alt Hacker NewsWhen I interview with problem solving problems, the point is to understand how the candidate thinks, communicates, and decomposes problems. Critically, problem solving questions should have ways to progressively increase and decrease difficulty/complexity, so every candidate "gets a win" and no candidate "dunks the ball".
Interviewers learn nothing from an instant epiphany, and they learn next to nothing from someone being stumped.
Unfortunately, this is why we can't have nice things. Problem solving questions in interviews can be immensely useful tools that, sadly, are rarely usefully used.
Replies
> Critically, problem solving questions should have ways to progressively increase and decrease difficulty/complexity, so every candidate "gets a win" and no candidate "dunks the ball".
Absolutely agree. When I interview, I start with a simple problem and add complexity as they go. Can they write X? Can they combine it with Y? Do they understand how Z is related?
> the point is to understand how the candidate thinks, communicates, and decomposes problems
Interviewers always say this, but consider: would you endorse a candidate who ultimately is unable to solve the problem you've presented them, even if they think, communicate, and decompose problems well? No interview in this industry prizes those things over getting the answer right.
Would a good answer be "I can do it as a constraint problem, but since I guess you are not asking for this, the solution is..." and then proceed as usual?
> the point is to understand how the candidate thinks, communicates, and decomposes problems.
100% and it's a shame that over time this has become completely lost knowledge, on both sides of the interview table, and "leetcode" is now seen as an arbitrary rote memorization hurdle/hazing ritual that software engineers have to pass to enter a lucrative FAANG career. Interviewees grind problems until they've memorized every question in the FAANG interview bank, and FAANG interviewers will watch a candidate spit out regurgitated code on a whiteboard in silence, shrug, and say "yep, they used the optimal dynamic programming solution, they pass."