I don't think this is very good advice. Enough of the companies that believe in testing by algorithms are smart enough to change their questions slightly for each candidate.
I'm not sure, however, what if anything testing by algorithms proves. Sure, you should know how and when to use them like I know how and when to use different blades of a saw. Nobody has ever asked me to tell them how the saw gets made though. The things that matter to me as a Senior+ engineer these days are:
- Do you know how and when to use various algorithms
- Are you going to conform to a given code bases styling and standards
- Do you know how to properly test a given piece of functionality
- Do you know how to interrogate the debugger to find answers to your own questions
- Do you know commonly accepted standards and where to find them
- Are you going to over engineer and completely pollute the code base with unmaintainable code or infrastructure
Algorithms and systems design test for only one of the above. If we ever get a tech union algorithm interviews are on a top five of things I'd like them to do away with.
I'm not sure, however, what if anything testing by algorithms proves. Sure, you should know how and when to use them like I know how and when to use different blades of a saw. Nobody has ever asked me to tell them how the saw gets made though. The things that matter to me as a Senior+ engineer these days are:
- Do you know how and when to use various algorithms
- Are you going to conform to a given code bases styling and standards
- Do you know how to properly test a given piece of functionality
- Do you know how to interrogate the debugger to find answers to your own questions
- Do you know commonly accepted standards and where to find them
- Are you going to over engineer and completely pollute the code base with unmaintainable code or infrastructure
Algorithms and systems design test for only one of the above. If we ever get a tech union algorithm interviews are on a top five of things I'd like them to do away with.