interviewing: The Land of the Rising Fig

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > YOSPOS > interviewing: The Land of the Rising Fig

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raminasi: Jan 25, 2005; a last drink with no ice

Penisface posted:

i received a message on linkedin from a microsoft internal recruiter. my first impression was "holy poo poo i have made it to another level now", but how is it actually? should i be excited or is it more likely that they are just spamming messages and might not even get back in touch?

deffo will take their call and talk to them, hope they don't ghost me

I got a LinkedIn message from a Microsoft internal recruiter giving me a pitch that had nothing to do with my profile so at least one of them is an idiot

# ? Nov 27, 2019 19:02

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# ? May 28, 2024 04:18

PokeJoe: Aug 24, 2004; hail cgatan

I think the Microsoft ones are legit. Beware they have a lot of contractor roles though but idk if an internal recruiter deals with those.

# ? Nov 27, 2019 19:36

bob dobbs is dead: Oct 8, 2017; I love peeps; Nap Ghost

They're legit but desperate just like all other recruiters in the figgielands

# ? Nov 27, 2019 19:43

4lokos basilisk: Jul 17, 2008

bob dobbs is dead posted:

They're legit but desperate just like all other recruiters in the figgielands

i am in eurolands though, so maybe they are trying to hire people to develop all the concentration camp software here where it's not so politically hot?

# ? Nov 27, 2019 19:53

Shaggar: Apr 26, 2006

Penisface posted:

i am in eurolands though, so maybe they are trying to hire people to develop all the concentration camp software here where it's not so politically hot?

yeah gotta go to the source

# ? Nov 27, 2019 19:54

iospace: Jan 19, 2038

silvergoose posted:

I can't get if you're serious? If you are, it's just a series of programming puzzles the first few weeks of December with some tiny plot for kicks.

Taking the piss, mostly.

# ? Nov 27, 2019 19:57

silvergoose: Mar 18, 2006; IT IS SAID THE TEARS OF THE BWEENIX CAN HEAL ALL WOUNDS

iospace posted:

Taking the piss, mostly.

That's fine, just hard to tell!

Anyone got any suggestions what I should learn to do Advent of Code this year? Ideally a language where importing a drat text file isn't a monumental task.

# ? Nov 27, 2019 20:06

Arcsech: Aug 5, 2008

silvergoose posted:

That's fine, just hard to tell!

Anyone got any suggestions what I should learn to do Advent of Code this year? Ideally a language where importing a drat text file isn't a monumental task.

I�m probably gonna do it in Common Lisp. maybe rust if I can get the brain worms extracted before it starts

if you want a language that isn�t useless, Kotlin is pretty hot poo poo right now and is a pretty okay language, and you get the whole java ecosystem to go with it

# ? Nov 27, 2019 22:36

silvergoose: Mar 18, 2006; IT IS SAID THE TEARS OF THE BWEENIX CAN HEAL ALL WOUNDS

Arcsech posted:

I�m probably gonna do it in Common Lisp. maybe rust if I can get the brain worms extracted before it starts

if you want a language that isn�t useless, Kotlin is pretty hot poo poo right now and is a pretty okay language, and you get the whole java ecosystem to go with it

sounds good yeah

I remember trying to do poo poo in scheme once and uh it didn't go well

# ? Nov 27, 2019 22:42

Beve Stuscemi: Jun 6, 2001

Need some goon opinons.

I applied for a job. Turns out I'm connected with the VP of HR at the company on LinkedIn and have been for 2 years now. I honestly dont remember how I connected with her (side note, I really wish LinkedIn would let you put notes in someones account, like "met Jane at XYZ meeting on mm/dd/yyy, introduced by Bob". Hire me to make the ideas wiki, LinkedIn), but I am connected with her regardless.

Is it a bad look to reach out and say "hey I applied for X job, would you be available to grab a coffee and chat?"? Is that whole thing a faux pas, or is there a good way to say that without scaring someone off?

On the one hand, I dont want to blow my chances, on the other hand, I've been out of work for 4 months and my severance runs out soon and I gotta get a job, so gently caress it why not?

# ? Dec 3, 2019 16:37

Not a Children: Oct 9, 2012; Don't need a holster if you never stop shooting.

Uhh try harder to recall whether you actually knew her or just clicked "accept connection", because the last thing you want when you're making an impression on an HR person is for them to think you can't track of who people are.

That said, the worst thing you can hear is a "no." or no response. Lead with the fact that you saw their posting, think you're highly qualified, and would like the opportunity to chat about your fitness for the position. Don't ask for coffee, that's weird - your first connection will likely be a phone screen.

# ? Dec 3, 2019 17:31

4lokos basilisk: Jul 17, 2008

got beyond the phone screen and initial coding test in ms process.. (thank you MononcQc for that recursion stuff, it was extremely handy). that's weird, they must be desperate

today an AWS recruiter also popped up.. either i am being spearphished in a ridiculously effective way or i put some good keywords on my linkedin finally

Jim Silly-Balls posted:

Need some goon opinons.

I applied for a job. Turns out I'm connected with the VP of HR at the company on LinkedIn and have been for 2 years now. I honestly dont remember how I connected with her (side note, I really wish LinkedIn would let you put notes in someones account, like "met Jane at XYZ meeting on mm/dd/yyy, introduced by Bob". Hire me to make the ideas wiki, LinkedIn), but I am connected with her regardless.

Is it a bad look to reach out and say "hey I applied for X job, would you be available to grab a coffee and chat?"? Is that whole thing a faux pas, or is there a good way to say that without scaring someone off?

On the one hand, I dont want to blow my chances, on the other hand, I've been out of work for 4 months and my severance runs out soon and I gotta get a job, so gently caress it why not?

I think I would find it a bit weird to connect directly like that straight away.

I would send her a message if I do not hear from whoever you sent your application to in the first place (say after 1-2 weeks of not receiving any response). And then I would write something like that:
"Hello �NAME, I am contacting you because I am really interested in working at your company. I already applied through �PREVIOUSCONTACTNAME, but I have not heard back from them, so I thought that I would also try reaching out to you. If I remember correctly, the position was �POSITIONNAME in �TEAM"

# ? Dec 3, 2019 21:34

barkbell: Apr 14, 2006; woof

Not a Children posted:

Uhh try harder to recall whether you actually knew her or just clicked "accept connection", because the last thing you want when you're making an impression on an HR person is for them to think you can't track of who people are.

That said, the worst thing you can hear is a "no." or no response. Lead with the fact that you saw their posting, think you're highly qualified, and would like the opportunity to chat about your fitness for the position. Don't ask for coffee, that's weird - your first connection will likely be a phone screen.

do this

# ? Dec 4, 2019 00:38

Mao Zedong Thot: Oct 16, 2008

Jim Silly-Balls posted:

Need some goon opinons.

I applied for a job. Turns out I'm connected with the VP of HR at the company on LinkedIn and have been for 2 years now. I honestly dont remember how I connected with her (side note, I really wish LinkedIn would let you put notes in someones account, like "met Jane at XYZ meeting on mm/dd/yyy, introduced by Bob". Hire me to make the ideas wiki, LinkedIn), but I am connected with her regardless.

Is it a bad look to reach out and say "hey I applied for X job, would you be available to grab a coffee and chat?"? Is that whole thing a faux pas, or is there a good way to say that without scaring someone off?

On the one hand, I dont want to blow my chances, on the other hand, I've been out of work for 4 months and my severance runs out soon and I gotta get a job, so gently caress it why not?

definitely do this. literally any in is good unless you act a goony freaky fool.

# ? Dec 4, 2019 05:14

Blockade: Oct 22, 2008

Running into this issue where the somewhat more moral organizations I'm feeling out a job with are rude jerks and seem like terrible workplaces but Evil Co. Financial are really nice to me and offer great pay and benefits.

# ? Dec 4, 2019 16:06

SeXTcube: Jan 1, 2009

Blockade posted:

Running into this issue where the somewhat more moral organizations I'm feeling out a job with are rude jerks and seem like terrible workplaces but Evil Co. Financial are really nice to me and offer great pay and benefits.

Don't kid yourself into thinking either company is appreciably moral. Go for the one with nicer people and better pay. You will hate life if you're trapped in a cage for 8+ hours a day with people you dislike.

# ? Dec 4, 2019 16:17

qirex: Feb 15, 2001

Blockade posted:

Running into this issue where the somewhat more moral organizations I'm feeling out a job with are rude jerks and seem like terrible workplaces but Evil Co. Financial are really nice to me and offer great pay and benefits.

many more moral organizations know this and tend to use this fact to run their people into the ground and tolerate jerks/people on crusades

I've been in finance for a decade at 3 large companies and while the work is basically enabling global capitalism my coworkers [for the most part] have been a million times nicer and more professional than any other industry I've worked in, I think because it's easy to leave it at work and have actual lives. the stakes are low, the worst outcome is someone wealthy is inconvenienced for a few days

it's not for everybody, I have a few "oh wait those guys are one of our clients?" moments but I also know so many people in the nonprofit space who are treated like absolute poo poo

# ? Dec 4, 2019 16:32

jesus WEP: Oct 17, 2004

ive worked in financial services pretty much my whole career and yeah same. finance is really stuffy and old-fashioned and that has lots of negatives but it does seem to keep out the worst of the bazingas

# ? Dec 4, 2019 16:56

FMguru: Sep 10, 2003; peed on;
sexually

ive seen it argued that the difference between nyc finance and silicon valley tech is that finance doesnt pretend to be saving the world or building a better future or bringing people together

# ? Dec 4, 2019 17:25

qirex: Feb 15, 2001

in my experience the main downsides are the pay isn't as good as a pure tech company [but you actually get a bonus every year], the work can be super boring and I'd say the biggest risk is you can get stuck working on outdated stuff way past its expiration date

also meetings. so many meetings

# ? Dec 4, 2019 21:50

EIDE Van Hagar: Dec 8, 2000; Beep Boop

qirex posted:

you can have a joke answer for this lined up [e.g. "seated on a throne of skulls while my enemies weep"] but you have to have a real-sounding one too

just say �i always wanted to be an astronaut� if you need to buy a little time

# ? Dec 4, 2019 22:14

Kuvo: Oct 27, 2008; Blame it on the misfortune of your bark!; Fun Shoe

man i loving hate whiteboard interview. was given this prompt today

1. write a new method that recieves an int array parameter
2. find the duplicate in the array and print them out ONLY ONCE using console
example:
input: 8, 3, 4, 5, 2, 1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 3, 6
output: 2, 3, 4

to which i answered...

code:

	    var groups = input.GroupBy(a => a).Where(a => a.Count() > 1).ToList();
            foreach(var g in groups)
            {
                Console.WriteLine(g.Key);
            }

which i thought was nice an elegant but i guess the interview wanted me to spend 20 mins doing it without linq yielding...

code:

 	    Array.Sort(input);
            bool printed = false;
  
  	    for(int i = 1; i < input.Count(); i++)
            {  
                if(input[i] == input[i-1] && !printed)
                {
                	Console.WriteLine(input[i]);
                	printed = true;                
                }
                else
                {
			printed = false;
                }
            }

I get its an exercise to see my thought process but who does it like that? its makes me feel like an idiot to bumble though reinventing the wheel

# ? Dec 5, 2019 00:07

Pie Colony: Dec 8, 2006; I AM SUCH A FUCKUP THAT I CAN'T EVEN POST IN AN E/N THREAD I STARTED

your interviewer wanted that specific solution, with sorting? that�s really bad

e: although your solution would be fine for production code, in toy problems they want hyper optimized solutions. while i don�t know LINQ i�m pretty sure it would be doing unnecessary passes over the data (you only have to scan it once)

Pie Colony fucked around with this message at 00:20 on Dec 5, 2019

# ? Dec 5, 2019 00:15

LanceHunter: Nov 12, 2016; Beautiful People Club

Kuvo posted:

man i loving hate whiteboard interview. was given this prompt today

1. write a new method that recieves an int array parameter
2. find the duplicate in the array and print them out ONLY ONCE using console
example:
input: 8, 3, 4, 5, 2, 1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 3, 6
output: 2, 3, 4

to which i answered...
code:
	    var groups = input.GroupBy(a => a).Where(a => a.Count() > 1).ToList();
            foreach(var g in groups)
            {
                Console.WriteLine(g.Key);
            }
which i thought was nice an elegant but i guess the interview wanted me to spend 20 mins doing it without linq yielding...
code:
 	    Array.Sort(input);
            bool printed = false;
  
  	    for(int i = 1; i < input.Count(); i++)
            {  
                if(input[i] == input[i-1] && !printed)
                {
                	Console.WriteLine(input[i]);
                	printed = true;                
                }
                else
                {
			printed = false;
                }
            }
I get its an exercise to see my thought process but who does it like that? its makes me feel like an idiot to bumble though reinventing the wheel

The second version is the one they wanted? Weird. Also, it won�t work properly if there are more than 3 instances of a duplicated item. (Since it would mark printed as false from that else statement and then end meet the condition to print on the 4th instance.)

# ? Dec 5, 2019 00:18

hobbesmaster: Jan 28, 2008

I would actually say that HR is irrelevant unless you actually are going for an HR job

now, if you have a linked in connection to anyone in the hiring manager�s direct chain then that�s different

# ? Dec 5, 2019 02:10

Acer Pilot: Feb 17, 2007; put the 'the' in therapist

So I did 2 onsites at the same FAANG this year, do they blacklist you after a certain number?

# ? Dec 5, 2019 02:37

bob dobbs is dead: Oct 8, 2017; I love peeps; Nap Ghost

Every year fb invites me and I go for the change of pace and free food and they accept or deny and then I just don't consider it

It's onsite number 5 now lol. I think 3 deny 2 accept

# ? Dec 5, 2019 02:43

PIZZA.BAT: Nov 12, 2016

Kuvo posted:

man i loving hate whiteboard interview. was given this prompt today

1. write a new method that recieves an int array parameter
2. find the duplicate in the array and print them out ONLY ONCE using console
example:
input: 8, 3, 4, 5, 2, 1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 3, 6
output: 2, 3, 4

to which i answered...
code:
	    var groups = input.GroupBy(a => a).Where(a => a.Count() > 1).ToList();
            foreach(var g in groups)
            {
                Console.WriteLine(g.Key);
            }
which i thought was nice an elegant but i guess the interview wanted me to spend 20 mins doing it without linq yielding...
code:
 	    Array.Sort(input);
            bool printed = false;
  
  	    for(int i = 1; i < input.Count(); i++)
            {  
                if(input[i] == input[i-1] && !printed)
                {
                	Console.WriteLine(input[i]);
                	printed = true;                
                }
                else
                {
			printed = false;
                }
            }
I get its an exercise to see my thought process but who does it like that? its makes me feel like an idiot to bumble though reinventing the wheel

not only was your interviewer bad but the company has bad interviewing processes. it's good if they failed you

# ? Dec 5, 2019 02:45

PIZZA.BAT: Nov 12, 2016

if i was told to ask you that question and you threw that at me i'd pass you and spend the rest of our hour bullshitting

# ? Dec 5, 2019 02:46

hobbesmaster: Jan 28, 2008

how much auxiliary space does the linq implementation need? I�m not at all familiar with the syntax but maybe that�s what the interviewer was trying to get at but failed to communicate? The 2nd implementation uses O(1) aux space but requires you to modify the input array. he might�ve also wanted to hear about population counts or some other approach where you don�t have to modify the input array

as a group engineers are really bad at communicating so don�t read too much into it. I�ve had absolutely disastrous interviews where the only way you could�ve succeeded was to just guess what they wanted before you walked in. if you have a firehouse of candidates like at a FAANG a bad interviewer will always eventually get �a hit� just by luck

# ? Dec 5, 2019 03:12

Bhodi: Dec 9, 2007; Oh, it's just a cat.; Pillbug

I'm a middling programmer but more than passable sysadmin because my mind immediately goes to "sort file | uniq -d"

their solution looks like something an intern would write and while i'd probably let it through code review and i guess it's much easier to immediately read than your solution but it's also really, really coarse.

Bhodi fucked around with this message at 05:00 on Dec 5, 2019

# ? Dec 5, 2019 04:52

Qtotonibudinibudet: Nov 7, 2011; Omich poluyobok, skazhi ty narkoman? ya prosto tozhe gde to tam zhivu, mogli by vmeste uyobyvat' narkotiki

i feel like the engineers that do toy "aha! you missed the O(more efficient than the obvious solution)! declined!" efficiency problems for interviews are likely the same engineers that put out web apps with several MB of static CSS and fonts, all of which have "Cache-Control: max-age=0, no-cache, no-store" set

# ? Dec 5, 2019 05:52

Gildiss: Aug 24, 2010; Grimey Drawer

CMYK BLYAT! posted:

i feel like the engineers that do toy "aha! you missed the O(more efficient than the obvious solution)! declined!" efficiency problems for interviews are likely the same engineers that put out web apps with several MB of static CSS and fonts, all of which have "Cache-Control: max-age=0, no-cache, no-store" set

FULL STACK ENGINEER

# ? Dec 5, 2019 06:14

ShadowHawk: Jun 25, 2000; CERTIFIED PRE OWNED TESLA OWNER

Bhodi posted:

I'm a middling programmer but more than passable sysadmin because my mind immediately goes to "sort file | uniq -d"

their solution looks like something an intern would write and while i'd probably let it through code review and i guess it's much easier to immediately read than your solution but it's also really, really coarse.

A friend who was searching for interns once told me he asked candidates to write a program drawing a picture of a cow.

I told him "here's my entry"

code:

#!/bin/bash
apt-get moo

He said he'd have given me a position.

# ? Dec 5, 2019 11:27

ThePeavstenator: Dec 18, 2012; Establish the Buns

Kuvo posted:

man i loving hate whiteboard interview. was given this prompt today

1. write a new method that recieves an int array parameter
2. find the duplicate in the array and print them out ONLY ONCE using console
example:
input: 8, 3, 4, 5, 2, 1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 3, 6
output: 2, 3, 4

to which i answered...
code:
	    var groups = input.GroupBy(a => a).Where(a => a.Count() > 1).ToList();
            foreach(var g in groups)
            {
                Console.WriteLine(g.Key);
            }
which i thought was nice an elegant but i guess the interview wanted me to spend 20 mins doing it without linq yielding...
code:
 	    Array.Sort(input);
            bool printed = false;
  
  	    for(int i = 1; i < input.Count(); i++)
            {  
                if(input[i] == input[i-1] && !printed)
                {
                	Console.WriteLine(input[i]);
                	printed = true;                
                }
                else
                {
			printed = false;
                }
            }
I get its an exercise to see my thought process but who does it like that? its makes me feel like an idiot to bumble though reinventing the wheel

That second solution they pushed you towards is not good and attempting to micro-optimize C# like this is dumb as hell.

The only things I would even change about the first solution is replace the .Count() in the .Where() with .Length since calling .Count() for each result can technically result in multiple enumerations if the same value, but it won't matter if you know the input is an Array.

Also the .ToList() can get removed since it will allocate a separate List for your query results where iterating over the IEnumerable returned by the query will lazily evaluate each result as you iterate. The lazy evaluation isn't even really going to come into play here though since .GroupBy() internally has to allocate a new collection and evaluate all query results up to that point in the query.

Basically what I'm saying is even by C# turbo-nerd standards the original code you wrote is preferable in like 99% of whatever real-world cases they were thinking of when they wrote that problem.

ThePeavstenator fucked around with this message at 14:59 on Dec 5, 2019

# ? Dec 5, 2019 14:56

silvergoose: Mar 18, 2006; IT IS SAID THE TEARS OF THE BWEENIX CAN HEAL ALL WOUNDS

That assumes that they were thinking of an actual useful implementation; bad interview questioners tend to be just throwing some algorithm at you and then criticising it.

# ? Dec 5, 2019 15:02

SeXTcube: Jan 1, 2009

ShadowHawk posted:

A friend who was searching for interns once told me he asked candidates to write a program drawing a picture of a cow.

I told him "here's my entry"
code:
#!/bin/bash
apt-get moo
He said he'd have given me a position.

This is a nice anecdote but is it any different from the regular whiteboard slog? You happened to know the *one weird trick* that answered the question.

# ? Dec 5, 2019 15:45

Blockade: Oct 22, 2008

Had an interview where some webshit guy was asking me to explain the difference between asymmetric and symmetric key encryption. I started explaining it and then he interjected and 'corrected' me by saying that you can't actually encrypt anything with asymmetric key encryption it's just for validating signatures(?). Tried to explain how validating a key requires encrypting some data but he wasn't having it and said it seemed like I didnt know how encryption worked.

This was at some small time startup.

# ? Dec 5, 2019 15:45

bob dobbs is dead: Oct 8, 2017; I love peeps; Nap Ghost

Bullet dodged

# ? Dec 5, 2019 15:48

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# ? May 28, 2024 04:18

SeXTcube: Jan 1, 2009

I'm guessing deep knowledge of encryption practices was not listed on either your resume or the job description?

# ? Dec 5, 2019 15:51

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > YOSPOS > interviewing: The Land of the Rising Fig

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