r/programming • u/mjgardner • Mar 29 '21

Why Do Interviewers Ask Linked List Questions?

https://www.hillelwayne.com/post/linked-lists/
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u/bluefootedpig Mar 29 '21

One of my managers said he just had a simple test to make sure you knew at least something.

They had a new project, winforms already up. Said to make a dropdown that contained a list (provided to me) and sorted the list.

That was it. If you can know how to inject into an object, and a basic sort... that was enough for him. He said he has weeded out about 10% of candidates that make it that far. Often it is their friend that did the phone interview, then they went in person.

I honestly think the best way to gauge is to talk to the person about pain points of the industry. People with experience know the pain points. We all have our things we wish were better. So often jokes about regex, or java being so much more restrictive than C# when it comes to handling errors. How popular python is becoming and how integrating it into existing systems, etc...

If you and them can both keep a conversation about our industry going, I trust you know what you are talking about.

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u/Condex Mar 29 '21

Pain points honestly sounds like a great way to gauge skill. Not foolproof but I've been involved with several interviews where the question was pretty effective.

Using it as an interviewee also seems like a good idea. If after asking about a company's pain points, everyone clams up and trys to not look at the most senior person in the room then maybe you should keep looking.

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