Ask HN: How to prepare a tech interview without a formal CS education?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7043776

by chany2 • 13 years ago

10 11 13 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I basically learned hacking sites and apps through hackathons, and just imitating and googling the heck outta stuff.

I build primarily my websites through JavaScript/HTML/CSS - with PHP - also UI/UX/Ideation - since I only know those, thats what I would be tested in to explain.

The interview would be an algorithm problem, judging how I think and what frameworks I am most familiar with, how I put them together to build a stack, and how comfortable I am in communicating it.

So not sure how to decipher what the above meant, and what/how I should prepare before this interview. Any advice/suggestion or what I should do? (What would be stack or framework in this case, Jquery, Chocolatechip.js?)

Thanks.

* Note its more of a Front-End Product Developer role - and the tech interview is to see that I won't get stump on dealing with technical problems.

ethanbond• 13 years ago

"Product developer" as in... what? That could be anything from CAD to supply chain to full-stack to front-end. What does the company do/what is your actual role/responsibilities?

chany23• 13 years ago

More Front-End. Thanks for clarification.

notastartup2• 13 years ago

I'm also in a similar position, although I found that my experience of shipping SaaS and software largely on my own is completely ignored. Never mind the challenging software design decisions and the amount of unpaid work one must put in before it starts to make money (software is hard but that's because I'm an Economics major with no clue about engineering and only useless information about the stock market I'm supposed to be able to predict). Not to mention that I've actually worked as software developer at a company for 2 years because obviously what could a guy without a CS degree actually have done such as changing and influencing the company's product design and features?

None of it matters because I don't have a CS degree and apparently reciting algorithms and your ability to solve it in the shortest time possible is an absolute indicator of your ability to contribute to a tiny fraction of that company's product that is far less challenging than anything I've done by myself.

I've pretty much given up going to interviews and back to focusing what really matters, ship more software and get rich.

chany23• 13 years ago

I agree. I actually approach my learning in a very similar way. Thus I show value by my portfolio of apps (http://garyyauchan.com/) with ideation and designs, and codes I build through passionate googling.

Granted, the other view is that you need to know the "foundation" and the "why" in order to solve problems more efficiently.

notastartup2• 13 years ago

extremely impressive portfolio I wish I had that level of output but I simply don't, as I have tendency to work on one hard problem for years.

Half the stuff they ask in interview is did you work this open source software and that, did you know this framework has X feature, can you tell me what it is...I'm like all of this I can google and tell you there's simply no difference, it's a matter when I googled it, but the other view is that they want someone with 5 years of angularjs and mongodb experience in the hopes of finding a multi-year veteran and expert in the myriad of brand new frameworks and technologies that are barely mature.

runawaybottle• 13 years ago

I used to work part-time as a frontend developer for software company in college. I was also trying to finish up my CS degree in my fourth year of a not so well known college. I had built some interesting apps at the time (with lots of backend infrastructure, and heavy js), but my boss could not look past pedigree. I was not a programmer as far as he was concerned, which was really disheartening and shattered my confidence.

I kept going on interviews and I was eventually able to move to a programmer position, and haven't had much issue since then being taken seriously as a developer (at a few major places). All you can do is keep trying/interviewing, and approach every company with a sincere assumption that they will give you a fair chance.

argonaut2• 13 years ago

It's unclear from what you just said whether it would consist of just one algorithm problem, or whether it would consist of one algorithm problem and then other questions about frameworks.

Algorithms generally means data structures and algorithms. Stuff like hash tables, sorting, linked lists, binary search, trees, tree traversal methods, runtime complexity. Despite what it sounds like, this is considered basic data structures and algorithms, material that can be covered in one CS class. It's material you could learn through self-study over the course of a month.

For front end developers frameworks/stack/communication probably means questions involving basic knowledge of jQuery and how the DOM works. Also might include questions about anything you list on your resume (e.g. if you list Backbone.js on your resume you might expect questions about Backbone's MVC system, events, etc.). Also might ask you non-coding 'architectural' questions where they ask you to describe in broad terms how you would construct something.

chany23• 13 years ago

Thanks, that definitely help with confirming.

It probably be more would one algorithm problem and then other questions about frameworks.

Yeah good chance a lot of questions on technical ideation and architecturing maybe a very open question, answered whichever tech language I prefer, or in plain english if it has to be cited in a language I am not familiar with.

-- From there, how I do you think I can prepare?

argonaut2• 13 years ago

Since they want to see how you communicate, you should also improve your technical communication skills. How, I don't know.

You should consider studying basic algorithms and data structures. I don't know what resource are out there. There are some MOOCs, and you could use HNSearch to see what people have recommended before.

amalag• 13 years ago

The coursera algorithms course are great introductions.

mercnet• 13 years ago

I am a SQA engineer working on CFD software but eventually want to make the jump to web development. When I am confident enough to start sending my resume out, I planned on buying Cracking the Coding Interview: 150 Programming Questions and Solutions (http://www.amazon.com/dp/098478280X/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl... help me prepare for a technical interview.

Ask HN: How to prepare a tech interview without a formal CS education?

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