Intel interviewers knew less than me

Nvidia
Obgr

Go to company page Nvidia

Obgr
Mar 23, 2019 51 Comments

The position was for a math library. The interviewers have never heard about an algorithm to calculate Chebyshev series. It's a very basic stuff for function approximation. They didn't know about the Ryu algorithm. During my presentation one guy asked if a least square task is ill-posed. It was for orthogonal functions, of course it is not.

They rejected me. :)

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TOP 51 Comments
  • Amazon
    Algoo111

    Go to company page Amazon

    Algoo111
    It is for the better. You probably wouldn’t have been happy if you have to explain these algorithms to everyone on the team on a daily basis. I guess if you have loved that you would have gone into teaching...
    Mar 23, 2019 1
    • Nvidia
      Obgr

      Go to company page Nvidia

      Obgr
      OP
      Absolutely. I do not regret. The last interviewer was the manager. Gosh, I wouldn't want to work with him. It was after 8 hours of interviews. Me like: you can't do it, you need two multiplications. He: I don't want to use multiplications. Me (after thinking for a while where is the trick): I give up. He proudly writes down a solution that has two multiplications. Me: hey, that's what I told you. He then blames me I didn't understand him correctly.
      Mar 23, 2019
  • Amazon
    tofu bird

    Go to company page Amazon

    tofu bird
    Now you know the reason why they rejected you lol
    Mar 23, 2019 0
  • Intel / Eng
    mr_pleb

    Go to company page Intel Eng

    mr_pleb
    Why did you interview at Intel in the first place if you have high aspirations ?
    Mar 23, 2019 2
  • Yelp / Eng
    sJJv80

    Go to company page Yelp Eng

    sJJv80
    Jesus Christ. I had a grand total of 1 numerical analysis class years ago, and I know about Chebyshev series. Never heard of Ryu algorithm, but, if you could competently explain it to me, I’d rate that highly.
    Mar 23, 2019 5
    • Yelp / Eng
      sJJv80

      Go to company page Yelp Eng

      sJJv80
      Oh, yeah. They taught me that in undergrad, lol. It’s similar to calculating Lagrange polynomials, IIRC. I thought you meant evaluating functions expressed in Chebyschev basis form. (Those subtractions in the denominators of the barycentric formula do look scary, and the proof of stability is moderately recent, but I’d still expect anyone using Chebyschev polynomials to know that.)
      Mar 23, 2019
    • Nvidia
      Obgr

      Go to company page Nvidia

      Obgr
      OP
      Great, thank you for confirming I am not being surprised by the lack of some exotic knowledge in Intel. It's a lack of basic knowledge. ☺️
      Mar 23, 2019
  • Nvidia
    bdei51

    Go to company page Nvidia

    bdei51
    Whyd you consider going from Nvidia to Intel?
    Mar 23, 2019 5