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Comment by FartyMcFarter | Hacker News Reader

> As a candidate myself I always mention if I have seen similar problems, such as finding primes - real example, and I was hired on that loop at Microsoft!

Normally I'm completely in favour of being honest about this (and would almost certainly do it myself), but in the case of something as common as "finding primes" I'd think it's OK to just do it. Does any interviewer really expect that the majority of candidates haven't look at basic prime finding and primality checking algorithms?

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How many devs above 40 do you think still do leetcode to keep themselves entertained, especially if their daily work is doing CRUD stuff between corporate meetings?

We're specifically talking about people who are interviewing for jobs - I'd expect a lot of them to have done leetcode before the interviews.

Also: when we think about whether we've seen a problem or not before (in order to be honest during an interview), presumably this includes all problems we have a significant memory of, not just problems we've seen recently.

Really, do you expect folks to dust off their algorithms and data structures from 30 years ago, instead of what they have been doing the last decade on the job?

Love to know how many do build bridges, repair cars,..., on their spare time for job interviews.

If you expect Leetcode-style problems in the interview and are actually interested in doing your best there, why wouldn't you prepare for that?

That is the thing, I don't expect them, other than for newly graduates without anything else to show their value for.

Yeah, it's weird (to me and you at least) why people bother quizzing industry veterans. After 10 years in the workforce you should be able to talk shop about various experiences you had at work (NDA permitting) and drop down to technical details where appropriate. Yet some companies or interviewers insist on techniques that could be replaced with asking the potential hire to eat boogers on camera for a stronger signal of what they're actually looking for.

Even if that's the way it should be, it's not reality.

You can study for the interviews you'd like to have, or the ones you'll actually have.

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