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Gayle Laakmann McDowell
<dev> </dev>
Author Interview Coach Interview Consul:ng
(CS) (MBA)
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What I Coach
Download at: CrackingTheCodingInterview.com
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Tradi:onal Dev Ques:ons
Startups “Elite” Other
Behavioral/Experience
Knowledge-‐Based
System Design/Architecture
Algorithms/Problem-‐Solving ✔ ?
✔
? ✔
? ?
Disclaimer: So. Many. Excep.ons.
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Generalist vs. Specialist
• Generalist (algorithms/problem-‐solving): – Reasonable test of intelligence if done well – Less :ed to specific team – BUT necessitates that you will train people
• Specialists (knowledge & experience): – Tests that someone can “hit the ground running” – BUT is the knowledge actually difficult to acquire?
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Algorithm Ques:ons
“Problem-‐Solving Ques:ons”
= Solving a problem you have NOT seen before.
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Problem-‐Solving Ques:ons
few false posi:ves (only good people pass)
but…
lots of false nega:ves (many good people fail)
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Problem-‐Solving Ques:ons
“Design an algorithm to find the most common element in a list.”
= Solving a problem you have NOT seen before.
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Why Problem-‐Solving Ques:ons Work
• Smart people do good work.
^^ That’s preIy much the gist of it.
So why so many false nega:ves?
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Why Smart People Fail
1. Knowledge gaps 2. In:mida:on 3. Arbitrary ques:ons 4. Not knowing how to be good
These are [par:ally] solvable problems.
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Why Help Candidates Be Great?
• Goal: good employees, not good candidates. • Do you want to eliminate…
– Everyone who doesn’t know ___? – People who are insecure? – People who are bad at interviewing? – People at random?
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1: Knowledge-‐Gaps (Why?)
• Not knowing fundamental CS knowledge – Especially older people!
• Obscure CS knowledge being tested – Making ques:ons “hard” via knowledge.
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2: In:mida:on (Why?)
• Candidates misunderstanding goals. • Interviewers being [uninten:onally] rude. • Scary ques:ons. • Insecurity.
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3: Arbitrary Ques:ons (Why?)
• Well-‐known ques:ons. • Easy ques:ons. • “A-‐Ha” moments & singular hurdles.
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4: Not Knowing How To Be Good
• Didn’t use an example. • Tried to rush the process. • Didn’t walk through problem.
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Design Around This
1. Decide what you value. 2. Ask the right ques:ons. 3. Give candidates tools to prepare. 4. Train your interviewers.
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1. Decide What You Value
• Is problem-‐solving skills a top priority? • What sorts of specialist skills do you need? • Are fundamentals of CS sufficient?
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2. Ask the Right Ques:ons
• Right topics: – Avoid scary topics. – Require only basic CS knowledge.
• Right difficulty: – Medium & hard problems. – Avoid common problems.
• Logical path with mul:ple insights.
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3. Give Candidates Tools to Prepare
• Tell them: – What to expect. – How they’ll be evaluated. – Struggling is normal.
• Links to prepara:on resources.
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4. Train Your Interviewers
• How to design good ques:ons. • Be extra nice to candidates. • Coach candidates to be great
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4b. Coach Candidates To Be Great
• Encourage the right example. • Remind them of details. • Don’t let them dive into code. • Encourage shining gears. • POSITIVITY & SENSITIVITY
A good coach can make a HUGE difference!
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Need The Right Infrastructure
• Interview training • List of good & bad ques:ons -‐-‐ and why • Standard resource sheets for candidates • Feedback from candidates • Assigned roles • Con:nuous evalua:on & shadowing
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It shou
ldn’t com
e to th
is…
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