Why Leetcode is Dead and Pair Programming for Interviews is the Way Forward

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We’ve all experienced the job application which required us to do an online coding test. You have to brush up on your algorithms, data structures, time complexity, and by the end of it you’re cramming as if it was a university exam! Now that we’re the ones usually interviewing candidates, a good question to ask is: “are online coding tests the best indicator of a candidate’s proficiency and competence?” In this talk, we’ll explore:

  • - The pitfalls of Leetcode-like tests

  • - What we should be looking for in candidates

  • - How pair programming is the best way to see how a candidate would work with the team

  • - Plus a little mini demo on a remote pair programming interview




This talk has been presented at TechLead Conference 2023, check out the latest edition of this Tech Conference.

FAQ

The talk focuses on the issues with traditional online coding tests, the inefficacy of platforms like LeetCode, and the benefits of integrating pair programming interviews into the hiring process to enhance the selection of candidates.

Muhammad believes that pair programming interviews offer a more realistic assessment of a candidate's coding skills and teamwork capabilities, as they simulate actual work environments and problem-solving situations, which leads to better hiring decisions.

Traditional online coding tests are criticized for focusing too narrowly on a candidate's ability to solve algorithmic and data structure problems under time pressure, which may not accurately reflect the skills needed for day-to-day software development.

Theodo, where Muhammad works, incorporates pair programming interviews that involve realistic coding tasks and environments to better assess the practical and collaborative skills of candidates.

Muhammad's decision to join Theodo was significantly influenced by his positive experience during a pair programming interview, which he found enjoyable and representative of the actual work environment at Theodo.

Theodo looks for candidates who can write maintainable and understandable code, solve problems effectively, and work well within a team, emphasizing practical skills over just theoretical knowledge.

Muhammad recommends using tools like CodeSandbox or Visual Studio Code's LiveShare extension, which allow for real-time collaborative coding in a realistic environment that mimics daily work settings.

A tennis scoring kata is a coding exercise used during interviews to simulate real-world programming tasks. It involves implementing the scoring logic for a tennis game, serving to evaluate a candidate's coding and problem-solving skills in a practical scenario.

Mo Khazali
Mo Khazali
32 min
09 Mar, 2023

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Video Summary and Transcription

The Talk discusses the problems with online coding tests and the benefits of pair programming interviews. It emphasizes the importance of hiring and growth, including creating a positive interview experience and considering the cost of hiring. The job of a software developer extends beyond coding and requires multiple skill sets. Pair programming provides a more accurate assessment of skills required for software development. The Talk also covers implementing a tennis scoring system and customizing pair programming interviews for different roles and levels.

1. Introduction to Hiring and Growth

Short description:

Hello everyone. Today, we'll discuss the problems with online coding tests, the benefits of pair programming interviews, and the importance of hiring and growth. We'll also explore the ideal candidate traits and the mismatch between online coding platforms and required skills. I'll share my personal experience with pair programming interviews and their impact on my career. Let's dive in.

♪♪ Hello everyone. I am super excited to be giving this talk at Tech Lead Conf. Thank you for taking the time to join us. So, today, we're going to be taking a look together at what's wrong with online coding tests, why leetcode is dead, and how including a pair programming interview can revolutionize your entire interview process.

So, I want to start off by giving an overview of what we're going to be talking about today. Firstly, very quickly, why does growth matter? And why should you focus on interviews? Two, what are you looking for in the ideal candidate? What are the key characteristics, traits, skillsets that you should be targeting? Knowing that, thirdly, what are the skillsets that online coding platforms like leetcode, like HackerRank are actually testing? Do these match up well to the skills that you need to be looking for in a candidate? And lastly, we'll go in-depth on the whole pair programming approach.

So, a little bit about myself and where I work at. My name is Muhammad. I am the head of mobile at a company called Theodo, based in the UK. Theodo is actually a global consultancy with over 600 people spread across the UK, France, US, and Morocco. We help clients build digital solutions to some tough strategic challenges. Things like self-service and retail journeys, to e-commerce platforms for second-hand clothing, or building Challenger banks from scratch. So, if you're interested in learning a little bit more about Theodo or just wanting to have a chat, please feel free to shoot me a message on Twitter. I'm always down to grab some coffee either in person or have a chat virtually.

On a personal note, the reason I really wanted to give this talk was actually because of my own journey in joining Theodo. So, my decision to join the company was largely influenced by my own pair programming interview. It was a real enjoyable experience that pushed me over the line. It got me to say yes and actually join Theodo and the team that we have. So, the impact of it is very much felt in my own personal career. And I'm now one of the people who conducts the pair programming interviews. So, we've come kind of full circle. And it's really something that I enjoy. So, I'm very excited to share it with you all today. Let's jump into it.

What is the importance of hiring and growth? Not gonna spend too much time on this, but really if you look at it, you can split it up into three categories. One is team quality. This might seem very, very simple. But a high quality of hiring will lead to higher quality of teams. So, without having a well thought out and good quality interview process, you risk having false positives. So, maybe hiring the wrong candidates, someone who's not a fit to the team or doesn't have the skill sets that you were requiring.

2. Importance of Hiring and Growth

Short description:

Having an effective hiring system is crucial for hiring the right candidates and avoiding false negatives. The hiring process can impact a company's reputation, so it's important to create an enjoyable and positive experience for applicants. Additionally, the cost of hiring, including the pay for candidates and the time spent by interviewers, should be taken into consideration. When looking for candidates, it's important to focus on their ability to write maintainable and understandable code, as code is read more often than it's written.

Or you'll have false negatives. And that's not hiring the right candidates. Sometimes having a system that isn't effective will make you lose out on some really good candidates that could have potentially been a very valuable asset to your team and to your company.

Secondly, company reputation. I remember when I was a graduate and I was looking for jobs, one of the things that came up regularly amongst my peers was certain companies are difficult to apply to. Why take the time? They had a bit of a reputation for being a little bit difficult and not enjoyable processes to go through. And hence it was kind of known amongst the student community, you probably don't want to spend your time applying for them or it's really difficult. Hiring process can have really positive and really negative impacts for the reputation of the company. And throughout that whole interview process and throughout hiring, you can utilize it as an opportunity to get to know more engineers, learn about people's experiences, share your own experiences. And it's a really good opportunity to just get to know more people in that whole interview and hiring stage. So it's good for reputation and also a good opportunity for you to get to know more people.

And lastly, cost. So if you're starting to look at being an EM or a tech lead, one of the important things that you're going to have to be grappling with is cost. So that's anything from the cost of the pay for the candidate. More short term, there's the cost of a deaf team that are going to be interviewing the candidate. The cost of their time that they're spending to go through these interviews with your candidate, see if they're suitable or not. And then in the worst case scenario, if the candidate wasn't suitable and you needed to rehire after some point, the cost of needing to rehire obviously can be quite heavy as well. So with all of that in mind, we can have an overview of why hiring and growth is important and why we need to focus on this. What should we look for in a candidate? I've got some of the sun rays and the lone figure to give this kind of grandiose, holy vibe. So this is a perfect candidate. I'm sure at some point, we've all heard of this concept of the 10X developer. It's the developer who can deliver at 10 times the speed with one tenth of the lines of code. I'm glad to say that after extensive research, I have come to the conclusion that the 10X developer is a lie. It's a total facade. It doesn't exist. And throughout my research about the 10X developer, I actually landed on this really cool quote that I liked, which was, code is read four times more than it's written. So if you write easy to reason about code, then it pays off dramatically in the future. I think it really encompasses a few key factors about what is important when you are looking to hire a candidate. You want someone who is able to write good code, code that will be maintainable and understandable by others, by more senior members in the team, more junior members in the team, and code that is ultimately understandable and reasonable by others in that team. And that is what will make that 10X payoff in the long term, because that code is going to be reviewed and looked at so many times in the future and in the lifecycle of a code base.

QnA

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My current favorite Spotify playlist is Brand New Chill: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DX6uQnoHESB3u?si=380263b3c853442e
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