Why this matters: This information matters because it provides information specific to preparing for technical and whiteboard interviews.
1. What are the key pieces of advice mentioned in the “Whiteboard Advice” reading assignment for successfully tackling whiteboard interviews?
2. From the “6 tips to ace a whiteboard programming interview” article, can you identify and explain at least two strategies that can help improve your performance during a whiteboard programming interview?
Take a few minutes: it’s ok to ask for a few minutes to think before you start talking. Make sure you ask for that time first when the interviewer is done asking the problem domain.
Complete pseudocode before converting it into code
If you can’t remember something specific, mention that this is where you would look it up, how and when.
Be courteous and humble with advice given.
Review your work at the end, particularly for algorithmic efficiency and correctness.
3. What does Gayle McDowell say about interview preparation in the Engineering Interview Process Deconstructed video?
interviews should be predictive, not just test someone’s knowledge, it should test intelligence and problem solving.
Sometimes problems are intentionally hard, where they aren’t expecting you to know the answer. They want to see what kind of progress you make.
Spend a few weeks doing interview prep, but more is not necessarily helpful. Make sure you’re confident and comfortable in your DSA basics, but also work on challenging and more difficult problems.
You’re hiring people on how they talk about what they’ve done before, not just what they have done.
Even if you don’t know the right technology, you want to be someone who can learn what you’re missing easily, think about problems deeply, and juggle lots of components.
The biggest things that hurt people who don’t have CS degrees is insecurity and lack of confidence. Don’t count yourself out, don’t give up. Believe that you can do well.
Nothing at the moment!