Indeed Interview - Obsessed with HashMap

Apple / Eng
lmlvespa

Go to company page Apple Eng

PRE
Amazon
lmlvespa
Aug 27, 2018 20 Comments

I recently interviewed with Indeed, and every one of the interviewers asked me how a hashmap is implemented (like separate chaining and complexity)? Either they don't have a coordination between them, or it's a very important part of the organization. Any thoughts/experiences?

comments

Want to comment? LOG IN or SIGN UP
TOP 20 Comments
  • Lyft
    whitewashe

    Go to company page Lyft

    whitewashe
    Yo mama so big she doesn't fit in a hash map
    Aug 27, 2018 1
  • BlackBerry / Other
    Attorney

    Go to company page BlackBerry Other

    BIO
    Putin’s mistress
    Attorney
    Tell them it’s implemented in the JDK and you would use the implementation as is πŸ˜‰
    Aug 27, 2018 0
  • New / Eng
    xoxoyo

    New Eng

    xoxoyo
    Was this a frontend interview?
    Aug 27, 2018 7
    • New / Eng
      xoxoyo

      New Eng

      xoxoyo
      If you leave Apple, pick a growing company
      Aug 28, 2018
    • New / Eng
      Ueuehehshs

      New Eng

      PRE
      Indeed
      Ueuehehshs
      according to the financial report, indeed revenue growth is about 60% recently years.
      Aug 28, 2018
  • Indeed
    ympl42

    Go to company page Indeed

    ympl42
    Lol I do tech interviews at indeed. We don't coordinate between interviews to reduce bias so this can sometimes happen (we coordinate after out feedback is individually submitted to avoid spillover between evaluation groups) - sorry about that.

    Almost all of our our whiteboard questions can be answerable with something like a simple list or hashmap but we are seeing if you could use something more appropriate (heap/queue/stack/tree) instead. It would be concerning though if the interviewers were actively pushing you for a hash map solution only though.
    Aug 27, 2018 1
    • Apple / Eng
      lmlvespa

      Go to company page Apple Eng

      PRE
      Amazon
      lmlvespa
      OP
      Well, let me be clear, the questions were unique, and we did explore solution using various data-structures, such as heap, tries etc, however, hashing of string usually comes in most of the scenarios, when you are discussing extensibility or larges aspects of design. For example, in my description of Trie, I used Trie as a map, again for load balancing in cluster for a totally different question, I used consistent hashing to avoid hot spots. So you see, "hash" is discussed generally.
      Aug 27, 2018
  • New / Eng
    Painkiller

    New Eng

    Painkiller
    Hash map is important to all large data driven companies. Anyone could build Indeed in their basement, they want to make sure you are that guy and not some scammer. Hash map super valuable.
    Aug 27, 2018 2
    • Apple / Eng
      lmlvespa

      Go to company page Apple Eng

      PRE
      Amazon
      lmlvespa
      OP
      I get that thoroughly, hashmap is important and one must know the tradeoffs vs gains of using hashmap, but would every interviewer ask its implementation?
      Aug 27, 2018
    • New / Eng
      Painkiller

      New Eng

      Painkiller
      Well, if you have a β€œcanned answer” and don’t truly understand the concept, they could smoke out useless people with the strategy. The black and white of the matter is that there are multiple implementations, companies like chained hashing. They want to C prime number table sizes. If your doing bro tables nobody likes U.
      Aug 27, 2018