
Dec 8, 2018 25 Comments

Just did onsite this week. I am an ninja (coding) interviewer at FB and, compared to our style (or all 5 other companies I interviewed with lately including Amazon and Uber), Google interviewers seemed to use a lot less standard LC-ish questions and, surprisingly, doesnโ€™t seem to focus on finishing clean code as much. In one of the interview, we didnt even really code although it was not a system design one.

I felt as if they were mostly concerned more about problem solving then coding itself. Is this a fair observation? or did I just get unique set of interviewers?

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TOP 25 Comments
  • Google
    ๐ŸŒฒ fiddy

    Go to company page Google

    ๐ŸŒฒ fiddy
    Yes that was true for me when I interviewed. We have a phenomenon here where people obsess over design docs and writing code is seen as unpromotable work beyond L3. Mostly due to our promo process and false perceptions.
    Dec 8, 2018 0
  • Google
    ralfi

    Go to company page Google

    ralfi
    Yep Google abhorrs leetcode and memorization. They want to assess underlying problem solving ability, however difficult that might be. However, please do note that finishing coding is often necessary, especially for the first few iterations of a problem. It also depends on problem difficulty.

    In my FB experience I had to pump out perfect solutions for leetcode hard in 45m. Only managed it since I'd seen it before. Google interviews are at once both easier and more difficult.
    Dec 9, 2018 7
  • Google
    zusammen

    Go to company page Google

    zusammen
    I generally don't ask a candidate to code unless a) the candidate is a new grad b) I was asked to assess the candidate's coding skill.

    I don't see the point in asking a candidate to code in every single round of interview (5+).

    If at all I ask a candidate to code sth, it should usually take 5 mins to churn out a few lines of code. This is just a sanity check.

    I don't see Googlers just churning thousands of lines of code every day. There is more to solving a problem than just writing code. :)

    When someone is writing production code, the general expectation is that the final artifact is of very good quality. Just because the interview process doesn't obsess on high quality code, it doesn't mean people are okay with checking in crappy code. I am just being explicit about the expectations. Even senior engineers get code review comments and people have time to think through the design when they are working on day-to-day tasks. It is hard to simulate this environment during an interview, so it is okay to have few minor bugs as long as you are able to sketch your thoughts as code without difficulty. If you claim to have strong competency in a language or if a team is looking for an expert programmer who is familiar with a particular language, then the interviewer will look to see if you are using the language constructs effectively.

    Do you think we should ask the candidate to code in every interview?
    Dec 9, 2018 6
    • Google
      zusammen

      Go to company page Google

      zusammen
      At least two rounds of coding interview. The general expectation is that every interviewer will ask the candidate to code sth unless it is a design round.

      OP is not just talking about coding interviews. Read the question more thoroughly.

      "surprisingly, doesnโ€™t seem to focus on finishing clean code as much. In one of the interview, we didnt even really code although it was not a system design one.

      I felt as if they were mostly concerned more about problem solving then coding itself."
      Dec 10, 2018
    • I was talking about the ninja interviews OP was comparing against.

      "We didn't even really code" doesn't mean it wasn't a Google coding interview though.
      Dec 10, 2018
  • Apple
    ๐Ÿƒโ€โ™‚๏ธboy

    Go to company page Apple

    ๐Ÿƒโ€โ™‚๏ธboy
    What does a ninja interview consist of thatโ€™s different from the rest of Facebook interviews?
    Dec 8, 2018 4
    • Apple
      ๐Ÿƒโ€โ™‚๏ธboy

      Go to company page Apple

      ๐Ÿƒโ€โ™‚๏ธboy
      Thanks Facebook!
      In my phone screen with Google I hadnโ€™t gotten the correct solution in code either. Just a bunch of approaches. And I got a yes for the on-site. It looks like Google is concerned more about the approach than the coding part itself.

      I have on-site in a couple weeks. Fingers crossed!
      Any idea what helped with your prep? (Since leetcode alone isnโ€™t enough)
      Dec 9, 2018
    • Criteo / R&D
      :o)

      Go to company page Criteo R&D

      BIO
      Bio
      :o)
      Boy - you have paid leetcode, right? If so, there are 2 ways to get questions sorted by company/frequency/period , I did both and solved top 20-30 or so. It helps
      Dec 9, 2018
  • Intel
    Tensed๐Ÿคฏ

    Go to company page Intel

    Tensed๐Ÿคฏ
    OP .. did you hear back from G recruiter?
    Dec 17, 2018 0