

Ask HN: Do you practice for technical interview screens? - nuhusky2003

If you know that you will be asked to do coding exercises on a phone interview, do you practice ahead of time?
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rnovak
I'm not entirely sure how coding over the phone would work, but personally,
for technical screens in particular, I prefer not to practice at all.

For me, it's the same as a test. If I cannot perform adequately from the
knowledge I already have, then I'm positive that the company would not want me
working for them, and I probably wouldn't be productive, or as productive as
they'd like.

For me this has been a benefit. For questions regarding specific topics, like
design patterns, polymorphism, encapsulation, SOLID, stuff like that, the
answers that I give are 100% practical, based on how I view that topic as it
has applied to work, and are described completely in my own words.

It means I'm not only not going to give you a dictionary definition, but I'm
going to explain it how I understand it, and give you an example at the same
time. It's going to show that I understand the concept, instead of just
knowing it (since those are two distinct things: knowing and understanding).

Now, on-to the more broad aspect of your question. I practice coding, or
involve myself in software development, probably 80% of my time outside of
work. I stay active on sites like HackerRank, TopCoder, ProjectEuler, etc, and
continually try to solve problems to improve myself. I'm not doing this to
make myself better for a tech screen, but better overall, because it's going
to help me on the job just as much if not more than it will help get me a job.

Anyway, like I mentioned, this has only _rarely_ , and I do mean rarely, not
worked for me. I think all but 2 places I've interviewed with have resulted in
offers, and that includes all of the big names, except Amazon (and there, I
just don't think I was a good fit).

~~~
nuhusky2003
thanks for answering my question. I was recently on a job interview and was
asked to solve a problem while coding it up in browser (that's what I meant by
phone interview) with the interviewer listening on the phone. I found it hard
to do, not because the problem was difficult, but more so, that the experience
of coding while someone else is watching and listening to me was new.

~~~
rnovak
I see, even at this point, I think I probably would have either aborted the
interview right then (if that's the environment they put their candidates in,
doesn't bode well for actual employees), or been upfront saying something like
"okay, well I'm not really going to talk while I write the solution out."

That's not really the ideal situation for interviewer or interviewee, and it's
awkward for both parties, so I doubt you'll come across it again. I've been on
about 25-30 interviews over the course of the last 5-6 years, and I've never
once been asked to code over the phone, and I don't think I'd ever ask a
candidate to solve something over the phone/skype.

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lostdog
I absolutely practice before a technical interview.

I do at least one or two quick problems from Hacker Rank or Project Euler, and
briefly review a handful of key algorithms (trees, graphs, searches).

I wouldn't want to lose a good opportunity because I was rusty on something
the interviewer happened to ask.

