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Except that implies that someone who remembers how to invert a binary tree but doesn't have an open track record is a better hire than someone who couldn't remember but created, maintains and improves a popular open source project for YEARS.

Working software should be prioritised over rote memorisation of data structure theory.

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It also implies that just because you can invert a binary tree on a whiteboard you’re actually good. That’s debatable but I guess it’s one of N filters.

When I interviewed at Google they asked a lot of (at the time) very specific questions about various languages but only 1 “solve this riddle” type question. It was a pretty good experience.

The best interview I ever did was with an investment bank where I was struggling to whiteboard some problem (after a string of really tough, challenging problems I did well at) and they let me use a terminal to actually code it up (which I managed to do very quickly). I got that offer. ;)

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