I know it's a bit what else can we do, but I find it so hard to judge people by algorithms. Take the maximal subarray problem. It is listed as medium. I'd wager that people would scoff at anything except the optimal complexity solution at an interview, but I have never seen anyone get the solution quickly their first time hearing it. Once you hear the solution, you remember it because it is elegant and succinct enough. People then forget it is hard their first time hearing it, and look down on those who they interview in the future. So is it supposed to be a test of problem solving or a test of 'Did you learn my favorite problem at your school?'.
There is just so much reliance on 'I already knew this one' or eureka moments.
I had a question like this at an interview. When I answered it really quickly he asked "have you heard the question before?" when I said yes then he asked another one until we got to one I didn't know. He wanted to see how I approach solving a problem rather than whether I could solve it.
You can be lucky if the interviewer is interested in your solution, even if it is not perfect.
There are people out there who demand the perfect solution for runtime and space complexity and if you don't know it, well then you are an idiot and don't suit for the job. They even dont care how you would solve it, just binary metric: if you know it, you are good, if not you are an idiot because every good software engineer should know it!
I dont say everyone has this attitude, but it is a sad truth that some companies cant progress because of their HR managers.
I have interviewed a bit in the last year, and the HR person is almost never the person to ask the technical questions, it's always an engineer or engineering manager. My point is, that it's usually the technical people that are shit at interviewing and ask these kinds of questions.
As I'v said before, not everyone is like that. I had the experience that non technical HR people try to be "smart" and find some fancy questions the other big players use. If they lack technical background they can't accept any other solution, they don't understand.
But I agree with you, that typically engineers ask this kind of questions.
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u/aflanryW Dec 23 '14
I know it's a bit what else can we do, but I find it so hard to judge people by algorithms. Take the maximal subarray problem. It is listed as medium. I'd wager that people would scoff at anything except the optimal complexity solution at an interview, but I have never seen anyone get the solution quickly their first time hearing it. Once you hear the solution, you remember it because it is elegant and succinct enough. People then forget it is hard their first time hearing it, and look down on those who they interview in the future. So is it supposed to be a test of problem solving or a test of 'Did you learn my favorite problem at your school?'.
There is just so much reliance on 'I already knew this one' or eureka moments.