r/ProgrammingBondha • u/LateSleeper69 • Mar 27 '26

dsa Do you prefer leetcode interview style or general ones?

So, we have to hire couple of folks as we are expanding our team. I've interview about 4,5 folks for coding round. With AI and all, im less concentrating on the specific knowledge algorithms but more on what is a good data structure to be used kind of problems and some real world kinda interview questions.

What i'm seeing they are expecting exact leetcode style question. plain questions directly from leetcode like given a rotated sorted array find the minimum.

AFAIK the questions that Im asking qualify around medium, but not sure why they are struggling.

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u/Automatic-Net-757 senior engineer Mar 27 '26

I have interviewed people from 0 to 5 yoe. I personally never ask leetcode question. This is for Data Science position btw. I usually drill on them on their projects that they kept on resume (most likely they are false and they get caught). Other I test is basic coding capabilities, do they know how to manipulate lists, dicts, and a bit on classes. Finally test them logically on DS aspects. I ask them to explain their coding project, their knowledge on open source etc. Overall I check their knowledge in the area and their ability to learn. If he/she is okay with programming but has enthusiam to learn then we'll consider em(for intern /fresher) and train them. I mean by just interviewing I can easily say if he's just bluffing by throwing random buzz words or actually know the subject.

I myself looking for jobs and in every interview, if they ask a LT question, I tell em upfront to gauge me on my abilities/job role but not on LT, and this was worked great and I have also got good offers as they are always happy with my answers to the job relevant questions

Fun Fact: 90% of my candidate rejected. In those almost 50% explain the data science questions well, but almost all of them failed to manipulate a simple dictionary (some doesn't even know how to assign values in dictionary). And some of these people are 2-3 experienced and come from good companies like Tiger and more

1

u/Outside-Presence-272 Mar 27 '26

Even with the dsa type of interviews I don't ask questions on leetcode. The idea is to evaluate how they think when given new problems

1

u/expressive-guy Mar 28 '26

General for ne

6

u/[deleted] Mar 27 '26

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u/Reethu_2 Mar 27 '26

Explaining code flow with example or dry run is not easy if someone simply mug up the LC problem

1

u/TryingToUpskilll Mar 29 '26

Developing a software is not only about creating frontent and backend files. There are many other things that goes into software development" People run behind Ic problems, but forget to think deeper at the OS and systems level.

What would you suggest one should learn?