Cracking the Coding Interview - Fooo

At the Interview | Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to get every question right?
No A good interviewer will stretch your mind They’ll want to see you struggle with a difficult
problem If a candidate is good, they’ll ask harder and tougher questions until he/she
is stumped! Thus, if you have trouble on a question, all it means is that the interviewer is
doing their job!
Should I tell my interviewer if I know a question?
Yes! You should definitely tell your interviewer if you’ve previously heard the question This
seems silly to some people - if you already know the question (and answer), you could ace
the question, right? Not quite
Here’s why we strongly recommend that you tell your interviewer that you’ve heard the
question:
1 Big honesty points This shows a lot of integrity That’s huge Remember that the
interviewer is evaluating you as a potential teammate I don’t know about you, but I
personally prefer to work with honest people!
2 The question might have changed ever-so-slightly You don’t want to risk repeating the
wrong answer
3 If you easily belt out the right answer, it’s obvious to the interviewer They know how
hard a problem is supposed to be It’s very hard to “pretend” to struggle through a
question, because you just can’t approach it the same way other candidates do
How should I dress?
Generally, candidates should dress one small step above the average employee in their position,
or as nice as the nicest dressed employees in their position In most software firms, this
means that jeans (nice jeans with no holes) or slacks with a nice shirt or sweater is fine In a
bank or another more formal institution, avoid jeans and stick with slacks
What language should I use?
Many people will tell you “whatever language you’re most comfortable with,” but ideally you
want to use a language that your interviewer is comfortable with I’d usually recommend
coding in either C, C++ or Java, as the vast majority of interviewers will be comfortable in
one of these languages My personal preference for interviews is Java (unless it’s a question
requiring C / C++), because it’s quick to write and almost everyone can read and understand
Java, even if they code mostly in C++ (Almost all the solutions in this book are written in
Java for this reason )
I didn’t hear back immediately after my interview Am I rejected?
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Cracking the Coding Interview