Re:I took a job at Amazon, only to leave after 10 months
by colinmhayes on Wednesday January 05, 2022 @04:19PM
(#29815074)
I think Leetcode is a pretty decent way to filter for people who work hard and have at least decent critical thinking skills. I guess FAANGs have concluded
1. it's easier to test for those qualities than it is to test for engineering skills
2. those are the qualities that make a good developer.
[ Parent
| on HN ]
Re:I took a job at Amazon, only to leave after 10 months
by slim109ya on Thursday January 06, 2022 @10:58AM
(#29825182)
Leetcode is more about learning pattern recognition of the problem category than it is critical thinking.
What started off as "write a binary search" has turned into a massive gate-keeping process to try to select candidates who fit a profile. I'm not sure what that profile is, but I know I don't fit it. I grinded Leetcode for 2 months and failed Google, Facebook, and Amazon. I thought there was some luck involved and decided not to put any more time into it. But, I don't fault others who do.
I do think the large pay increases the candidate pool, so there has to be some form of testing. I just don't think as a senior developer, it assesses my skills.
Re:I took a job at Amazon, only to leave after 10 months
by colinmhayes on Thursday January 06, 2022 @11:30AM
(#29825669)
Pattern recognition is critical thinking.
Re:I took a job at Amazon, only to leave after 10 months
by rzz3 on Wednesday January 05, 2022 @04:51PM
(#29815523)
I don’t think it’s problems represent the problems we solve in the real world at all.
Re:I took a job at Amazon, only to leave after 10 months
by colinmhayes on Wednesday January 05, 2022 @05:01PM
(#29815648)
That's not the point though. Leetcode can't figure out if you're able to do the work today. I think FAANG believes it can figure out whether they'll be able to train you to do the work.
Re:I took a job at Amazon, only to leave after 10 months
by SirZimzim on Thursday January 06, 2022 @04:09AM
(#29821117)
I view it as a way to apply a somewhat relevant filter to a large pool of candidates. It's something coding related with simple appeals such as scalability which makes every engineer quiver at the knees.