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The 'Trick' To Algorithmic Coding Interview Questions (dice.com)

Posted by Soulskill on from the obfuscate-and-pretend-it-works dept.

Nerval's Lobster writes: Ah, the famous "Google-style" algorithmic coding interview. If you've never had one of these interviews before, the idea is to see if you can write code that's not only correct, but efficient, too. You can expect to spend lots of time diagramming data structures and talking about big O notation. Popular hits include "reverse a linked list in place," "balance a binary search tree," and "find the missing number in an array." Like it or not, a "Google-style" coding interview may stand between you and your next job, so it's in your interest to figure out how to deal with it. Parker Phinney, founder of Interview Cake, uses a Dice column to break down a variety of example problems and then solve them. But it's not just about mastering the most common kinds of problems by rote memorization; it's also about recognizing the patterns that underlie those problems.

4 of 208 comments (clear)

  1. Alternate headline by Nidi62 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Get a job at Google using this one weird trick!

    --
    The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
    1. Re:Alternate headline by tlambert · · Score: 5, Insightful

      No offense, but why the hell would you want to work there without being an engineer and getting the stock options?

      Because you still get a lot of the benefits, as well, even though you explicitly don't get all of them, since companies are required to not treat contractors exactly the same as employees, including having limited terms of employment, and "air gaps" in employment history with the company. But it's not like you don't get the food, or access to most of the athletic stuff, etc..

      Plus, you get to hang out with very smart people, and, if you impress them, it's possible that they will pursue you for full time employment. Even without that, however: you get to put "Google" on your resume.

  2. That's nothing... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 5, Funny

    When I had an interview at Accolade, which got bought up by Infogrames and became the new Atari, I got asked the following question: "If two of your coworkers were having a fist fight out in the hallway, what would you do?"

    I blurted out, "Does that happen a lot around here?"

    My interviewers laughed. I got the job and worked there for six years. I've seen game controllers and keyboards destroyed in fits of rage, but no one ever got into a fist fight out in the hallway.

    The correct answer to the question is to take bets.

  3. Nerval's lobster is a Dice.com shill ... by gstoddart · · Score: 5, Informative

    And once again Nerval's Lobster posts a story which links to a dice.com story.

    Seriously, not one story ever accepted from Nerval's Lobster doesn't point to dice.com, which pretty much means he's a paid staffer whose stories get promoted to click-whore for dice.com.

    Honestly, make him an editor and give us a box to block stories from him.

    But stop pretending he's getting accepted because of any other reason than shilling for dice.

    --
    Lost at C:>. Found at C.