Here's another question that wasn't from the interview-experience wiki:
Implement a WordGuess game feature.
GREEN = 2
YELLOW = 1
GRAY = 0
exact match = GREEN
mismatch = YELLOW
no match = GRAY
secret = "h e l l o"
guess = "a b c d e"
result = [0, 0, 0, 0, 1]
guess = "h a b x z"
result = [2, 0, 0, 2, 1]
guess = "e a b c d"
result = [1, 0, 0, 0, 0]
Need to throw an exception when the input isn't valid.
The interviewer's description of the problem was really ambiguous. I spent forever trying to clarify it and still couldn't figure out what he actually wanted. Was I supposed to implement just this one function, or simulate the whole game? The interviewer kept being vague about it. The test cases he gave at the start weren't complete either, and there was no method signature at all, nothing. Such a simple phone screen turned into such a mess... it honestly felt like he didn't want me to pass on purpose. My luck was bad too — none of the questions I'd prepped from the forum's interview archives came up, and the next day I got a rejection. Just like my previous Doordash interview, the interviewer didn't want to give me an inch. It's been really rough. In a situation like this, is it my fault or the interviewer's?
A few honest words: I've been job hunting for over a year with almost 4 years of experience. I work hard to make money, and then I have to spend that money on courses to reinvest in myself. Between the money and the time I've put into this job search, it's been a lot, and I still haven't landed anywhere. I feel like I'm stuck in a vicious cycle, and honestly my mental state is starting to crack. How is anyone in this industry supposed to survive and grow? I don't even know how to prepare for interviews anymore. Is grinding LeetCode and reading interview writeups just not effective anymore? Does the candidate's level always have to be higher than the interviewer's? If the belief is that the market is always right and only people make mistakes, and the market keeps changing so people have to adapt to it even when the environment itself is wrong, then what exactly is this job market asking of people right now? If anyone here has real insight into the cause and a plan for what to do about it, I'll pay for it.
Added later: With interview questions these days, if you haven't done the exact same or a similar question beforehand, and you happen to get an interviewer who isn't strong or who's deliberately making things hard, just understanding what the question is asking can eat up a ton of time. 45 minutes to an hour isn't nearly enough to implement a full solution. Is that on the candidate for not being good enough, or is that just bad luck?
Discussion
Loading comments…