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Why do some great software developers fail interviews? How do you design more effective algorithm/problem-solving interview questions? Interviewers and recruiters can help reduce false negatives, ensuring that more good candidates do well. Gayle Laakmann McDowell is the founder/CEO of CareerCup.com and the author of Cracking the Coding Interview (Amazon.com's best-selling interview book) and Cracking the Product Manager Interview. Gayle is a former Google, Microsoft, and Apple software engineer and served on Google's hiring committee.
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Conducting Great Engineering Interviews
Reverse Engineering Interviews to Reduce False Negatives
Gayle Laakmann McDowell
July 2014
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Gayle Laakmann McDowell
<dev>
</dev>
Author Interview Coach Interview Consulting
(CS) (MBA)
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The Problem(s)
1. Candidates suck at interviewing.2. You want to hire good employees, not good
candidates.3. Shortage of great engineers.
Be a better interviewer.Be a better recruiter.
By counteracting…
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What I Coach
Download at: CrackingTheCodingInterview.com
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Traditional Dev Questions
Startups “Elite” Other
Behavioral/Experience
Knowledge-Based
System Design/Architecture
Algorithms/Problem-Solving✔
?
✔
?✔
?
?
Disclaimer: So. Many. Exceptions.
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How can you help candidates be their best?
Behavioral Problem Solving
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Behavioral Questions: Mistakes
• Underplaying individual contributions• Using “we” not “I”• Not elaborating on actions
• Don’t assume• Probe for details
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Generalist vs. Specialist
• Generalist (algorithms/problem-solving):– Hires smart, adaptable people if done well– BUT necessitates “onboarding”
• Specialists (knowledge & experience):– Hires immediately useful people– BUT is the knowledge actually difficult to acquire?
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Generalist vs. SpecialistHires smart,
adaptable people
BUT requires “onboarding”
+Doing it right
Hires immediately useful people
BUT is it really specialist
knowledge?
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Generalist(ish) Hiring
So you’ve gone generalist(ish)…
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Algorithm Questions
“Problem-Solving Questions”
= Solving a problem you have NOT seen before.
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Problem-Solving Questions
few false positives(only good people pass)
but…
lots of false negatives(many good people fail)
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Why Problem-Solving Questions Work
• Smart people do good work.• Adaptable as company changes
So why so many false negatives?
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Why Smart People Fail
1. Knowledge gaps2. Intimidation3. Arbitrary questions4. Not knowing how to be good
These are [partially] solvable problems.
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This matters!
• 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 questions “hard” via knowledge.
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2: Intimidation (Why?)
• Low self-confidence.• Scary questions.• Candidates misunderstanding interview goals.• Interviewers being [unintentionally] rude.
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3: Arbitrary Questions (Why?)
• Well-known questions.• Easy questions.• “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 questions.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 Questions
• Right topics:– Avoid scary topics.– Require only basic CS knowledge.
• Right difficulty:– Medium & hard problems. – Avoid common problems.
• Logical path with multiple 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 preparation resources.
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4. Train Your Interviewers
• How to design good questions.• 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 shifting 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 questions -- and why• Standard resource sheets for candidates• Feedback from candidates• Assigned roles• Continuous evaluation & shadowing
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It sh
ould
n’t c
ome
to th
is…
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