Comment by garrettgarcia

Comment by garrettgarcia 11 hours ago

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> My biggest problem with leetcode type questions is that you can't ask clarifying questions.

Huh? Of course you can. If you're practicing on leetcode, there's a discussion thread for every question where you can ask questions till the cows come home. If you're in a job interview, ask the interviewer. It's supposed to be a conversation.

> I wouldn't even mind the studying on leetcode types sites if they actually had decent explainers

If you don't find the hundreds of free explanations for each question to be good enough, you can pay for Leetcode Pro and get access to editorial answers which explain everything. Or use ChatGPT for free.

> It's not a matter of skill, it's just my ability to take in certain types of problems doesn't work well.

I don't mean to be rude, but it is 100% a matter of skill. That's good news! It means if you put in the effort, you'll learn and improve, just like I did and just like thousands and thousands of other humans have.

> Without any chance of additional info/questions it's literally a setup to fail.

Well with that attitude you're guaranteed to fail! Put in the work and don't give up, and you'll succeed.

another_twist 11 hours ago

> My biggest problem with leetcode type questions is that you can't ask clarifying questions.

Yeah this one confused me. Not asking clarifying questions is one of the sureshot ways of failing an interview. Kudos if the candidates ask something that the interviewers havent thought of, although its rare as most problems go through a vetting process (along with leak detection).

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tracker1 11 hours ago

Last year, I saw a lot of places do effectively AI/Automated pre-inverview screenings with a leetcode web editor, and a video capture... This is what I'm talking about.

I'm fine with hard questions in an actual interview.

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epolanski 10 hours ago

Many interviews now involve automated exercises on websites that track your activity (don't think about triggering a focus change event on your browser, it gets reported).

Also, the reviewer gets an AI report telling it whether you copied the solution somewhere (expressed as a % probability).

You have few minutes and you're on your own.

If you pass that abomination, maybe, you have in person ones.

It's ridiculous what software engineers impose on their peers when hiring, ffs lawyers, surgeons, civil engineers get NO practical nor theorical test, none.

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  • dmoy 9 hours ago

    The major difference between software devs and lawyers, surgeons, and civil engineers is that the latter three have fairly rigorous standards to pass to become a professional (bar, boards, and PE).

    That could exist for software too, but I'm not sure HN folks would like that alternative any better. Like if you thought memorizing leetcode questions for 2 weeks before an interview was bad, well I have some bad news.

    Maybe in 50-100 years software will have that, but things will look very different.

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    • epolanski 5 hours ago

      You ain't interviewing your plumber or accountant come on and I have millions of other examples.

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      • dmoy 4 hours ago

        Accountants have to sit for the CPA exams (four of them), and depending on the state may have required graduate course load. And also you should interview your CPA, because a lot are not very good at whatever specific section of accounting you need (e.g. tax filing).

        Plumber is probably the closest to what you're getting at. They are state licensed typically, with varying levels of requirement. But the requirement is often just like "have worked for 2-4 years as a trainee underneath a certified plumber" or whatever. That would be closest to what I'm guessing you would be recommending?

        Also relevantly: the accountant and plumber jobs that are paying $300k-$500k+ are very rare. There exist programming jobs that pay what a typical plumber makes, but don't have as many arcane interview hoops to jump through.

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  • SAI_Peregrinus 9 hours ago

    At least in the US, lawyers, surgeons, & civil engineers all have accredited testing to even enter the profession, in the form of the bar exam, boards, and FE & PE tests respectively. So they do have such theoretical tests, but only when they want to gain their license to practice in a given state. Software doesn't have any such centralized testing accreditation, so we end up with a mess.

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  • lukan 10 hours ago

    "don't think about triggering a focus change event on your browser, it gets reported)."

    So .. my approach would be to just open dev tools and deactivate that event.

    Show of practical skill or cheating?

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ok123456 11 hours ago

How does asking clarifying questions work when a non-programmer is tasked with performing the assessment, because their programmers are busy doing other things, or find it degrading and pointless?

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