News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Data structures and algorithms I actually used while working at tech companies. Parent comment

Re:Data structures and algorithms I actually used while work... by kelnos on Wednesday July 15, 2020 @04:40PM (#23851399)
The entire concept of asking someone to write code in Google Docs is just insane to me. No one would ever do that on a job, because it's remarkably awful and difficult, and the editor will fight against you every step of the way (auto-capitalization, just to name one thing).

And yet somehow interviewers think that this will give them a good picture of how you'd do work on the job. Baffling.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Data structures and algorithms I actually used while work... by jiggawatts on Wednesday July 15, 2020 @06:41PM (#23853230)
They're doing it so that they can see your edits live, "prooving" that you're not cheating in some way.

But yes, this is asinine. Sharing your desktop through a video conferencing program and using the IDE of your choice would be far more realistic test, but Google likes to put hoops up to jump through that are smaller than your body.

Why can't you contort yourself like an octopus!? Fail!

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Data structures and algorithms I actually used while work... by joshuamorton on Thursday July 16, 2020 @04:09AM (#23856872)
Nah, it's because this is the process for phone, not video, interviews, which are somewhat more accessible. And you need the ability to record the code at the end anyway (which docs provides and a video doesn't).
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Data structures and algorithms I actually used while work... by ladberg on Wednesday July 15, 2020 @08:26PM (#23854252)
Yep, it was a struggle even when I thought I was supposed to be writing pseudocode. I've had some really great interviews using coderpad and similar software (including the company I'm at now), and it's such a better representation of how the interviewee actually codes.

I don't get how my interviewer (an engineer), didn't see the problem with it. I know that Google wants to use their own products, but that can't possibly be the norm for other Google interviews.

[ Parent | on HN ]