Re:Ex-Google hiring committee member about job interviewing
by Evbn on Friday August 31, 2012 @11:34PM
(#4462580)
Of course, not knowing how to write a library quality Java w/generics implementation of a a search API on a non-search tree, on the whiteboard, as one of my interviewers once demanded, is something a bit else.
Google wants people who have a strong understand of CS fundamentals (which includes knowing core data structures). Google also wants people who are good coders (which includes being able to translate an idea into code).
A good coder who knows CS fundamentals should be able to do that. Thus, not knowing how to implement a binary search tree is revealing.
And, really, the question is rarely "implement a binary search tree." It may, however, be to implement a binary search tree which support a getMedian() operation.