Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

Look for companies that do take home coding exercise (projects, not hackerrank quizzes) instead of the leetcode whiteboard stuff. Those tend to focus on quality of work vs verbal timed quizzes, which many good engineers aren't good at. The verbal, in-person stuff tends to favor good-sounding and good-looking people, and awkward types are at a disadvantage to begin with.


This is good advice considering the author says that he tends to mess up interviews by blurting stuff. Leetcode based timed quizzes inevitably optimize for memory recollection i.e if you seen a similar problem from the pool of problems. Trying to balance a binary tree under a 15 minute timer just proves that you’re a puzzle solver and not problem solver. Take a coding exercise to solve at home. Is there a way to filter companies that choose this approach ? Seems like all the top tech jobs require the leetcode method.


This is a good advice. I will try this. Thanks.




Consider applying for YC's Summer 2026 batch! Applications are open till May 4

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: