Comment by bradlys | Hacker News Reader

Comment by bradlys | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

I never had any technical interview prep when I started. I could code just fine. I demonstrated that at my other jobs and in school well enough. Then I started interviewing for SF positions that did these interviews.

I froze up. I couldn't talk and think at the same time. I didn't have the skillset for doing this in a very intense scenario. In my case, I was homeless and needed a job ASAP. Every interview felt like life or death to me.

First one I was asked to reverse a string in C. I hadn't done C in a few months. I froze up on syntax. I looked like an idiot who couldn't do it.

I could imagine many people who have never experienced this format (or haven't experienced it much) would easily freak out and look stupid as bricks like I did.

I've since done over 200 technical interviews (as the interviewee) and I usually sweep. Still fail at FAANG but I always get the solutions. (Even the leetcode hard ones) Just not sure why I fail but cest la vie.

Whenever I ask coding problems during an interview, I emphasize any language at all including pseudocode. And if they still struggle, I ask if they could just walk me through it verbally and we can work out the syntax together.

I realize people can still freeze up, but at some point I think there's just no solution to that unless the candidate can produce a significant portfolio. Also, I read your post and it sounds to me like to gained confidence in this area as your coding skills improved, which I don't think is as much a coincidence as you seem to believe.

This is a really interesting observation, thank you.

Is there anything they could have done differently to make the situation easier? (I would guess perhaps giving you more notice about language requirements?). Or is there a different interview format that you feel would have worked better?

Not really, innovative thought can’t be done with a gun to your head. Perhaps if you’d written this code multiple times over the years and had it memorized. But, that won’t help with random problem #2.

Stick to the basics and a trial period.

Is reversing a string not already "the basics"? What are you suggesting should be covered in an interview/screen prior to a trial period?

Your question was not reversing a string. You also mentioned fizzbuzz.

It’s the problem under discussion in the post you are replying to.

I was referring to your [1] in this thread.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com