Coding Interview Horrorshows

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PT6A: Jan 5, 2006; Public school teachers are callous dictators who won't lift a finger to stop children from peeing in my plane

WINNINGHARD posted:

The amazing thing with this is that there are 4 bugs in 2 lines.

And you could easily do it in one line:

code:

result = list(set(my_list))

If you don't want to write a basic-rear end loop.

code:

result = []
for i in my_list:
  if i not in result:
    result.append(i)

Of course, if you're guaranteed that all members of the array will be sortable, it would be more efficient to first sort the list, and then use the property that the list is sorted to remove duplicates in O(n).

# ? Jul 15, 2016 15:23

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# ? May 11, 2024 06:17

Pollyanna: Mar 5, 2005; Milk's on them.

Haha, oh yeah, I totally forgot about sets. :downs:

That would work too.

# ? Jul 15, 2016 15:26

ToxicSlurpee: Nov 5, 2003; -=SEND HELP=-; Pillbug

leper khan posted:

If you want to cheat, yes, it is that easy. That people do is hilarious, because very few people care about your grades in college (as opposed to high school/SAT/ACT).

Eh, if you do very, very well in college people give a poo poo. I graduated summa cum laude and people actually notice that. Granted I also assume that will become irrelevant in a few years when I say "I have multiple years experience writing software, give me a comedically large bag of money and I will write code for you." Even so that's irrelevant if it turns out you can't do the job and let's be honest, people are going to notice really drat fast, probably before you even get a job offer, if you don't. Then if you do get the job and turn out to be a hideous liar you're going to be canned for lacking the skills to do the job.

I guess in some sectors of the world you can get by without all of the knowledge but in programming? God drat no. Computer science is tough stuff.

Then again most people go to college to get a piece of paper they believe will entitle them to a good job. Given how much programmers get paid a poo poo load of people look at the dollar signs and decide "I will be a programmer!" without realizing why programmers get paid well. It just isn't something that you can cheat your way into.

I actually saw a few people that cheated their way through some early classes in college only to be hopelessly, irrevocably lost in higher level stuff.

# ? Jul 15, 2016 21:58

Sex Bumbo: Aug 14, 2004

I would give zero fucks about anyone's grades in college. It doesn't even correlate well with work performance. I would maybe be interested in the projects that were done in college though.

# ? Jul 16, 2016 01:40

sarehu: Apr 20, 2007; (call/cc call/cc)

If somebody has a 2.0 GPA you can guarantee they're retarded, the curve representing the probability you'd hire somebody given GPA starts out flat at 4.0 but it does tail downward at some point.

# ? Jul 16, 2016 01:54

Sex Bumbo: Aug 14, 2004

sarehu posted:

If somebody has a 2.0 GPA you can guarantee they're retarded, the curve representing the probability you'd hire somebody given GPA starts out flat at 4.0 but it does tail downward at some point.

I'd still avoid passing someone up due to a low GPA (why would they list a low GPA anyway though) since there's mitigating factors as to why that happened. A common one is just having to work a lovely job during school.

# ? Jul 16, 2016 02:00

denzelcurrypower: Jan 28, 2011

Pretty much all the internships I've been applying to ask for a transcript, so here in Canada it seems that grades are at least somewhat important for that. I'm taking a post graduate course (like a master's but for community college) and the majority of the students are international, taking the program simply for visa purposes, and cheating their way through. Very irritating.

# ? Jul 16, 2016 18:50

PT6A: Jan 5, 2006; Public school teachers are callous dictators who won't lift a finger to stop children from peeing in my plane

Sex Bumbo posted:

I'd still avoid passing someone up due to a low GPA (why would they list a low GPA anyway though) since there's mitigating factors as to why that happened. A common one is just having to work a lovely job during school.

Either that or the guy with the 2.0GPA is the same in terms of skill as the guy with 3.0GPA, but didn't cheat as much.

Goddamn was cheating on assignments and projects ever rampant, to the point where you had 3rd-years who had presumably been doing projects in Java the whole time who didn't know of the existence of HashMap (EDIT: I suppose you could say the Map interface in general, and the implementations thereof) or other basic data structures that Java provides.

PT6A fucked around with this message at 16:33 on Jul 17, 2016

# ? Jul 17, 2016 16:29

piratepilates: Mar 28, 2004; So I will learn to live with it. Because I can live with it. I can live with it.

Probably depends on the university too. The University of Toronto puts a 2.0 GPA at about a 67% average, and tries to have the average course grades be around there, so a 2.0 GPA would probably be around average.

# ? Jul 17, 2016 17:22

ToxicSlurpee: Nov 5, 2003; -=SEND HELP=-; Pillbug

Most new graduate job postings I saw wanted at least a 3.0/4.0 GPA. Key word being "most."

Granted the other side of it has to do with why people go to college; most go to college seeking a piece of paper they believe will entitle them to a particular kind of job and a good paycheck. Cheating is seen as a means to that end. It doesn't matter because if you can get that paper you're good! Now a ton of colleges are selling that paper and just want to get enrollment as high as possible; who gives a poo poo if your students cheat their way through? They're paying!

Now it's harder to tell the difference between somebody who got a 3.8 or higher because they busted their hump and were genuinely interested and the guy that cheated off that student. Meanwhile the guy with the 3.95 might be an insufferable prick that nobody likes that can't work on a team.

# ? Jul 18, 2016 02:27

MrMoo: Sep 14, 2000

Most in the UK are ~3.5GPA (2.1) but thankfully HR don't always block lower applicants.

I'm starting to look at the jobs on Gambit NY and they are seriously :lol:

How do they filter out the masses of applicants for jobs with 350-700K posted salaries? Some of the shortest job descriptions ever.

I'm starting to see less of the Boost hatred adverts, but one dufus one is still there:

quote:

The Millennium Falcon went down, and you crash landed on an unmarked planet in the Tatoo Star System. Searching for shelter, you travel with your mentors Scott Meyers and Herb Sutter, masters of the C++ force. Suddenly, a rogue destroyer droid surprises you! However, it is clearly disoriented by the poorly built Boost libraries that power its laser targeting system.
Memory leaks have disrupted its ability to lock on as it fires erratically. Its functions have been overloaded improperly and the custom allocators that power its shield have malfunctioned, and you attack at just the right time. You power up your old school Roguewave Lightsaber and slice it clean in two, but as you look into the distance you can see an army of Stormtroopers charging towards you at full speed.
Just then, An ANSI battleship flies overhead and you can�t believe your eyes as Bjarne Stroustrup jumps out and joins you as the battle for C++ supremacy begins!

If you are a C++ Application or System Developer with strong Data Structures and Algorithms, and who has solved complex problems in large scale distributed systems. The roles are at Start-ups, Tech Product Shops, Market Data Firms, Ad Server, and High Frequency Hedge Funds in NYC/CT.

MrMoo fucked around with this message at 02:47 on Jul 18, 2016

# ? Jul 18, 2016 02:45

Xarn: Jun 26, 2015

MrMoo posted:

Most in the UK are ~3.5GPA (2.1) but thankfully HR don't always block lower applicants.

I'm starting to look at the jobs on Gambit NY and they are seriously How do they filter out the masses of applicants for jobs with 350-700K posted salaries? Some of the shortest job descriptions ever.

I'm starting to see less of the Boost hatred adverts, but one dufus one is still there:

Oh god, I think I hate this more than when a company publicly advertises they are looking for ninjas and rockstars.

# ? Jul 18, 2016 14:47

Sex Bumbo: Aug 14, 2004

MrMoo posted:

I'm starting to see less of the Boost hatred adverts, but one dufus one is still there:

What the hell is this, I can't even read it.

# ? Jul 18, 2016 18:15

Suspicious Dish: Sep 24, 2011; 2020 is the year of linux on the desktop, bro; Fun Shoe

can i have a 350-700k salary as "fanfiction writer"?

# ? Jul 18, 2016 18:21

ToxicSlurpee: Nov 5, 2003; -=SEND HELP=-; Pillbug

Xarn posted:

Oh god, I think I hate this more than when a company publicly advertises they are looking for ninjas and rockstars.

The funniest things I saw were companies asking for those words or equally ridiculous ones while offering absolute beans for pay. I really want to know what goes through somebody's head when they demand top talent but offer like $45k. Programmers aren't cheap, especially if you want the best ones.

That or places with like 30 openings, none of which were entry level and none of which paid more than $39k. I'm like well, good luck with that.

# ? Jul 18, 2016 18:40

The_Franz: Aug 8, 2003

"Top Tier University" seems to be a popular buzzphrase too which seems especially ridiculous when they pair it with positions that demand a decade of experience.

"Well sir, your years of experience in the R&D departments of companies X, Y and Z is very impressive..."
*snickers*
"Wait, you went to a state school 25 years ago!? Get lost scrub."

# ? Jul 18, 2016 18:56

leper khan: Dec 28, 2010; Honest to god thinks Half Life 2 is a bad game. But at least he likes Monster Hunter.

ToxicSlurpee posted:

The funniest things I saw were companies asking for those words or equally ridiculous ones while offering absolute beans for pay. I really want to know what goes through somebody's head when they demand top talent but offer like $45k. Programmers aren't cheap, especially if you want the best ones.

That or places with like 30 openings, none of which were entry level and none of which paid more than $39k. I'm like well, good luck with that.

I've taken jobs below market. Granted I've not stopped looking for work when doing that, but I'd rather get my expenses covered than drain my savings.

I'd probably play poker full time instead of working for peon wages though. The hourly is better, if it's a bit boring.

# ? Jul 18, 2016 18:58

leper khan: Dec 28, 2010; Honest to god thinks Half Life 2 is a bad game. But at least he likes Monster Hunter.

The_Franz posted:

"Top Tier University" seems to be a popular buzzphrase too which seems especially ridiculous when they pair it with positions that demand a decade of experience.

"Well sir, your years of experience in the R&D departments of companies X, Y and Z is very impressive..."
*snickers*
"Wait, you went to a state school 25 years ago!? Get lost scrub."

Hey man, my state school is a top university (in CS).

And I didn't graduate with debt. :getin:

# ? Jul 18, 2016 19:01

MrMoo: Sep 14, 2000

Sex Bumbo posted:

What the hell is this, I can't even read it.

The so called "real developers" like to reinvent the wheel a lot and for some reason have an utter hatred of the Boost C++ collection and for many years many job adverts have been trying to attract said developers. Rogue-wave offered an alternative STL implementation for most platforms before they shipped something actually useable. Similarly there is still quite a consistent hatred of std::string due to memory usage, the Qt project I believe has written their own versions of a lot of containers to reduce memory usage in KDE.

I don't know how such "developers" reacted to the parts of Boost that moved into TR1 and eventually C++11, 14, etc.

MrMoo fucked around with this message at 20:02 on Jul 18, 2016

# ? Jul 18, 2016 19:59

The_Franz: Aug 8, 2003

MrMoo posted:

The so called "real developers" like to reinvent the wheel a lot and for some reason have an utter hatred of the Boost C++ collection and for many years many job adverts have been trying to attract said developers. Rogue-wave offered an alternative STL implementation for most platforms before they shipped something actually useable. Similarly there is still quite a consistent hatred of std::string due to memory usage, the Qt project I believe has written their own versions of a lot of containers to reduce memory usage in KDE.

I don't know how such "developers" reacted to the parts of Boost that moved into TR1 and eventually C++11, 14, etc.

Simple, they just don't use them.

People hate Boost because it's the basically the poster child for the bad parts of C++. Basically because of philosophies like this. Oh, you have a nice simple function that does exactly what you need? Well, that's no good. Here, let's pile on layers of templates and dependencies until it's unreadable by mere mortals, 5x larger than it needs to be, takes 2x longer to compile and vomits 100 line error messages if you make a simple mistake. But, hey, it can now handle some generic edge case you don't actually need it to!

# ? Jul 18, 2016 20:41

Series DD Funding: Nov 25, 2014; by exmarx

The_Franz posted:

Simple, they just don't use them.

boost is some vile poo poo but the promoted parts like smart pointers own and there's no excuse not to use them if you're still using c++

# ? Jul 18, 2016 21:06

Sex Bumbo: Aug 14, 2004

I never use boost but I guess I'm glad it exists? C++17 features are great. I would have liked them a few decades ago but what can you do.

# ? Jul 18, 2016 22:11

ToxicSlurpee: Nov 5, 2003; -=SEND HELP=-; Pillbug

The_Franz posted:

"Top Tier University" seems to be a popular buzzphrase too which seems especially ridiculous when they pair it with positions that demand a decade of experience.

"Well sir, your years of experience in the R&D departments of companies X, Y and Z is very impressive..."
*snickers*
"Wait, you went to a state school 25 years ago!? Get lost scrub."

Apparently the school I went to, when somebody went out and tested grads from various schools, tested in the top 10% when it came to programming skills. I was surprised on one hand but on the other hand it's a small department where you end up taking 6 classes with a guy that is absolutely god damned loving brilliant. It's seriously mind-rending how much this guy knows. See, it's a no name state school that when I mentioned it people went "wait, where is that?" I think it has like five CS professors and one of them is more IS than anything.

But it wasn't, you know, CMU or MIT or something so a lot of places just went "lol, nah." Internships are another big one. "Did you intern at Google or Facebook? No? Go away."

It really baffles me because we constantly hear about how big the shortage of programmers is but you have places that won't even consider hiring you unless your resume has a name your grandpa would recognize somewhere on it.

# ? Jul 18, 2016 22:42

Cuntpunch: Oct 3, 2003; A monkey in a long line of kings

Some time back I got a panic call from a colleague I knew only vaguely. They were 2 weeks behind on a project, deadlines were due, holy poo poo did I know anything about Angular?

2 weeks. Still couldn't figure out how to change the static bound text on a mock-up page.

Is now an SDE/Design Lead at Microsoft. Probably because of the Duke CompSci degree and big-tech internship.

Life ain't fair, man.

# ? Jul 19, 2016 01:10

Xarn: Jun 26, 2015

The_Franz posted:

Simple, they just don't use them.

People hate Boost because it's the basically the poster child for the bad parts of C++. Basically because of philosophies like this. Oh, you have a nice simple function that does exactly what you need? Well, that's no good. Here, let's pile on layers of templates and dependencies until it's unreadable by mere mortals, 5x larger than it needs to be, takes 2x longer to compile and vomits 100 line error messages if you make a simple mistake. But, hey, it can now handle some generic edge case you don't actually need it to!

Them be fighting words, but I knew what you were linking to even before I moused over the link... :v:

My opinion and experience is that some parts of Boost are pretty horrible, but some are really awesome, which is the reason why its getting into standard. Also there is Boost Spirit. :v:

# ? Jul 19, 2016 11:01

feedmegin: Jul 30, 2008

MrMoo posted:

Similarly there is still quite a consistent hatred of std::string due to memory usage, the Qt project I believe has written their own versions of a lot of containers to reduce memory usage in KDE.

Qt has had its own containers since the year dot (well, like 1995) because it ran and still runs on a lot of platforms, with a lot of compilers, some of which that far back were ropey at handling templates at all (hello gcc 2.8) let alone having the STL even available let alone bug-free. And now they're used all over the libraries, why rip them out and put STL ones in its place, forcing everyone porting to a new version of Qt to do the same?

Also, QString has been since Qt 3? I think, specifically 'a bunch of Unicode codepoints' rather than std::string's 'a bunch of bytes', which is handy and important when you're a library that's strong on internationalisation cross-platform.

# ? Jul 19, 2016 12:57

Hughlander: May 11, 2005

The_Franz posted:

"Top Tier University" seems to be a popular buzzphrase too which seems especially ridiculous when they pair it with positions that demand a decade of experience.

"Well sir, your years of experience in the R&D departments of companies X, Y and Z is very impressive..."
*snickers*
"Wait, you went to a state school 25 years ago!? Get lost scrub."

Actually it's just HR speak for "You were in school 25 years ago? You're not exploitable enough, pass"

# ? Jul 19, 2016 14:40

leper khan: Dec 28, 2010; Honest to god thinks Half Life 2 is a bad game. But at least he likes Monster Hunter.

Hughlander posted:

Actually it's just HR speak for "You were in school 25 years ago? You're not exploitable enough, pass"

I know someone who has been a tech director for years and was dropped late in the interview process because the CEO found out he never went to college.

Literal years of experience doing the job listed doesn't matter as much to some people as what you did 30 years ago.

# ? Jul 19, 2016 15:10

ultrafilter: Aug 23, 2007; It's okay if you have any questions.

leper khan posted:

I know someone who has been a tech director for years and was dropped late in the interview process because the CEO found out he never went to college.

Literal years of experience doing the job listed doesn't matter as much to some people as what you did 30 years ago.

It might be that the CEO's a snob, but it might also have been the right choice. Not having a degree is a social liability in some circles, and at a lot of companies, tech director is a position where it's important to be able to navigate those circles.

# ? Jul 19, 2016 15:24

Pollyanna: Mar 5, 2005; Milk's on them.

ultrafilter posted:

Not having a degree is a social liability in some circles

What circles are these so I can avoid them like the plague?

# ? Jul 20, 2016 15:06

Pixelboy: Sep 13, 2005; Now, I know what you're thinking...

Pollyanna posted:

What circles are these so I can avoid them like the plague?

If your CTO ever has to talk to investors.... it helps.

# ? Jul 20, 2016 23:01

power crystals: Jun 6, 2007; Who wants a belly rub??

Pollyanna posted:

What circles are these so I can avoid them like the plague?

First place I worked at straight up told me "since you don't have a degree so we won't be paying you as much". For some reason this dramatically decreased my desire to continue to work there.

The first time I ever gave an interview, I had literally less than 5 minutes notice because my boss called me as I was getting out of my car to tell me that he was supposed to interview someone but forgot and was running late so he wanted me to do the interview instead, and the candidate was already at our office. That was a fun crash-course. I asked a bunch of random crap until said boss showed up and took over and was unable to provide any meaningful input other than "his resume seems okay I guess".

Much later, one of several candidates, who listed somewhere around 5 years of C# experience, sat down to talk to me and completely unprompted opens with "I can never remember the difference between classes and objects, but who can really?". Not wanting to just immediately stand up again as I was too stunned to figure out how to respond, I asked some basic questions (which he flubbed spectacularly) and sent him on his way before telling the managers "no way no how". Sadly most of the rest of the people I interview aren't entertaining, just garden-variety bad at programming or not interested in this particular niche of insanity.

# ? Jul 21, 2016 03:03

Xarn: Jun 26, 2015

ultrafilter posted:

It might be that the CEO's a snob, but it might also have been the right choice. Not having a degree is a social liability in some circles, and at a lot of companies, tech director is a position where it's important to be able to navigate those circles.

That reminds me, at my last job, the CEO was an university professor and prided himself on only employing people with degrees. This became really funny when he was meeting with some people from company we made software for and started introducing people like

"this is Mr So-and-So, with Masters Degree from Such-and-Such university"
"this is Mr So-and-So, with Bachelors Degree from Such-and-Such university"
"this is Mr So-and-So, with Masters Degree from Such-and-Such university"
...
"And this is Mr So-and-So, with Masters Degree from ..."
"no"
"Well, with Bachelors Degree from ..."
"no"
"?"
"no degree".

Said person was one of our most productive and SW-smartest guys. :v:

# ? Jul 21, 2016 08:23

Purple Prince: Aug 20, 2011

Not having a STEM degree has proved a bit of an issue for me at application stage, which is irritating when I see people I've taken classes with and who I know aren't fantastic programmers getting work. Not that I claim to be an incredible programmer, but I definitely have more awareness of how to actually arrange a complex program (due to self-teaching through personal projects) than many of the CS grads I've met; I just happen to find this more interesting than hacking away at implementation details. There's also a bit of a weird myopia among the CS grads I've known where they love to tune everything to maximum efficiency without giving a drat about if the structure of the program makes sense or anyone else can understand it. For example I got a resounding 'meh' response for implementing MVC in a project while other programmers were writing lovely spaghetti code.

Unfortunately, my programming professor was one of these types (previous career in processor optimisation for games and simulation) and gave marks for things like 'implemented linear algebra transformations manually' rather than actually meeting the assignment guidelines or having a decent product.

Well, screw programming jobs, I'm aiming for product management roles now; they pay better and have a clear progression to senior management.

# ? Jul 21, 2016 12:54

Pollyanna: Mar 5, 2005; Milk's on them.

Product management is actually pretty hard, and the industry has a dire need for smart product direction and project management. You can write software real good as much as you want, but that still won't make a product that is any decent or useful.

# ? Jul 21, 2016 14:38

Purple Prince: Aug 20, 2011

Pollyanna posted:

Product management is actually pretty hard, and the industry has a dire need for smart product direction and project management. You can write software real good as much as you want, but that still won't make a product that is any decent or useful.

Yeah, I've been looking into the area for a while now, and since my background is in the humanities study of computing, product management actually makes sense for me, and I find it pretty interesting. I went for an interview where they cancelled the post, but the hiring manager got back to me and urged me to reapply for junior product roles in the future. The interview itself was okay though, so it wouldn't fit the thread. Got a job in a related area and will be looking to transition into product in the next year or so by focusing on admin and finance related stuff, which is my main weak area.

Content: I went for an interview for a (paid) internship at a start-up. This company specialised in pretty low-level systems programming, but hey, it's an internship. While I think both the interviewer and I knew that I wasn't the ideal person for the role, it was impossible to build any sort of rapport. He started checking his phone after a few minutes, and wouldn't talk in any way that wasn't just an exchange of questions and answers. I'm not sure why they bothered to invite me to interview.

# ? Jul 21, 2016 15:03

UnfurledSails: Sep 1, 2011

I hate it when interviewers waste my time. I'm given a question, so I briefly talk about the simplest, slowest solution before saying "But I think I can do better than that. Let's see what we can do here..." I've had multiple interviews where I was stopped at this point and forced to code the brute force solution and explain it in painstaking detail. Then we just ran out of time when it came to solving the problem in a nontrivial manner. I could have used those extra 5-10 minutes!

# ? Jul 24, 2016 16:48

leper khan: Dec 28, 2010; Honest to god thinks Half Life 2 is a bad game. But at least he likes Monster Hunter.

UnfurledSails posted:

I hate it when interviewers waste my time. I'm given a question, so I briefly talk about the simplest, slowest solution before saying "But I think I can do better than that. Let's see what we can do here..." I've had multiple interviews where I was stopped at this point and forced to code the brute force solution and explain it in painstaking detail. Then we just ran out of time when it came to solving the problem in a nontrivial manner. I could have used those extra 5-10 minutes!

Bonus points if you get an RJ for being slow/not finishing.

# ? Jul 24, 2016 17:26

UnfurledSails: Sep 1, 2011

leper khan posted:

Bonus points if you get an RJ for being slow/not finishing.

I actually got rejected from a company because "This is a fast paced startup environment, and we prefer people who answer questions as quickly as possible and move on instead of trying to figure out if there is a better answer."

# ? Jul 24, 2016 17:36

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# ? May 11, 2024 06:17

JawnV6: Jul 4, 2004; So hot ...

Wait, rather than let you handwave for your entire time, you were expected to write code and talk about it? Oh how dreadful.

# ? Jul 24, 2016 17:40

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