Show HN: Coding Interview Practice

Re:Show HN: Coding Interview Practice by mehrdada on Wednesday March 26, 2014 @07:30PM (#7477453)

Indeed. Having had quite a bit of experience with ACM-type competitions, I believe it is super-important for technical coding questions not to leave room for misinterpretation (especially when the key point being tested relies on the accurate interpretation, like this case.) Being sloppy in the interview may lead a bad taste in the mouth of the best candidates, because they are the ones who will take the question most literally.

It's not an excuse to leave things like that vague so that a candidate would have to bring it up to you. If you want to ask open-ended questions, ask obviously open-ended questions; don't make an attempt to turn simple technical questions into open-ended ones.

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Re:Show HN: Coding Interview Practice by stygiansonic on Wednesday March 26, 2014 @07:42PM (#7477518)

Agreed. I feel that if a question is going to be about a "real world" situation like trading stocks, it should reflect real world constraints that should be stated up front.

I also found it curious that the example listed the stock price at 1 AM. It would be far more of a real world example to only consider times during the normal trading hours.

A question phrased about a particular real-world domain that doesn't makes sense within that domain just doesn't seem fair to ask.

But again, total nitpick on my part. The actual format in which the questions were presented was generally done well, and a nice refresh from the typical "interview prep" sites.

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