Coding Interviews

Day One: Introduction

Learning Goals

• Design and implement an efficient technical solution for typical coding interview problems;
• Describe the problem-solving process;
• Identify the computational complexity of the solution;

Programming Challenges 2? 🤔

Assessment Instruments

Coding Practice (CP)

• LeetCode.com
• Course page
• Python

Pre-Interview (PI)

• Preparation for Mock Interview
• Start early and come prepared
• Code (Python)
• Complexity

Mock Interview (MI)

• Interviewer
• Interviewee
• Shadow Interviewer

Final Interview (FI)

• Students' choice
• Repeat (a lot)

Algorithm Analysis Test (AT)

• Algorithm is given
• Time complexity
• Space complexity

Mandatory Assignments (MA)

• Review important algorithms and data structures
• Improve coding skills

That's a lot, I know

Check the dashboard frequently

LeetCode.com

LeetCode.com

1. Create an account
2. Submit your username here
3. Bonus grade: $\min\left(\frac{\text{# problems solved}}{4}, 10\right)$
4. Only Python (for now)

"I can't speak English"

Coding Interviews?

Site reliability/DevOps

Testing

UX design

Data Science

Machine Learning

...

Software Engineering

But why?

Cracking the Coding Interview

Why are Coding Interviews used anyway?

Many candidates don't perform well... :(

Unfortunately, false negatives are acceptable

False positives are more of a problem

I could Google the answer

They care about your ability to solve hard problems, not the problem itself

I could Google the data structures

Know the possibilities

Correlates with being a "good developer"

Whiteboard coding is too artificial

Is it though?

Focus on what matters (bugs and syntax errors are expected)

Code doesn't have to compile or be complete

X = ?

1 Volunteer

Find the index of a number k in an array of integers

1 Volunteer

Find the index of a number k in a sorted array of integers

Interview flowchart

Check it here.

1 Volunteer

Print all integer solutions to

$$a^3 + b^3 = c^3 + d^3$$

For $a$, $b$, $c$, $d$ between $1$ and $n$

Coding Practice (CP)

Available here.

Pay attention to the deadlines!