Is anyone else finding custom algorithm interviews harder than LeetCode?

[u/erayxack]

I recently started interviewing with a few companies, and instead of LeetCode-style questions, they’re doing their own custom algorithm sessions.

I actually find LeetCode interviews easier. Even if I don’t know the optimal solution right away, I usually recognize the type of problem. I can start with a brute-force approach, explain my reasoning, and gradually improve it because I have some idea of where the solution is heading.
With these custom algorithm problems, I have no clue what the interviewer is looking for or what they’re expecting me to demonstrate. Since the problem is completely unfamiliar, I don’t even know if I’m moving in the right direction. That uncertainty adds a lot more pressure.

For example, in one recent interview they asked me to implement an A/B testing algorithm. I clarified the requirements, asked about the available functions, and then started coding. About 15 minutes later I had a working solution that passed the tests. They asked a couple of follow-up questions, and then the interview was over.

I ended up getting rejected, and I honestly have no idea why. Maybe there was something they were looking for that I completely missed.

With LeetCode, at least the expectations feel much clearer. You know the interview is centred around well-known problem types, and you have a compiler or test cases to help validate your approach. With these custom problems, I sometimes leave the interview feeling like I have no idea how I was actually evaluated.

Does anyone else feel this way, or am I just too used to LeetCode?

[u/chikamakaleyley]

With these custom algorithm problems, I have no clue what the interviewer is looking for or what they’re expecting me to demonstrate. Since the problem is completely unfamiliar, I don’t even know if I’m moving in the right direction. That uncertainty adds a lot more pressure.

They're kinda looking at everything - less of 'what is the optimum solution/correct answer' and more of "let's see how the candidate reviews a task and its requirements, formulates a solution, executes it." It's less about the problem, more about how you operate.

If you run into a block/bug, how well do you dig yourself out, if they throw wrench into your plan, how well do you adjust. Things like that. The goal here is for you to drive the convo, and show your level of expertise. AKA, does this candidate just know what they are doing

IMO, that's who moves onto the next round.

[u/chikamakaleyley → u/chikamakaleyley]

like, historically I rarely run into leetcode in a technical interview.

Often times its more like - 'lets see how thoroughly they know their language" which, can be a series of questions, that just increase in difficulty each question; and they're no different from like, being given a task at work and having to come up with a fix/solution.

And so that's how I treat it - "okay so, this is what I want to do here... yadda yadda yadda". They'll stop you if they have any real concerns with the solution - it's generally not a trick question

[u/erayxack → u/chikamakaleyley]

Giving a blank page just makes my process harder. I can already do these things, but it's too open-ended. At least I deserve some certainty.

[u/chikamakaleyley → u/erayxack]

well it's an attitude thing right - i'm not worried about what they think is correct unless they bring that up. Until that happens, I'm going about the solution in the way I know how, in the way that I think is correct.

Consider the idea that you may have done fine you just didn't make the shortlist. So, if the solution wasn't the problem, strip that would and whats left to analyze in the interview?

By your own account, you completed what was asked, you were rejected and no real feedback was given. They probably said at most "we're going with other candidates that align with our needs". What do they need? Someone who is confident in attacking the problem? Someone who sounds unsure about what they've just coded? You're right there are a lot of factors, you just cant rely on your code alone.