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barfbagginus | 1 year ago
They act as if the only way to get algorithmic knowledge is to grind specific examples, when really if they would read through Knuth they'd be fine.
These are people who see algorithmic knowledge as the bane of their careers rather than seeing algorithms as:
1) a great way to add value to resource constrained projects
2) a trivially simple and easy way to signal programming abilities, letting you easily breeze through the interview
I seriously would hate having to work with one of those who take pride in how little computer science they know, and because I run a math and computational geometry heavy organization, I will never hire them. But I would estimate that algorithmically and mathematically averse coders form the majority of coders.
Paul-Craft|1 year ago
First of all, nobody "read[s] through Knuth." [0] (I couldn't find the reference, but I recall a story about Bill Gates telling Knuth he had "read his books," to which Knuth replied that he believed Gates was lying.)
Second, the way the "algorithmic portion of the technical interview" is generally constituted currently is beyond flawed. Depending on your perspective, you can either pass it by memorizing 5 or 6 algorithms and re-using them over and over; or, it's a completely unrealistic test of anyone's ability to think about and work with algorithms and data, because there is no such thing in the real world as a 45 minute deadline. Of course, you can certainly argue that it's not intended to be a test of one's ability to work with algorithms and data, but, rather, an IQ test of sorts. But, then, we have companies that are literally giving candidates IQ tests now, so, why not just drop the pretense?
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[0]: https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-gates-loves-donald-knut...
namaria|1 year ago