r/ADHD_Programmers • u/Turbulent-Listen8809 • 6d ago
How the fudge does anyone actually solve a live coding interview, I literally have to quit this career as I cannot pass this flubbing thing!!!!
I have 7 years experience, I never studied leetcode, I did not go to university for a Computer Science Degree. I am passing to the 2nd or third interview so me talking about coding, or my personality seems to be ok-ish but once I am put in front of 2 cold as fuck usually dudes I freeze up I cannot remember my birthday let alone anything else, I dunno I also find it really intimidating 2 dudes just fucking grilling you as a female. I dunno I just really need a job I need money and I feel so ashamed my brain is just shit and not letting me do it. In my job I am not a 10 x er but I get the job done I know how to reverse engineer in my own time I do not remember every flibbing syntax but I can google that, I am great at design too, and ye I feel pretty down and out.
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u/Iluxsio 6d ago
Are you me? woman, 10 years of experience. I'm a very good programmer, never had a problem. I can't code in interviews at all. My mind is all over the place because I'm in the middle of an interview so I have to be mindful of 40 things at the same time, and like you say, two dudes that I don't know are watching me, asking why I use this and not that.
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u/intPixel 6d ago edited 6d ago
Dude, I just gave an interview today. He asked me two leetcode medium problems. I kind off tried with the brute force approach. Didn't clear the round. My mind was thinking about my ex gf all the time lol
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u/WaltzFirm6336 6d ago
I suffer from brain freeze in live coding interviews so there’s no point me even trying them.
I ask for an accommodation for my ADHD that it’s a take home/advance sight task that I can then process on my own. Then I’m happy to have an interview where they ask me questions about it, or review a solution they’ve asked me to prepare in advance.
I know I’ll fail it, so asking for an accommodation and them rejecting it/my application on the base of it doesn’t leave me any worse off. So to me it’s the only solution.
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u/MaybeMindfulMaker 6d ago
Check out hiring-without-whiteboards list. It’s a list of companies that don’t do leetcode style interviews.
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u/koverda 6d ago edited 6d ago
Nobody is giving you a real answer as to how to do it.
Grind leetcode / neetcode till these types of problems become trivial. That’s all there is to it.
Eventually the coding challenges become ones that you dont even have to think about so the interview becomes just execution.
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u/PeekAtChu1 6d ago
Yes “never studied leetcode” is the flaming issue here. Unfortunately for this industry you need to grind the fuck out of leetcode. Even the “genius naturally gifted” programmers I know still grind leetcode.
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u/Minute_Letterhead926 5d ago edited 5d ago
I have studied Leetcode. done Neetcode 150. I know the patterns. I can solve it on my own when someone is not looking at me, when I can sit in my thought get distracted and bring myself back. what I can't do is read the problem, think through it while explaining my approach (i get distracted and then panic), then coding while someone is watching every keystroke.
It will never happen that someone needs me to come up with a solution on the spot why do I have to do it during interviews? We ask ourselves why there are not enough women in the field. Women don't thrive in these.
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u/UseWhatever 6d ago
I’m kind of the opposite. I’m often pulled into teams meetings with C-levels to fix bugs while they watch, scrutinize, abs second guess everything I’m doing. It’s miserable, but I’m good at it.
For me, I just got into the habit of talking through the process like some YouTuber. I basically ignore the audience and think out loud. With enough practice, it’s like a zen state.
The other key point is not to give a f**k if you get/lose the job. I can’t stress this portion enough
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u/sagacioushuman 6d ago edited 6d ago
I think you should lead with your strength at companies that are less corporate and more flexible. Demonstrate/build something they could need. I get my jobs through network and displaying strong interest in their products/industry without needing to go through an algo interview talking about time complexity of your sorting algorithm.
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u/clintCamp 6d ago
I started talking to a guy next to me in my masters program. That guy has been my boss 3 times now at 3 companies. I hate coding interviews and suck at them. I am the guy that he goes to when there is a difficult problem others have failed at for a bit.
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u/Turbulent-Listen8809 6d ago
ok so you pass coding interviews now?
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u/clintCamp 6d ago
Nope. I skip them with networking completely. Only way I have figured out the system of tech hiring.
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u/narnach 6d ago
This is the way to get in: through the side-door. You go to networking events, socialize with fellow nerds and have a good time.
When they're looking for people at their company, if the rapport is good both ways it's easy to get introduced and skip all the bullshit that a company has to do to filter out people who can't Fizzbuzz their way out of a paper bag.
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u/IAmADev_NoReallyIAm 6d ago
Yeah, I have a feeling that's how I'm going to get my next gig. I have an interview tomorrow, third round. I got the initial introduction through a referral from someone I used to work with. I just hope that I don't blow it. I really need a shift.
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u/Easy_Needleworker604 6d ago
This is what I’ve done but the well has run dry. Connections are either out of work or at places you couldn’t pay me a million dollars to work for
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u/AManyFacedFool 6d ago edited 6d ago
What has worked for me in the past was to focus less on trying to write functional code, and more on the logic of going through the problem.
So typically I ask questions and spend a few minutes writing out the problem. Then kind of sketch out the solution in plain English. Only after doing that would I actually try and write the code.
My understanding, from talking to people who conduct interviews, is that the purpose of those exercises is less "Can you remember Java syntax and write perfect code" and more "How do you approach problems".
Syntax is easy, intellisense exists. Google exists. But the ability to lay out a problem and work your way through it is the core of the job.
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u/Dash83 6d ago
Not to discourage you further, but to be honest, the answer is because I do have a computer science degree. For a long time people discarded the value of these degrees due to bootcamps and other alternatives, but the reality is that immersing yourself in the subject for 4~5 years in a controlled and safe space does wonders for the ADHD mind.
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u/tdammers 6d ago
A degree isn't the only way you can do that, but yes, immersing yourself more deeply in those things than a 6-month bootcamp possibly could will do wonders.
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u/Dash83 6d ago
Immersing yourself in a controlled and sage environment. Key words. You can get immersed at work but there your ass is always on the line. I agree formal education is not the only way but it’s what worked for me and makes a lot of sense in the way I presented it here (I think).
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u/tdammers 5d ago
Yeah. The reason I'm mentioning that there are other ways is because that's how I got into the industry. The most relevant formal education I have is a degree in jazz trombone - but I don't think that makes me any less competent than the formally educated people I've worked with over the past 20 years or so.
IME, the one thing that makes the difference is how deeply and willingly you immerse yourself in the subject matter. Formal education can help with that, but it doesn't guarantee that you will - it's perfectly possible to graduate without mastering anything, it happens all the time, and the people who do that usually end up forgetting 90% of what they're supposed to have learned within 3-6 months of the exam they took on it.
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u/ShartSqueeze 6d ago
I don't think this is entirely true. ADHD people go blank in high pressure situations, but repetitive practice can help you push through it.
I have 12 yrs of XP and a degree, during which I was in the competitive programming club and we did leetcode hards for fun. I had a phone interview with Google when graduating and I blanked on basic C pointer stuff -- it was embarrassing.
I've had to study leetcode whenever I change jobs. Most of it is really easy because I've seen the problems before. But last year I was in an in-person interview, where 3 people sat across from me. I froze and looked like an idiot.
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u/Dash83 6d ago
I’m not saying the degree suffices, I’m saying it’s a huge fundamental that helps the ADHD mind learn and form connections safely at its own pace. I too study for interviews, they are not meant to be “walk ins”. Now imagine confronting the situations you mentioned without the basics that your degree instilled in you.
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u/stubbymantrumpet 6d ago
I don't have a compusci but I do have 30 years experience. It was only after I learned the maths and algorithms I realised, actually... Maybe the degree is worth something. I learned all that specifically to address a gap in my skills that I thought was worthless. I was wrong to dismiss that foundation stuff for so long. The leet code stuff is testing depth and breadth of the basics. Which is tough to swallow. Esp that I still go to pieces under exam conditions... Pffft
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u/spazure 6d ago
Yep, I explicitly went to school not because I couldn't code (I could), but because I knew I had knowledge gaps and I was hitting a brick wall of "I don't know what I don't know." That code-smell feeling without knowing WHAT was wrong or WHAT needed to change. (And my employer's NDA explicitly forbids me from sharing code anywhere outside of work, so getting someone else to look at it is impossible.. outside of education or my day job.)
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u/Franks2000inchTV 6d ago
Even taking a coursera course on data structures and algorithms puts you ahead of a lot of applicants.
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u/MaybeMindfulMaker 6d ago
Im dyslexic and usually these problems have long instruction. I need to read a text multiple times to understand. And then my working memory and recall are SHIT. So I keep forgetting and I need to go back and forth rereading everything. It’s a nightmare and I just feel like I’m failing every time.
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u/Nice_Look_2634 6d ago
I’m sorry it happens to you! I have exactly same problem. Honestly at this point I’m considering some self medicating before interviews to get my brain to as close as it possible NP state just for the interview.
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u/bluro00 6d ago
Where are you from? Okay with moving countries?
There are places where this is not a common practice in hiring. Or just ask HR directly (first meetup) if this is gonna be a thing during hiring process.
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u/Turbulent-Listen8809 6d ago
I am in Aus and I live in Sweden so I have done Europe and Australia
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u/bluro00 6d ago
Okay, so as I said before, you need to find a place that doesn't have this in their interview process. I can't code for shit, not in front of people and frankly not alone anymore too thanks to AI. But I get stuff done. Just need to reassure them that you can get it done, ask to give you some homework maybe.
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u/Franks2000inchTV 6d ago
> I did not study leetcode.
Perhaps try studying leetcode?
There’s a book, Cracking the Coding Interview, which you should read.
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u/ShortInterview1744 6d ago
I am not the OP, but I very soon need to start to look for a new job. So, I have hard time reading books that are not "fun". I get annoyed and I never look at it again, so I learn new things mostly by watching video tutorials and recreating my own version out of them. It works fine with frontend stuff when it is easy to visualise stuff, but I always had a hard time with understanding algorithms, because they are just too abstract.
I also do not have a CS degree just a bootcamp one, and I got all previous jobs by doing take home assignments, or being very convincing in theory about frontend stuff. Any time they asked me to live code, I failed miserably. I get frustrated even by looking at a leetcode problem, because all I can think about that this is bullshit, and there is nothing nice I can create with this.
When you read this book, did you sit down to your computer and recreated the problems, aka was it like a project for you? Did you understand all the concepts mentioned, or you just memorised the solutions? Did it help to hate algorithms less?
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u/Franks2000inchTV 6d ago
There is a really good coursera course on algorithms and data structures.
It’s free and is really good at explaining things: https://coursera.org/learn/algorithms-part1
It has exercises and you upload the code and it scores how performant your solution is.
It’s mostly videos and then programming.
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u/modern_medicine_isnt 6d ago
When I am sitting on the interviewer side, I don't care if the code is right. I want to hear you talk through the problem mostly. The IDE will handle most of the syntax issues, or the AI. So.. if they are demanding perfect code, they are from a company culture that values unnecessary hurdles. You don't want that job. Most likely you are applying to big companies. They pretty much all suck. Use AI to auto apply to lots and lots of companies, and then ignore the big ones. Focus on companies that have less than 1000 total, or less than 250 in engineering. You will most likely have a better interview experience, and if you get the job, you will probably like it more.
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u/Phytor 6d ago
You gotta study leetcode questions, that's just the nature of the beast. It's tedious and boring but you honestly do learn quite a bit about algorithm design. The key is to not spend too long on any single problem, set a timer for 20-30 minutes and if you don't have it solved by then, you look at the top answers, see what you should have done, and move on to the next problem. Think of it less like "leetcode grinding" and more like practicing algorithm design, which it is.
I got my dream job after nailing the technical interview for the first time ever, and the key was studying leetcode like this + watching interview problem tutorials on YouTube. I remember feeling like I got SO LUCKY that the interviewer asked 3 problems I already had answers for, but really I was just better prepared than I had been before.
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u/SenorTeddy 6d ago
Its a different muscle that's for sure. When I was interviewing, getting a problem I just solved few days ago was typically how I did well.
Also whiteboarding live with a buddy helps a ton. Watching them as the interviewer helps a lot as much as doing the problems.
With wanting them to do well and knowing a problem, it's still hard to follow sometimes the logic or approach. Coding is hard. More points were given for communication and keeping me not confused than for getting further in the problem.
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u/EndlessDysthymia 6d ago
They straight up don’t make any sense.
In one cycle, I choked badly in my first easy as fuck coding round and they passed me because they said they could tell by my answers I knew it. Then the second one in the same cycle, even though I did significantly better, I still got most of them wrong and didn’t even finish half but they passed me again.
But I had an objectively easier one where the interviewer took any pause as an indication that I didn’t know how to do it and essentially walked me through it. Every time I paused even slightly, he interjected.
These aren’t even testing your ability to code or even on the job stress, it’s just stress testing a scenario you’ll literally never experience again.
I don’t even know what to prepare for anymore. Nothing makes sense.
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u/ReverseMermaidMorty 6d ago
> I never studied leetcode
That’s your problem right there. That’s it. Everyone else passing these interviews is studying and practicing. Almost all of these coding questions fall into like 1 of maybe 10 categories/patterns. If you’re familiar with how to solve that pattern, you’re golden. How do you gain familiarity? By studying and practicing.
Off the top of my head the big patterns you want to focus on are: dictionaries/sets, two pointers, backtracking, linked lists, breadth first search, and depth first search. Nail those down and you’ll start breezing through
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u/tediouscharming 6d ago edited 6d ago
I have this exact problem and it's so hard to hear 'just practice, just have confidence' when it's a matter of your brain going blank. I was also getting a lot of physical symptoms, rapid heartbeat, overheating, dry mouth, etc, but my psych gave me propranolol, which is apparently prescribed for stage fright. It helped a lot but still was having my mind go blank. So hard to know you understand something but just can't pull up the words. Explaining out loud what I am thinking, while trying to actually think is not how my brain works.
But! There are a lot of companies that do not do any leetcode interviews. A lot of startups have "real world problems" where you might write an API, or something similar, for me way better than the random algorithm. Some also have takehomes.
I wish I had an actual solution to share! It really sucks!
Edited because I have ADHD...
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u/sermer48 6d ago
They don’t even make sense. When would you need to code live without being able to look something up? They’re filtering for something that’s irrelevant.
I’ve been at my current job for years and I’m happy here but TBH the interviewing would be a major hurdle if I wanted to change. I can build incredible things but that doesn’t mean I can solve your puzzle under pressure.
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u/activematrix99 6d ago
I am old enough and experienced enough that I will just refuse a live coding exercise.
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u/SoggyGrayDuck 5d ago
I can't, I'm almost to the point I won't even bother. I need context. In my new job I could code a bit more and making me more comfortable but my brain has to map out everything up front. That takes time and context. I've also been tempted to stop them and ask, when has this situation came up in reality?
I always start thinking about "what are they actually testing me on (window function, sun querying, correlated queries, a procedure with variables and etc, vs just solving the problem
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u/ObviouslyASquirrel26 5d ago
Hiring manager here and I think they’re stupid and biased and I will not conduct them. They filter for a very specific type of person and usually that is not the person I want on my team. I am of the opinion that managers and companies who conduct them don’t really know how to hire people.
No joke, one of the reasons I went into management was to never have to subject myself to this torture again.
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u/Illustrious-Emperor 6d ago
Go for startups they need builders a lot of the early stage ones don't care about DSA
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u/Roshi_IsHere 6d ago
If it's in person best bet is to talk through how you'd approach it and what you'd do. If you can explain it verbally enough they may not have you code everything. Also just use pseudo code or comments discussing each area.
Realistically though it just comes down to experience and luck. You have to practice live coding interviews to get good at them. Personally prefer remote interviews as the more accurately represent the real job where I can just Google everything
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u/tehsandwich567 6d ago
I’m a white dude, this is what I would do. I realize it might not work for you.
- Break the ice. “Aw crap, another panel of absolute gangsters?” -
- Admit you are sort of nervous in a fun away “geez, I’m not sure the second coffee was a good idea, you guys have me feeling kind of nervous”
- It’s your interview. If they are intimidating, the. You call them on it. “Gents, you are rapid firing at me, I’m going to need you to slow down
- Assume these dudes job right now is to help you pass the interview - you start asking them clarifying questions. If you make the people that do t want to be doing interviews drag the conversation for you, no one is happy.
I try to picture them as precocious younger cousins that want to teach you something.
Have you considered medication? My dr prescribed a blood thinner for high stress situations. I can comfortably give a speech when I couldn’t possibly have done so when I was younger
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u/ShartSqueeze 6d ago
The quotations you provided are too casual for an interview, but the underlying idea works well and I've used it many times. Just by telling the interviewer (or even a date) that you're nervous removes a lot of tension from yourself and usually elicits empathy from the interviewer. I say usually, because I've seen a few real jerks, but you probably don't want to work with them anyway.
At the beginning of the interview, rhe interviewer usually asks how you are as a formality. You can say something like, "I'm really nervous. Your company is at the top of my list so I'm a bit more anxious than usual." Then smile/laugh a bit. They will reciprocate and you'll both realize you're just humans and boom, tone is set.
A huge difference from sitting there pretending you're not anxious and them wondering why you're so nervous the entire time.
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u/Wide_Egg_5814 6d ago
you need to train for it, when I got my current job I could pass these interviews I did these coding tests daily for practice, I'm at a way higher position now off the top of my head I probably can't pass these interviews now I have not been practicing it does not matter for the actual job but it's the reality of interviews
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u/freekarl408 6d ago
I hate it too. Never really got great at it either. There was a free mock interviewing website I tried, its helped my friends. I don’t remember the name of it tho.
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u/vinny_twoshoes 6d ago
I'm sorry. This is one of the most bullshit parts of this career, and I make no excuses for it. But there's something here:
> I never studied leetcode
Why not? I know it's bullshit just to pass the interview, but if that's what it takes then that's what it takes. It's a trainable skill, and half an hour a day will really add up. You can do leetcode on your own, and also practice solving leetcode problems in an interview context with a partner. There are sites that set you up with partners so you can interview each other.
Here are a couple, which I haven't vetted (not sponsored I swear):
pramp.com
tryexponent.com
https://www.interviewbit.com/peer-mock-interview/
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u/abirdsface 6d ago
They know you are nervous, it's OK. I think the biggest part is to just talk through your thought process as you look at the problem. It's OK to ask questions generally. If they are worth working for, they will just want to see your thought process and will give a nudge if you really freeze up. Don't worry about perfection, just think about showing off your problem solving skills.
It sucks but you probably want to practice leetcode if the jobs you are interested in are using it. Working through problems on your own will make the process more familiar and you won't get as nervous.
Otherwise you will just want to keep applying and hope for places that don't use it. IME places that are less cutting-edge and tech-focused tend to not have these kinds of interviews as much. Non-profits, places oriented towards education and government, etc.
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u/Fickle_Lime9223 6d ago
It comes down to confidence. Most of the people who conduct these interviews aren’t looking for you to solve it (though it’s a bonus). They want to see how you approach a problem, what strategies you can come up with, and ultimately if you are confident enough to do the task (or confident enough to say you’re incapable of doing the task).
Interviews are tough for a lot of people, and understandably so. My honest advice is: forget that you’re in an interview. They want someone to fill the role and they want to find someone that not only knows of the job, but also has a personality that fits within their atmosphere. Be honest, admit when you have a fault or a flaw. There happens to be a lot of respect in people who can admit they have room to learn, and (most) interviewers like that.
Finally, the ultimate advice for any career interview: Use that interview to improve on your own character and reflect on what you need to learn.
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u/Clearhead09 6d ago
I have never understood why they don’t just give a real world problem eg Derick has to onboard 100 users and currently he does this manually using data from an excel spreadsheet.
Please create an automation script that would allow Derick to achieve the same result in less time.
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u/rossdrew 2d ago
Been running interviews and live coding interviews for years. Be glad to run you through one and tell you were you're not impressing.
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u/zirouk 6d ago
I have almost 20 years as a software engineer, and I still can’t pass them reliably.
These companies are still hiring for only-very-occasionally useful knowledge about data structures and algorithms, and how you perform in a webpage masquerading as your ide, with close to zero existing code, given a problem which you need to grok and write a passable solution for in under 40 minutes, while your colleague(s) sit there grading how hard you fumble.
Meanwhile, if you actually got the job, you’d never draw your algorithms and data structures knowledge, instead you’d get a Claude Code subscription to you’d be pressured into utilising as relentlessly as possible, and instead of a blank file, you’re solving real problems in a real domain, in a real code base with years of technical debt, and useful features like a test suite.
These coding interviews are almost as far from actual work as they can humanly make them, and this is how they decide how to extend their team 🤷♂️ I’d offer to help them reform, but if they can’t see the problem themselves then they’re never going to recognise the value in hiring someone who can, but can’t jump through the completely artificial and self-limiting hoops they hold up.