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Cracking the Coding Interview

featuring:

Amit GaurDirector of Engineering at

Hosted by: Caitlin QuanEvisors Marketing & Operations Associate

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Agenda

1. About Amit

2. Tech Interviews

3. Interview Preparation

4. During the Interview

5. Longer Term Strategies

6. Q&A

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About Amit

• Masters in Computer Science, Rutgers University

• 8+ years working at tech companies : Amazon, Yahoo! & startups

• Grew from individual contributor to Director of Engineering

• Hired & interviewed hundreds of engineers

• Built up engineering teams from 5 to 35 engineers

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The Problem

• Technical Interviews are hard!• Let’s look at some tools and approaches

to making the process easier and also have fun while at it.

• Why is this even important? You want to master this as this will help you throughout your career

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What are engineering firmslooking for?

• Smart and talented (Yes that’s you!)• Team player (It's not just about you)• Effective communicator (Getting the point

across)• Invested in success ( Do you really care?)• Keep it Simple Stupid (Gets the job done

and personable)

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Typical Tech Interview Structure

• Technical Phone Screen (1 or 2)• Off Site Coding Problem (optional)• On Site Interviews

– Meet multiple Interviewers

• Most tech companies follow the same core structure with some minor differences

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Before The Interview

• Resume Review

• Interview Preparation

• Behavioral Questions

• Core Technical Questions

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Behavioral Concepts

• Prepare answers to the following questions– Most Challenging – What You Learned – Most Interesting – Hardest Bug – Enjoyed Most – Conflicts with Teammates

• Understand the Product/Company you are interviewing for

• What to ask the interviewer: ask genuine and insightful questions

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Technical Preparation

• Revise All Core CS Concepts (More Later)• Problem Solving : Practice on paper and whiteboard• Write clean code : Maintainable and readable• Compiles Correctly• Works for Error/Edge Cases • Testable• Practice Mock Interviewing

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Core Data Structures

• Arrays• Linked Lists• Binary Trees• Tries• Stacks• Queues• Hash Tables

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Algorithms

• Graph Traversal – Depth First Search – Breadth First Search

• Binary Search

• Sorting Algorithms– Quick Sort– Merge Sort

• String Manipulation

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Additional Concepts

• Bit Manipulation

• Design Patterns– Creational– Behavioral– Structural

• Recursion vs Iterative Solutions

• Computational Time Complexity

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Foolproof Approach to Tackling Coding Problems

• Understand the Problem • Resolve Ambiguity• Design an Algorithm • Quick Pseudo Code• Express Computational & Space Complexity• Write Code • Test Code

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Patterns of Problem Solving

• Practice! Practice!• Develop patterns of thinking and intuition with practice • Exposure to wide variety of classic algorithmic

problems• Whiteboard• Collaborate : Mock Interviews

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Synergize with the Community

• Write your own blog• Subscribe and follow top blogs/websites :

Artima/StackOverflow • Participate : TopCoder/Google Summer of

Code/StackOverFlow• Attend User Group Meetings: eg.JUG,

Ruby on Rails User Groups

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Longer Term : Sharpen the Saw

• Contribute/follow open source • Keep up to date with new technologies• Do Side Projects• Keep up to date with industry best

practices• Keep Learning!

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Connect

Book your one-on-one session with Amit at

careercup.evisors.com/expert/2048

Amit GaurDirector of Engineering at

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Questions & Answers

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Questions & Answers

Question 1:

How do you balance the length and depth of your answers?

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Questions & Answers

Question 2:

How do you prepare for coding interviews where the managers are not knowledgeable of current coding practices?

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Questions & Answers

Question 3:

Are there a lot of problems that require critical thinking beforehand? How do you prepare for these problems?

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Questions & Answers

Question 4:

What is the best way to answer design questions? What does the interviewer really expect to see from this?

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Questions & Answers

Question 5:

Is it okay to bring notes into the interview (Example: Current projects you have worked on)?

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Questions & Answers

Question 6:

Does the format of the tech interview reflect the characteristics of the company?

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Questions & Answers

Question 7:

Are there any common mistakes you see candidates make in these interviews?

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Questions & Answers

Question 8:

Do you have any advice for those struggling to find an answer to a tough problem?

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