Interview questions - best way to learn the answers
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I consider myself a good developer, fellow developers and managers as well as clients have told me the same. I code to standards and make sure it is done correctly. So why is it that in an interview when asked a question about code I get stumped and not able to answer it correctly? Am I the only one that does this? Can you BE a great developer without being able to tell you the definition of polymorphism or the like? I know I can do the work, very well. So what can I do to learn the definitions of things? I am thinking of making cue cards and going from there. They have helped me in the past. What do you think? What is the best way for you to learn? Also, do you know definitions and meanings of everything you do? Thanks
I pretend I'm explaining it to a clever, but junior developer.
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I consider myself a good developer, fellow developers and managers as well as clients have told me the same. I code to standards and make sure it is done correctly. So why is it that in an interview when asked a question about code I get stumped and not able to answer it correctly? Am I the only one that does this? Can you BE a great developer without being able to tell you the definition of polymorphism or the like? I know I can do the work, very well. So what can I do to learn the definitions of things? I am thinking of making cue cards and going from there. They have helped me in the past. What do you think? What is the best way for you to learn? Also, do you know definitions and meanings of everything you do? Thanks
I can so much relate this to me. People who work(/ed) with me appreciate my programming skills but when it comes to answering these jargons, I get stumped too. Thanks for writing this post. I am reading all the replies and hope they would help me a lot. Thanks again! :thumbsup:
..Go Green..
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Marc Clifton wrote:
When there's a difference of perception of the problem at the high level between management and users, that's a huge red flag for me that the project is going to end up in flames
I agree, a significant problem. However, I learnt a long time ago that if you really want to get something done, then you can't afford to care who gets the credit. When I identify a disconnect between management and staff, I will think hard to come up with a solution. I then have a meeting with the boss-man (usually the MD) and explain the problem, and lead the conversation around to the point where HE comes up with my solution. I then thank him, tell him he's a really smart fellow, and congratulate him on his in-depth knowledge of his business. I try to hide my smirk until I have left the office. :)
Chris C-B wrote:
I learnt a long time ago that if you really want to get something done, then you can't afford to care who gets the credit.
Absolutely! I'm much more interested in the solution than in the ego stroking. Sort of orthogonal though to many people in management, haha.
Chris C-B wrote:
I then thank him, tell him he's a really smart fellow, and congratulate him on his in-depth knowledge of his business.
ROTF! That is the Dale Carnegie way! Marc
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Marc Clifton wrote:
The point being, I don't really think it's a lack of understanding that I can't spit out the definition of polymorphism, it's more related to what domain (that word again) I live in and where I choose to focus my attention.
That's it in a nutshell, it's where you focus your attention. Programmers work on two levels. On one hand we produce concrete functioning software that contains specific lines of code, classes etc. It's something you can debug through and see the cogs turning. On the other hand we spend a lot of time in our head, as Fred Brook's said we build castles in the air, out of air. To a great extent the design patterns movement emerged to capture this abstract world. There's an old saying that there's no problem that can't be solved with another layer of abstraction. That applies as much to the way you think about programming as it does to the layers of abstraction in your code. When you want to learn something you can do so by learning from real concrete examples. In your words you focus on that domain. Other people like your friend prefer to try and generalise problems and solutions and think about them in more theoretical abstract ways. I think most people are inclined to one camp or the other, but you can get great benefits by forcing yourself to look at the world from the view of the other camp. As a programmer you will find yourself shifting from concrete to abstract in your code constantly, so why not develop that skill and apply it to the way you learn? -Richard
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Richard A. Dalton wrote:
As a programmer you will find yourself shifting from concrete to abstract in your code constantly, so why not develop that skill and apply it to the way you learn?
Absolutely, and that is actually what I try to do as much as possible--I discovered early on that coding to solve the domain problem at hand paints oneself into a corner because the problem (and the domain) are constantly changing, sometimes slowly, sometimes rather quickly, and without a certain level of abstraction, the implementation keeps having to be replaced, or worse, patched to handle new conditions. Avoiding that is what I truly view as "agile" programming. :) Marc
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Marc Clifton wrote:
Personally, what I find much more difficult, interesting, and useful, is learning the lingo of the domain, be it Wall St. or aeronautics or *cough* the entertainment sector, boatyards, etc.
The way I earn my living, this is essential. I don't suppose I write academic-standard code (but hey, it compiles, runs, and is stable :) ) but when I get a project, the first thing I do is really understand the client's business, to the point where I can sit in a management meeting and understand everything, jargon and all. I also interview all the users who are going to work on the system, because their understanding of the problem is often very different to management's at the fine detail level. This also gives the users some feeling of ownership in the project, and this can be hugely useful further down the road. Oops - wandered off topic there, sorry. :-O
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I consider myself a good developer, fellow developers and managers as well as clients have told me the same. I code to standards and make sure it is done correctly. So why is it that in an interview when asked a question about code I get stumped and not able to answer it correctly? Am I the only one that does this? Can you BE a great developer without being able to tell you the definition of polymorphism or the like? I know I can do the work, very well. So what can I do to learn the definitions of things? I am thinking of making cue cards and going from there. They have helped me in the past. What do you think? What is the best way for you to learn? Also, do you know definitions and meanings of everything you do? Thanks
mmm.. after all, I'm not alone in this. I have the exact same problem. To make it worse, I get angry, when I cannot able to explain it properly, even though I would have done it correctly. I stopped fighting it. I'm going with the flow... ;-) Whoever gives me job, I take. If they think I don't deserve it because I couldn't explain, then I let it be like that. Do I sound so down....
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I consider myself a good developer, fellow developers and managers as well as clients have told me the same. I code to standards and make sure it is done correctly. So why is it that in an interview when asked a question about code I get stumped and not able to answer it correctly? Am I the only one that does this? Can you BE a great developer without being able to tell you the definition of polymorphism or the like? I know I can do the work, very well. So what can I do to learn the definitions of things? I am thinking of making cue cards and going from there. They have helped me in the past. What do you think? What is the best way for you to learn? Also, do you know definitions and meanings of everything you do? Thanks
Great topic, great debate. Trust me, your not the only person who has developed for 10 years only to get stumped by not preparing for a tech interview! We are cocky, we are arrogant and sometimes we are lazy...hehe A while back I failed epically - same problems you had, guy asked me to define reflection, polymorphism, etc. I had been coding SQL all day and was like....ok I was not prepared for this sorry I fail!! I was expecting question tied to data grids, ajax, add/edit forms, SQL etc - things more relevant to the job I was applying for...go figure! lol! Looking back, I cannot say I blame them for the theoretical questions though. They have no way of knowing how good you are. So these questions stem conversation that can help them determine that. With that being said, all tech interviewers now a days, it seems they are asking the exact same questions for the most part, it's quite humorous actually.... 1.) Polymorphism 2.) Encapsulation 3.) Reflection 4.) Inheritance 5.) String Builder versus String 6.) Static versus non-static (instanced) 7.) Constructor (what is it?) Just brush up on those concepts, like all of us, you use them everyday - just do not talk about them, and you will be fine. :D -T
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Marc Clifton wrote:
Personally, what I find much more difficult, interesting, and useful, is learning the lingo of the domain, be it Wall St. or aeronautics or *cough* the entertainment sector, boatyards, etc.
The way I earn my living, this is essential. I don't suppose I write academic-standard code (but hey, it compiles, runs, and is stable :) ) but when I get a project, the first thing I do is really understand the client's business, to the point where I can sit in a management meeting and understand everything, jargon and all. I also interview all the users who are going to work on the system, because their understanding of the problem is often very different to management's at the fine detail level. This also gives the users some feeling of ownership in the project, and this can be hugely useful further down the road. Oops - wandered off topic there, sorry. :-O
I just faced an interview and had similar questions. I was all prepared for the high level stuff, the projects I did, the business problems we solved, frameworks we used etc etc. As soon as the introductions were done the first question that was shot at me was "Define an interface, abstract class, their differences and when to use them?" (BTW, I am a Java guy and I subscribe to The Code Project news). I know the answers, but, I was searching for the right words and it took me time ( and I struggled) a bit to put the answer in a crisp way. What was I missing? Sorry, I did not read the subsequent replies before posting this.
modified on Tuesday, November 9, 2010 9:18 AM
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Great topic, great debate. Trust me, your not the only person who has developed for 10 years only to get stumped by not preparing for a tech interview! We are cocky, we are arrogant and sometimes we are lazy...hehe A while back I failed epically - same problems you had, guy asked me to define reflection, polymorphism, etc. I had been coding SQL all day and was like....ok I was not prepared for this sorry I fail!! I was expecting question tied to data grids, ajax, add/edit forms, SQL etc - things more relevant to the job I was applying for...go figure! lol! Looking back, I cannot say I blame them for the theoretical questions though. They have no way of knowing how good you are. So these questions stem conversation that can help them determine that. With that being said, all tech interviewers now a days, it seems they are asking the exact same questions for the most part, it's quite humorous actually.... 1.) Polymorphism 2.) Encapsulation 3.) Reflection 4.) Inheritance 5.) String Builder versus String 6.) Static versus non-static (instanced) 7.) Constructor (what is it?) Just brush up on those concepts, like all of us, you use them everyday - just do not talk about them, and you will be fine. :D -T
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Richard A. Dalton wrote:
As a programmer you will find yourself shifting from concrete to abstract in your code constantly, so why not develop that skill and apply it to the way you learn?
Absolutely, and that is actually what I try to do as much as possible--I discovered early on that coding to solve the domain problem at hand paints oneself into a corner because the problem (and the domain) are constantly changing, sometimes slowly, sometimes rather quickly, and without a certain level of abstraction, the implementation keeps having to be replaced, or worse, patched to handle new conditions. Avoiding that is what I truly view as "agile" programming. :) Marc
The trick there is to avoid YAGNI (You ain't going to need it). Right now I'm in the middle of ripping some code out of a solution that I over-engineered a while back. I'm finding that YAGNI sometimes doesn't go far enough. It kind of suggests, you probably won't need this, but there's no harm in having it. I'm finding cases where YABOWI (You are better off without it). Particularly when you're handing over code to someone for maintenance. Also it's fun to see how much code you can rip out of a solution without the users losing any functionality. -Richard
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Great topic, great debate. Trust me, your not the only person who has developed for 10 years only to get stumped by not preparing for a tech interview! We are cocky, we are arrogant and sometimes we are lazy...hehe A while back I failed epically - same problems you had, guy asked me to define reflection, polymorphism, etc. I had been coding SQL all day and was like....ok I was not prepared for this sorry I fail!! I was expecting question tied to data grids, ajax, add/edit forms, SQL etc - things more relevant to the job I was applying for...go figure! lol! Looking back, I cannot say I blame them for the theoretical questions though. They have no way of knowing how good you are. So these questions stem conversation that can help them determine that. With that being said, all tech interviewers now a days, it seems they are asking the exact same questions for the most part, it's quite humorous actually.... 1.) Polymorphism 2.) Encapsulation 3.) Reflection 4.) Inheritance 5.) String Builder versus String 6.) Static versus non-static (instanced) 7.) Constructor (what is it?) Just brush up on those concepts, like all of us, you use them everyday - just do not talk about them, and you will be fine. :D -T
Also never forget, you are not powerless in an interview... Imagine being asked for a definition of Polymorphism and beginning your answer with.. "Well there are a few types of polymorphism...In terms of OO programming in .Net it usually means different types of object being able to react to the same messages, by implementing a common interface." Now, some interviewers will put a tick on their sheet and move on to the next question. But some interviewers will pick up on fact that you said there were different types of Polymorphism. And they'll ask you about that. Now a few things have happened. One, you've moved the discussion onto a topic that you know something about (assuming in this case you know something about Polymorphism). Two, you've got the interviewer listening to you and interacting rather than simply reading off questions and hearing pre-fab answers. It might even turn into a lively discussion, and it hammers home the idea that you can hold your own when a discussion goes off script. Finally, you learned something about the interviewer. This is likely to be someone you'll be working with. Will chats with this person be interesting? How do they react if your opinion doesn't match theirs exactly? Always remember, most interviewers desperately want you to be a witty, likeable genius who'll fit right in and be perfect for the role. Also, never forget that you are interviewing them too, in desperation to "Pass" or "Win" the interview some people lose sight of whether the job even sounds right for them. -Rd
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AWdrius wrote:
but when working in team you need to know how certain patterns are named to make communication faster and more fluent.
in my 17 years of programming, i have never had a discussion with a co-worker about a "pattern".
In the interview for my first programming job, they asked me if I knew "design patterns". At the time, I had no idea what that phrase meant. So after being hired, I downloaded the original GoF book and started reading. I got about 3 chapters in, flipped through the rest, then deleted it to not waste the 500KB of disk space on such inane blather. Design Patterns are a fancy names for basic algorithms and techniques that should be obvious to anyone who actually understands indirection and a few basic (lists, trees) data structures. What struck me the most was that the authors say this in the first chapter. In fact, the authors actually insult their readers since needing to read the book means they are sub-par programmers to start with. :P This could be because they aren't programmers at all yet (just starting off). But most often in my experience the people who use the names for 'patterns' and harp on the supposed greatness of design patterns simply have no real understanding of what they are doing, and are doubly ignorant in thinking they have reached a professional level of coding. I have unfortunately worked with many of them, and cleaned up their broken, messy, brain damaged code often.
I have nothing against VB or .NET; all Turing-complete languages are respectable. It just seems that some languages attract one echelon of programmers, and other languages attract an entirely different echelon of programmers. :P
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I consider myself a good developer, fellow developers and managers as well as clients have told me the same. I code to standards and make sure it is done correctly. So why is it that in an interview when asked a question about code I get stumped and not able to answer it correctly? Am I the only one that does this? Can you BE a great developer without being able to tell you the definition of polymorphism or the like? I know I can do the work, very well. So what can I do to learn the definitions of things? I am thinking of making cue cards and going from there. They have helped me in the past. What do you think? What is the best way for you to learn? Also, do you know definitions and meanings of everything you do? Thanks
This is probably one of the best threads I've read in a while. I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one out there. I'm a software architect, but I'm also an Infantryman in the Army National Guard. For those of you in foreign countries, this basically means that I am a volunteer military reservist. I've been called up for military duty five times during my programming career. My last deployment was to Iraq. My memory has not been the same since I returned from a one year deployment to Iraq. My programming ability is still there, but I have a hard time some remembering syntax and definitions. I've compensated for this by writing a private blog that functions as a knowledge base. When I do something at work that I know I will have to remember, I write what I did in the blog and save it. Now, this process, or syntax or procedure is in the blog so that I can search for it and find it if I can't remember how I did something. I can't even begin to describe the frustration I encountered when I returned from Iraq and I started interviewing for work. I could not remember the answer basic syntactical questions. I found that drawing my answers on a notepad or a white board before I spoke helped me remember things in interviews sometimes, but many interviewers just found this odd. Usually, other software architects would just look smug as I squirmed in a chair trying to remember how to write a join command in SQL. I knew when to use a join command, but for the life of me, I could not write one from memory. The funny thing is that I could remember high level things just fine. If you asked me a logical programming question, I could describe how I could do something. I could describe how I did things in the past and why. I could tell you the difference between an Interface and an Abstract class and when you would want to use one or the other. I flew through the technical phone screens just fine, but when I was face to face with someone and had to describe how I would access a SQL database, I just couldn't write it without using IntelliSense or Google. My brain just didn't have the words anymore. I'm getting better with remembering syntax. A lot of this comes from me forcing myself to memorize things that I used to be able to remember with ease just a few years ago. The Code Project has helped. I check the Q&A forums once a day to see if I can answer any questions. So no, brother. You are not the only one.
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Great topic, great debate. Trust me, your not the only person who has developed for 10 years only to get stumped by not preparing for a tech interview! We are cocky, we are arrogant and sometimes we are lazy...hehe A while back I failed epically - same problems you had, guy asked me to define reflection, polymorphism, etc. I had been coding SQL all day and was like....ok I was not prepared for this sorry I fail!! I was expecting question tied to data grids, ajax, add/edit forms, SQL etc - things more relevant to the job I was applying for...go figure! lol! Looking back, I cannot say I blame them for the theoretical questions though. They have no way of knowing how good you are. So these questions stem conversation that can help them determine that. With that being said, all tech interviewers now a days, it seems they are asking the exact same questions for the most part, it's quite humorous actually.... 1.) Polymorphism 2.) Encapsulation 3.) Reflection 4.) Inheritance 5.) String Builder versus String 6.) Static versus non-static (instanced) 7.) Constructor (what is it?) Just brush up on those concepts, like all of us, you use them everyday - just do not talk about them, and you will be fine. :D -T
Excellent reply thank you for the time on this and you are exactly right. The last position I interviewed for had those 7 questions - add to it Immutable - what is it? After asking what immutable was they asked about StringBuilder and String difference. I remember reading about StringBuilder and it had something to do with immutable values or something like that..yea I still need to study up hehe. I always thought instead of the questions about definitions and the like, why don't they just plop a laptop on my lap and give me a technical document with what they want and let me create it. Then I can show them my true skills.
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mmm.. after all, I'm not alone in this. I have the exact same problem. To make it worse, I get angry, when I cannot able to explain it properly, even though I would have done it correctly. I stopped fighting it. I'm going with the flow... ;-) Whoever gives me job, I take. If they think I don't deserve it because I couldn't explain, then I let it be like that. Do I sound so down....
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I consider myself a good developer, fellow developers and managers as well as clients have told me the same. I code to standards and make sure it is done correctly. So why is it that in an interview when asked a question about code I get stumped and not able to answer it correctly? Am I the only one that does this? Can you BE a great developer without being able to tell you the definition of polymorphism or the like? I know I can do the work, very well. So what can I do to learn the definitions of things? I am thinking of making cue cards and going from there. They have helped me in the past. What do you think? What is the best way for you to learn? Also, do you know definitions and meanings of everything you do? Thanks
Well, no, I don't know the definitions of all that I use. But I'm a little stumped by your example. I expected that you were getting some obtuse algorithmic question and you just froze in the headlights for a minute. But I didn't expect you to say something like polymorphism. That's a pretty easy one. So I'm a little confused about your definition of "good" or "great" developer. Unless you're a hardcore assembly language programmer, or you "get things done" without your manager knowing what you're doing and it's all hacks, I'm wondering what kind of things you're programming.
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AWdrius wrote:
but when working in team you need to know how certain patterns are named to make communication faster and more fluent.
in my 17 years of programming, i have never had a discussion with a co-worker about a "pattern".
>in my 17 years of programming, i have never had a discussion with a co-worker about a "pattern". That seems very strange to me.
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Chris Losinger wrote:
in my 17 years of programming, i have never had a discussion with a co-worker about a "pattern".
Is polymorphism a pattern though? We talk about patterns all the time at work since they are common ways of solving problems. But I doubt any of us could give a text book definition of polymorphism. I know I can't.
Todd Smith
The OP didn't say "textbook definition", he just said being able to provide a definition for something as common as polymorhphism. Honestly, if you can't explain what polymorhphism is or a singleton or a "pattern" for that matter, I really am confused what's going on out there.
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I don't think you should worry about the definitions. In fact if I asked someone about polymorphism and they answered me: "the ability to manipulate objects of distinct classes using only knowledge of their common properties without regard for their exact class", it would be more of alarm sign to me than anything else. A good answer would be something like: "yeah, that's the fancy word for executing the same code with different types"; if also they mentioned static vs. runtime polymorphism, than I would know they knew what they are talking about.
>A good answer would be something like: "yeah, that's the fancy word for executing the same code with different types"; if also they >mentioned static vs. runtime polymorphism, than I would know they knew what they are talking about. It's hardly a "fancy word", and anyway that's a definition. You might as well call "algorithm" a fancy word. This thread is sounding very odd.
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This is probably one of the best threads I've read in a while. I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one out there. I'm a software architect, but I'm also an Infantryman in the Army National Guard. For those of you in foreign countries, this basically means that I am a volunteer military reservist. I've been called up for military duty five times during my programming career. My last deployment was to Iraq. My memory has not been the same since I returned from a one year deployment to Iraq. My programming ability is still there, but I have a hard time some remembering syntax and definitions. I've compensated for this by writing a private blog that functions as a knowledge base. When I do something at work that I know I will have to remember, I write what I did in the blog and save it. Now, this process, or syntax or procedure is in the blog so that I can search for it and find it if I can't remember how I did something. I can't even begin to describe the frustration I encountered when I returned from Iraq and I started interviewing for work. I could not remember the answer basic syntactical questions. I found that drawing my answers on a notepad or a white board before I spoke helped me remember things in interviews sometimes, but many interviewers just found this odd. Usually, other software architects would just look smug as I squirmed in a chair trying to remember how to write a join command in SQL. I knew when to use a join command, but for the life of me, I could not write one from memory. The funny thing is that I could remember high level things just fine. If you asked me a logical programming question, I could describe how I could do something. I could describe how I did things in the past and why. I could tell you the difference between an Interface and an Abstract class and when you would want to use one or the other. I flew through the technical phone screens just fine, but when I was face to face with someone and had to describe how I would access a SQL database, I just couldn't write it without using IntelliSense or Google. My brain just didn't have the words anymore. I'm getting better with remembering syntax. A lot of this comes from me forcing myself to memorize things that I used to be able to remember with ease just a few years ago. The Code Project has helped. I check the Q&A forums once a day to see if I can answer any questions. So no, brother. You are not the only one.
First off, thank you for serving as a Reserve. Hoorah! I agree this has been a great discussion and I am so glad I am not alone in this, because to be honest it does feel like everyone has their skills together but me. That was another thing that I could of probably done better, writing on the chalk board pseudo code. The one that stumped me was writing out a recursive function. I failed that one even though I could do it if I had the IDE up. What is it about being in my 'element' that gets my brain working? I made a Word document with about 10 terms that I need to memorize or at least know enough about what it is to describe it in my own words. I have interviews Wednesday and Friday so if I can get them down I am hoping the outcome will be different.