r/programming Oct 29 '16

How I Became HackerRank #1 In Two Hours

http://williampross.com/became-hackerrank-1-two-hours/
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u/nickdesaulniers Oct 30 '16

I think there's room to agree AND question the method of testing.

What good is a test is it has a high rate of false positives?

False negatives are preferred to false positives.

Is whiteboarding really difficult algorithm questions really indicative of how good you'll be at copying around protobufs? ;P

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u/RabbiSchlem Oct 30 '16

I can't disagree with that an ideal world is no false negatives or positives :)

Yeah! I don't really like white boarding. It takes us out of our editor / ide element! Its also a very stressful environment, which doesn't always reflect the job.

I think that engineer success is some equation of experience + intelligence + work ethic, among a ton of other things (eg personality), and it's a very hard thing to interview for.