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Comment by b20000 | Hacker News Reader

b20000

i interviewed for a role to solve the latency issues. i brought 20 years of experience to the table. i could not solve their cute leetcode question in 2 min so i was out. i had the solution to their latency issues in my pocket. good luck to the team.

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I wonder how many stories there are out there like yours. Personally I’ve heard enough to be discouraged from ever applying.

It's not some mysterious thing; you have to study for interviews.

No you don't. You just have to demonstrate your competency to do the job. Running the gauntlet is only meant to winnow the massive number of applications the FAANGs get from unqualified people. Inevitably it fails to capture the best talent because they aren't going to waste time studying for leetcode junk and subject themselves to a callous, dehumanizing screen. It isn't a normal part of a proper hiring process and it is a disservice to the industry to normalize such behavior by suggesting otherwise. It's absolutely comical when small companies think it's a good idea to replicate this and force applicants through an excessive number of interviews stretching over months.

this is just wishful thinking. There is shit ton of people who can write some code by copypasting stackoverflow and kicking it until "it works on my machine". leetcode helps to filter at least those.

While I appreciate your faith in LeetCode, let's not pretend it's the be-all and end-all of coding assessment. Just because someone questions its effectiveness doesn't mean they're a StackOverflow copy-paster. Maybe some of us understand there's more to software development than algorithmic puzzles. Let's not oversimplify the discussion.

do you think i have time or energy to go grind leetcode for 6 months?

I really has fun doing the Python course at Hacker Rank as I was already proficient at Python but also open to learning more. Sometimes I think some leetcode grinding would be a break from my daily grind and grinding JRPGs but when I code on my own account I have so much fun doing things that are really unique and creative and frequently I’ve gotten jobs on the strength of my side projects.

Speaking as someone who is very good at these questions: they’re not a good predictor of dev capability. They are, however, pretty good at determining if you put several weeks of work in. Which you might think is a good proxy for determination but you’d be wrong: it’s a much better proxy for privilege.

Which, considering the PMC capture, is probably the point.

I went through a phase where I could always get through the interview with: (i) look it up in the hashtable or (ii) look it up into the literature.

That’s the impression I got, and that’s why I haven’t applied. I don’t want to work somewhere that makes me jump through arbitrary hoops just to get in the door. I’m not a college student, I have a busy full time job and a family to take care of. I’m not going to take time away from that to read a book about how to ace a deliberately esoteric job interview.

It’s akin to asking an experienced architect to draw a blueprint instead of asking to look at their prior buildings.

If we're making all kinds of unsubstantiated claims on the Internet, I was also out. I had the solution to P=NP in my pocket. Good luck to the team.

If you were real deal you'd be interviewing for quite high level and most likely targeted hire, without any of leetcode. It seems that you were considered drone.

they shortcut me to just a few interviews rather than the full 7 interview cycle. but i failed the typical leetcode trick question so no deal.

The real deal often gets treated like a drone by potential employers. You make the mistake of believing they know how to accurately assess who is the real deal.

Plus, people who are the real deal are "coming up" all the time and they need to start somewhere.

That’s the thrill of the aqui-hire but that person is frequently out as fast as they can get out because they can’t stand the new culture. If it is Google they are going to trash all your old code and re-write it in a hurry to make it scalable but unmaintainable anyway.

Large companies follow the lawnmower principle. I interned at a large company a few years ago, my code is in their public repos, had an offer from them on two prior occasions (that I did not accept), and still when I get calls from their recruiters, they want me to do coding assignments. I would point the recruiters to my code in their repos, my own public repos, papers etc., but no dice. Computer says no. On the last such call, I told them that I've done these before and that they may have them somewhere. The recruiter said they changed their systems many times over and there is no record. I was tempted to dig up my own laptop to find their old assignments, but decided to fck it. Ain't nobody got time for that.

> i could not solve their cute leetcode question in 2 min so i was out. i had the solution to their latency issues in my pocket. good luck to the team.

Why do some Google engineers make $500k-$3m/yr?

unfortunately ads sell but low latency audio applications don't?

it’s more like they don’t understand what matters in mobile because ads is all they know

and as long as they can sell ads nobody cares

Clearly, it is because they were able to answer that lertcode question the fastest.

I mean, thats what its for right ?

Mabye mobian has this cracked already with pipewire, but hopefully you'll share your expertise over there. ;-)

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