Do some Leetcode. Not too much, not too little. Use it freely to explore new languages, because you'll learn the basics of variables, control flow, and iterations.
Small organisations definitely miss out when they use it. As you say it's an efficient (if not great) filter if you have too many applications to handle without it and are willing to reject good candidates (because you have enough good candidates who will pass the filter too).
I think, leetcode is a shortcut way to evaluate a candidate for their willingness to learn , and their problem solving abilities. But it doesn't guarantee if they actually have the skills required on the job (especially if the candidate is on junior level), so employers have to have some kind of training setup for them. On the other hand, take home assignments almost mimic the actual work that we do on our jobs. And it's a good way if you want to onboard candidates quickly and have them ship ASAP. The only con is companies sometimes have candidates work on big assignments and never even reply back with some feedback which is very frustrating.
I'm all for take-home assignments and talking through them in a follow-up interview. It's so simple. I also love open-ended questions, where you can discuss things and there are no right or wrong answers.
Leaving applicants without an answer... sucks. I know some companies have hat policy and I never understood why.
When I was hiring—for other companies or mine—I always followed up on the outcome of their interviews. It just makes sense because they are probably interviewing for other companies as well and would like to know where they stand.
Right, feedback is a must. I hope some companies out there make their processes better!
Also I agree that Leetcode is good for familiarising with language, I did the same thing as you did with Golang. It worked for me in familiarising myself with syntax and basic control flow.
I have never used leetcode, doesn't seem to be as popular in SQL interviews, but sounds very stressful
It depends 😃 During my studies we did it for fun. Of course, the narrative changes when you do it because you want to get into a prestigious company.
Yeah I can see the context definitely matters in that case,
Small organisations definitely miss out when they use it. As you say it's an efficient (if not great) filter if you have too many applications to handle without it and are willing to reject good candidates (because you have enough good candidates who will pass the filter too).
Great point, John. You need to have a big volume of good programmers for this to work...
I think, leetcode is a shortcut way to evaluate a candidate for their willingness to learn , and their problem solving abilities. But it doesn't guarantee if they actually have the skills required on the job (especially if the candidate is on junior level), so employers have to have some kind of training setup for them. On the other hand, take home assignments almost mimic the actual work that we do on our jobs. And it's a good way if you want to onboard candidates quickly and have them ship ASAP. The only con is companies sometimes have candidates work on big assignments and never even reply back with some feedback which is very frustrating.
I'm all for take-home assignments and talking through them in a follow-up interview. It's so simple. I also love open-ended questions, where you can discuss things and there are no right or wrong answers.
Leaving applicants without an answer... sucks. I know some companies have hat policy and I never understood why.
When I was hiring—for other companies or mine—I always followed up on the outcome of their interviews. It just makes sense because they are probably interviewing for other companies as well and would like to know where they stand.
Right, feedback is a must. I hope some companies out there make their processes better!
Also I agree that Leetcode is good for familiarising with language, I did the same thing as you did with Golang. It worked for me in familiarising myself with syntax and basic control flow.
Good article! Thanks Akos, Cheers !
Glad to hear you put it to good use! What language did you learn through Golang?