If you want to test for the ability to gather requirements and clarifications from vague requests, then test for it directly, don't bake it in as a hidden test you expect people to account for when the overt problem is just implementing a comparatively crystal clear toy question even if you say things like "number" instead of "positive integer". Assuming they can implement anything that seems to work at all (which is your main goal, right? or why ask it?) you could turn your prior vagueness into an opportunity to see if they can formulate test cases and refactor their approach to account for different inputs, if needed, or if you see them accounting for them as they go you can ask e.g. "why are you taking the absolute value?" and see if they're thinking about the input order or if they're just doing it because that's what they saw somewhere.
Yeah, I think the important thing is that the candidate should not have to "read the interviewer's mind" when it comes to what style of question is being asked.
Unfortunately, this can also occur because the interviewer isn't clear on their own goals in the first place. They asked the question before really knowing what data points they want to come away with.
I don't think it's a bad question to ask... just not the filter that the op thinks it is. all these people who are sitting in the comfort of not being in an interview and they are still getting it wrong. this filter should be easy enough to get the question right if you know any programming at all. something like the fizzbuzz question.
I highly doubt I would ask if the inputs are sorted. I wouldn't expect them to be (why would they be, after all?), and I'd probably just give a solution that works regardless.
I agree. Also, since we're talking about two entries here, there really isn't much work to do...
One could even argue that relying on the order of the items in this case is going to result in a worse design overall (it's one additional thing the caller can get wrong).
Re:How to Interview Engineers
by FilterSweep on Tuesday June 27, 2017 @10:06AM
(#14645467)
I think you just received some good interview advice, unintentionally.
What I like about pklausler's example is that it allows for people to find edge cases without too much technical knowledge. If I have a candidate who doesn't ask about the inputs (e.g. "are the appointment sorted?"), I'd be wary. Engineers are often given vague specifications they need to clarify or account for.