alt Hacker NewsMy biggest problem with leetcode type questions is that you can't ask clarifying questions. My mind just doesn't work like most do, and leetcode to some extent seems to rely on people memorizing leetcode type answers. On a few, there's enough context that I can relate real understanding of the problem to, such as the coin example in the article... for others I've seen there's not enough there for me to "get" the question/assignment.
Because of this, I've just started rejecting outright leetcode/ai interview steps... I'll do homework, shared screen, 1:1, etc, but won't do the above. I tend to fail them about half the time. It only feels worse in instances, where I wouldn't even mind the studying on leetcode types sites if they actually had decent explainers for the questions and working answers when going through them. I know this kind of defeats the challenge aspect, but learning is about 10x harder without it.
It's not a matter of skill, it's just my ability to take in certain types of problems doesn't work well. Without any chance of additional info/questions it's literally a setup to fail.
edit: I'm mostly referring to the use of AI/Automated leetcode type questions as a pre-interview screening. If you haven't seen this type of thing, good for you. I've seen too much of it. I'm fine with relatively hard questions in an actual interview with a real, live person you can talk to and ask clarifying questions.
Replies
100%. I just went through an interview process where I absolutely killed the assignment (had the best one they'd seen), had positive signal/feedback from multiple engineers, CEO liked me a lot etc, only to get sunk by a CTO who thought it would be cool to give me a surprise live test because of "vibe coding paranoia". 11 weeks in the process, didn't get the role. Beyond fucking stupid.
This was the demo/take-home (for https://monumental.co): https://github.com/rublev/monumental
Its not really memorizing solutions. Yes you can get quite far by doing so but follow ups will trip people up. However if you have memorized it and can answer follow ups, I dont see a problem with Leetcode style problems. Problem solving is about pattern matching and the more patterns you know and can match against, the better your ability to solve problems.
Its a learnable skill and better to pick it up now. Personally I've solved Leetcode style problems in interviews which I hadnt seen before and some of them were dynamic programming problems.
These days its a highly learnable skill since GPT can solve many of the problems, while also coming up with very good explanations of the solution. Better to pick it up than not.
leetcode just shows why interviews are broken. As a former senior dev (retired now, thanks to almost dying) I can tell you that the ability to write code is like 5% of the job. Every interview I've ever attended has wasted gazillions of dollars and has robbed the company of 10X that amount.
Until companies can focus on things like problem solving, brainstorming, working as a team, etc. the situation won't improve. If I am wrong, why is it that the vast majority of my senior dev and dev management career involved the things I just mentioned?
(I had to leave the field, sadly, due to disability)
Oh and HR needs to stop using software to filter. Maybe ask for ID or something, however, the filters are flagging everyone and the software is sinking the ship, with you all with it.
> My biggest problem with leetcode type questions is that you can't ask clarifying questions.
What is there to clarify? Leetcode-type questions are usually clear, much clearer than in real life projects. You know the exact format of the input, the output, the range for each value, and there are often examples in addition to the question. What is expected is clear: given the provided example inputs, give the provided example outputs, but generalized to cover all cases of the problem statement. The boilerplate is usually provided.
One may argue that it is one of the reasons why leetcode-style questions are unrealistic, they too well specified compared to real life problems that are often incomplete or even wrong and require you to fill-in the gaps. Also, in real life, you may not always get to ask for clarification: "here, implement this", "but what about this part?", "I don't know, and the guy who knows won't be back before the deadline, do your best"
The "coin" example is a simplification, the actual problem statement is likely more complete, but the author of the article probably felt these these details were not relevant to the article, though it would be for someone taking the test.
> you can't ask clarifying questions
> My biggest problem with leetcode type questions is that you can't ask clarifying questions. My mind just doesn't work like most do, and leetcode to some extent seems to rely on people memorizing leetcode type answers. On a few, there's enough context that I can relate real understanding of the problem to, such as the coin example in the article... for others I've seen there's not enough there for me to "get" the question/assignment.
The issue is that leetcode is something you end up with after discovery + scientific method + time, but there's no space in the interview process for any of that.
Your mind slides off leetcode problems because it reverses the actual on-the-job process and loses any context that'd give you a handle on the issue.
These interviews seem designed to filter out applicants with active jobs. In fact, I'd say that they seem specifically for selecting new CS graduates and H1B hires.
Where I interviewed you had effectively 1 or 2 LC question but the interviewer offered clarifying questions making for a real time discussion and coding exercise.
This solves one problem but it does add performance anxiety to the mix having to live code.
IMO leetcode has multiple problems.
1. People can be hired to take the test for you - surprise surprise 2. It is akin to deciding if someone can write a novel from reading a single sentence.
> My biggest problem with leetcode type questions is that you can't ask clarifying questions.
Huh? Of course you can. If you're practicing on leetcode, there's a discussion thread for every question where you can ask questions till the cows come home. If you're in a job interview, ask the interviewer. It's supposed to be a conversation.
> I wouldn't even mind the studying on leetcode types sites if they actually had decent explainers
If you don't find the hundreds of free explanations for each question to be good enough, you can pay for Leetcode Pro and get access to editorial answers which explain everything. Or use ChatGPT for free.
> It's not a matter of skill, it's just my ability to take in certain types of problems doesn't work well.
I don't mean to be rude, but it is 100% a matter of skill. That's good news! It means if you put in the effort, you'll learn and improve, just like I did and just like thousands and thousands of other humans have.
> Without any chance of additional info/questions it's literally a setup to fail.
Well with that attitude you're guaranteed to fail! Put in the work and don't give up, and you'll succeed.
The one's i've gotten have all seemed more like tests of my puzzle solving skills than coding.
The worst ones i've had though had extra problems though:
one i was only told about when i joined the interview and that they would be watching live.
One where they wanted me streaming my face the whole time (maybe some people people are fine with that)
And one that would count it against me if i tabbed to another page. So no documentation because they assume i'm just googling it.
Still it's mostly on me to prepare and expect this stuff now.
The LC interviews are like testing people how fast they can run 100m after practice, while the real job is a slow arduous never ending jog with multiple detours and stops along the way.
But yeah that's the game you have to play now if you want the top $$$ at one of the SMEGMA companies.
I wrote (for example) my 2D game engine from scratch (3rd party libs excluded)
https://github.com/ensisoft/detonator
but would not be able to pass a LC type interview that requires multiple LC hard solutions and a couple of backflips on top. But that's fine, I've accepted that.