So I failed an interview with Apple at the non-coding first round. Interviewer asked me what are the methods that every Object overrides, and turns out it is equal() hashcode() and toString(). And asked me what each of this does. I program in Java with the current company for about a year, but rely mindlessly on frameworks to do the job that I dont even know the most basic things and what it does.. The inteviewer gave me a link to a Java textbook that I can study with, saying they need people more knowledgable in Java. I feel reallly ashamed that I am even hoping to do well in interviews when I don’t even know the basics of what I do everyday.. I did about 200 medium LC and feel okay with algorithms but I just feel so embarassed about this.. I feel so bad that the interviewer had to give me a link to buy a Java book..
Hey don’t take that as an L! The recruiter cares about you enough to be candid and then gave you some knowledge on why learning Java is so important to Apple. Once you get those skills up you can come back to this person and network again.
Oh I’ve done soo much worse. Take a cbd pill, microdose some acid, rtfm, rinse and repeat. I still have not read one text book from start to finish, well except maybe that Thinking in C++ book in undergrad. Somehow managed to still be alive.
Language is just a tool. You learn how to use a tool when you need it. That is why most software engineering interviews are programming-language-agnostic, meaning that the interviewer doesn’t care what language you use. Any coding monkey can learn a programming language.
Anyone can learn anything
No.. mosy people are realllllyyyyyyy dumb.
To be honest, I only give book recommendations to people whom I would like to work with, they just didn’t meet the tech bar yet. For consolation my team’s resume screen to hire rate is 0.6%.
:-O
0.6% of applicants or first round or final round?
Is he/she pointed you to the “Effective Java”? This happened to one of my friend as well.
It happens. At least you whiffed on that question in the first round rather than in the last. And now you've learned something.
useless questions, don’t worry about it, it served as rando practice for your real interviews
I don’t think it’s useless. It has very real implications. While it’s true that it’s something that can be learned, its a sign of not paying attention to the important aspects of a language.
the fact that plenty of real java devs like op don’t know this off the top of their head (but probably know to go to Object and see the source, something that takes less than a minute) showed you it’s a) not important and b) useless And if you extend something abstract, it won’t compile and your IDE shows you what you must override. So that shows you the interviewer is not knowledgeable about Java so came up with some academic question that’s useless on the job. Also those 3 are not mandatory overrides (not abstract) so the interviewer doesn’t even know this himself.
This happened to someone that interviewed at Netflix recently. They demand Java experts. I think it’s a fundamental concept any java programmer must know though! The implications of not knowing this can be huge! It’s like not knowing that strings in java are immutable and doing a bunch of string concatenation. It’s always good to learn how a language actually works rather than just the syntax and apis.
Everyone thinks everything they know is fundamental. Give examples of what “huge” implications can arise from not knowing every Object overrides hashcode(). Don’t worry...I’ll wait
Ok. What do you think the implications are if you override equals but forget to override hashcode for some class you use in a set or map? I’ll give you a hint; you’ll get incorrect behavior. For example, hash maps in Java use the hashcode to map to a bucket. If you put an object with key A, and then try to get the same value with another instance of the same key, it won’t find it because the hash codes are different. String concatenation can have performance implications. Likewise, if you’re working with Python, you should know that python has a global interpreter lock and no true concurrency.
What a lame interview
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Op let me say a thing : mastery of a language is often desired but not required. Unless you are applying for Java code compiler work i don't see how this can be a bar for you to cross. They probably don't have headcount..... What if your team matches you to C++ based team? That said, paste the link out?
https://books.google.com/books/about/Hardcore_Java.html?id=awnmD1w4_T8C&printsec=frontcover&source=kp_read_button