CTCI book suggests you to admit you know the question. Really?

Apr 18, 2018 20 Comments

Is it okay to not admit that you have seen the question before? When you do tons of Leetcode there is a high chance that you have seen the question before.

Do people usually admit or no?

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TOP 20 Comments
  • New / Eng
    Skawar

    New Eng

    PRE
    Oracle
    Skawar
    If you admit they will change the question to a hard problem, and might not finish in the time. Instead fake it like you have never saw it, do a 2-3mins of thinking and coming up with brute force solution. Finally comeup with optimal solution
    Apr 18, 2018 3
    • Amazon
      odVN70

      Go to company page Amazon

      odVN70
      It's not only that. If they ask you you to answer the question anyways and you're not able to answer optimally and correctly despite having seen it before, it doesn't look good for you. At the worst case, you give off vibes that you were lying to just get a different question.
      Apr 18, 2018
    • Lol not able to solve despite knowing the question is digging your own grave.
      Apr 18, 2018
  • Robots and Pencils / Eng
    Aftershock

    Robots and Pencils Eng

    Aftershock
    I don’t see Michael Phelps complaining at Olympics that he has seen similar rectangular swimming pools.
    Apr 18, 2018 0
  • Google
    Facebook

    Go to company page Google

    Facebook
    I'd be LMAO hard if the interview preparation book suggested to lie in that case :) that would be epic.
    Apr 18, 2018 0
  • Google
    jghyrh

    Go to company page Google

    jghyrh
    Nothing like watching someone pretend never to have seen a problem before.
    Apr 18, 2018 2
    • Amazon
      Nzoogler

      Go to company page Amazon

      Nzoogler
      Would you not pass them though based on this?
      Apr 18, 2018
    • Google
      jghyrh

      Go to company page Google

      jghyrh
      I would ask if they've seen the problem before. There's a good chance they come clean, especially if it's really early. Obviously, you don't just change to a new problem if it comes up 20 minutes in.

      If the opportunity presents itself, I'd also throw a complexity curve ball and see how they handle a single extra layer of complexity.

      I wouldn't outright fail someone, because there's honestly no way to know for absolute certainty, and it wouldn't be fair. However, I'd note it down, for the committee.

      Here's the thing: I care more about a good thought process than I do about memorized solutions. You can pretend to think about it all you want, but it will never look genuine. You're just hurting yourself, because when I say "hire" but I also say "kind of looked like they've seen it before", that will end up implicitly giving more weight to the interviews you didn't do so well in.
      Apr 18, 2018
  • New / Eng
    N0P

    New Eng

    N0P
    So interviewer is lazy AF and downloaded question from the internet. Would you call him on that? Did he disclose that?
    The point of the interview is to correctly answer questions.
    Apr 18, 2018 0