Got Judged as someone 'who can't code' for Not Knowing Tries—Am I Really That Bad?
Posted by Next-Builder-2047@reddit | learnprogramming | View on Reddit | 194 comments
I recently had an interview for a frontend role for a startup where the interviewer first asked me to find the Longest Common Subsequence (LCS). I started with a brute-force recursive approach, explaining the take/not-take method. He immediately asked why I was using recursion instead of an iterative approach. I agreed that it could also be done iteratively using DP, but before I could proceed, he changed the question entirely.
He then asked me to solve a 'subarray' version instead of a 'subsequence' one. Before I could properly think through that, he changed the question again to finding the Longest Common Prefix, saying, 'Let me make it simpler for you,' which felt like he was underestimating my thinking.
For the common prefix question, I implemented a solution that iteratively compares each string and updates the prefix, making it O(N * M). He asked me to optimize it and I said we could go for sorting the array itself and get from the first one as our common one. The interviewer dismissed it as inefficient and expected me to optimize it without sorting. I later realized that a Trie could be used, but I wasn’t familiar with it at the time.
Later, he asked UI/JavaScript-related questions, which I answered perfectly. However, he still told me that I 'can't code well' just because I couldn't optimize that one problem. He even suggested a part-time role, saying that as a fresher, I shouldn’t worry too much about compensation.
I’m feeling disheartened. I know I’m good at frontend development, but struggling with one specific DSA problem made him judge my entire ability. Does not knowing Tries or missing an optimization mean I'm a bad frontend engineer? How should I deal with such feedback?
nocrimps@reddit
Here's a fact: when I read this question I didn't remember what a trie is and I didn't care.
Here's another fact: I still don't care.
Here's a third fact: I have never been fired or received a performance review below "exceeds expectations" at any job in the last 20 years.
Here's a fourth fact: when I have quit jobs in the past, my employer has begged me to stay, offered more money, etc, several times in my career.
Never ever confuse memorization with ability in this field again. Consider this a weird pep talk.
Forsaken_Ad8120@reddit
Do or do not, there are no tries \~yoda
Heka_FOF@reddit
That sounds frustrating—judging your entire ability from one DSA question is unfair, especially for a frontend role. Most companies care more about practical frontend skills than Tries. A strong portfolio showing performance-focused projects can help prove your value. Have you built anything recently that highlights your frontend strengths?"
0destruct0@reddit
I have not used a trie in my entire career
Mysterious-Grape8425@reddit
As others have already said, he was just trying to intimidate you just so he can lowball you. It's a common tactic with many shitty startups here. 10k per month? If you are having several offers, then fuck this job. If you are in dire need of money, you could do it as a part time job but the mental strain he is going to put on you going forward, honestly, won't be worth it.
Now you know that there might be gaps in your knowledge and what those could be. Simple, get better. Get so good that such morons won't be able to undermine you the next time. Nothing beats the confidence that comes with knowledge. Go, do it.
joolzg67_b@reddit
I have been programming for 40 years and only learned about trie doing last years AoC.
Did the last 4 years of AoC and learnt loads of new stuff that i have NEVER needed.
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Caramel_Last@reddit
Those are really not a realistic representation of frontend problems
SleepySchildpad@reddit
These are not even realistic representations of back-end problems. I'm so glad I'm in the senior side. Coding interviews are getting insane. In my experience, the type of person that can solve the problem in OPs interview on the spot are usually pretty bad at coming up with any production code.
There's a couple guys at my place of work that are the Leetcoder types... couldn't even tell you if they are good programmers, because they generally struggle to find projects willing to take them on. They'll spend 6 months writing a library nobody will use, then leave to the next shop, where they will also struggle to ship any meaningful projects, write a library nobody will use, and repeat.
Knowing the domain (or showing capacity of the type of thinking required to learn the domain), and being able to communicate are 100x more important than rote memorization of data structures and algorithms. Just Google it lmao
JiminP@reddit
Sometimes it is.
It's certainly true that domain knowledge and communication skills is more important, but it nevertheless is important to gauge big-Os for "sufficient" time complexity and "potentially achieveable" time complexity.
Of course, it's also true that "memorization" is less important. Acknowledging the existence of a solution is enough. (One may either learn the algorithm or just use a library later.)
In "real-world", "routine business" development, I've seen these:
In particular I don't remember how to implement topological sorting, but I do know that it can be done in linear-time, that there are several libraries doing it, and that I will be able to implement it reading descriptions on Wikipedia.
In addition to those, I've seen these cases:
On the other hand, I don't care big-O much where the size of data involved is predictibly small. I often embrace O(n^(2)) for n around 1000, knowing that the part of code I'm implementing is very unlikely be a bottleneck.
What I want to say is that, while measuring skill via "solving leetcode problems" heavily is definitely harmful, the skill actually sometimes helps.
Next-Builder-2047@reddit (OP)
True most of the time we aren't using that kind of optimizations in front end which is leetcode based
Spaciax@reddit
frontend and leeycode mix about as well as oil and a pile of bricks.
Next-Builder-2047@reddit (OP)
I believe any software engineer can do LC if they want to have a knowledge of data structure and algo or if they just wish do problem solving. But that shouldn't be the only basis of judgement in interviews especially in specialization roles like frontend development or Android development or machine learning engineer. To test problem solving they could ask questions surrounding our daily job.
NeonSeal@reddit
Honestly it is barely used in backend work either, everything is already highly abstracted to the point your just working on systems level problems
Perfect_Papaya_3010@reddit
Depends on the system I'd say. But in general, yeah you're right. At my current project ,aside from making requests faster by using smarter SQL queries + better Indexing, I've only ever had to go all in on performance once, and that was for an excel upload for over a million rows.
Was extremely fun though but the code is very complicated so if there's a bug it will be hard to figure out
lucidrainbows@reddit
As someone who practices leetcode for like 10 hours every day. The interviewer was a douche. You can’t expect anyone to solve those problems without having seen them before.
Next-Builder-2047@reddit (OP)
You solve LC for 10 hours. Do you work on development as well? And if you do how do get the time?
lucidrainbows@reddit
I occasionally spend time on side projects. I spent a year doing leetcode religiously every day, but now I will only do it for 1 month straight, followed by a 2 week break. I have the time, because I’m unemployed and can’t find a job. I try to spend every single waking moment upskilling, but like don’t get me wrong I still game and stuff.
UnlikelyUniverse@reddit
Is the space really that bad right now? No job offers after 1 year of leetcode & studying sounds scary.
Next-Builder-2047@reddit (OP)
Great routine.
chalks777@reddit
In general you're right, but there are definitely exceptions.
I don't think you necessarily always need your frontend engineers to be able to handle this kind of thing. I do think that if they CAN handle this kind of thing, your team will be stronger for certain kinds of products. Heavy data visualizations, or really anything that requires a lot of processing to present a cogent view of your data, can sometimes need it on the frontend.
It's also worth noting that frontend engineers often end up getting to demo the end result of complicated algorithmic work. I can say from experience that being able to understand and talk competently about it is absolutely good for your career.
liquidify@reddit
This is about the dumbest shit I've ever heard. Hopefully the interviewer reads this and feels ashamed. He or she is an asshole, a loser, and a bad person.
Next-Builder-2047@reddit (OP)
I hope he does
MulberryLarge6375@reddit
It's really not your fault. I had a friend who's working in HR, and he told me that sometime they are offering interviews to other races people to pass the EEO policy, but they never intend to hire people. Or some people get inner referrals(friend or family) and take away your chance, but these guys don't even know how to code at all. Sometime, when they have found the candidates they are looking forward to, they still offer you a chance because they want to get pleasure from humiliating you.
Uppapappalappa@reddit
The guy is Full of sh***. Don't worry, what you write, you seem like a smart developer. I couldn't solve this problem in such a situation like an interview anymore! And i am coding sincd 30 years as software developer. So, forget them!
Intiago@reddit
This really sounds to me that their intention was to belittle someone and tell them they’re a bad coder in order to justify offering them a shit role with shit pay. I’ve seen a few other examples of this on this sub. It never mattered how good you are.
Run away from this position and forget about the whole experience. Its BS.
Next-Builder-2047@reddit (OP)
I think so that was their approach since they want someone to work on their project for nearly free.
HealyUnit@reddit
You'd think he'd be more accepting, and not such a trie-hard. Beggars can't be choosers, after all
Next-Builder-2047@reddit (OP)
He could have completely rejected me rather than doing that part time thing when we were clearly discussing for full time position
Old_Astronaut_1175@reddit
They're sure they wanted a part-time contract, then give you work equivalent to full-time. And blame you for your inefficiency in managing the workload to push you to work full time, but with part-time pay.
singeblanc@reddit
Probably didn't have the budget to pay you full time, or not enough work. They always wanted a part timer, but that's harder to advertise.
Next-Builder-2047@reddit (OP)
Yes that could be a reason
peripateticman2026@reddit
I see that your pun completely flew over everybody's heads.
Kqyxzoj@reddit
NP.
Next-Builder-2047@reddit (OP)
No I didn't say anything for him asking me such a question but the conclusion he gave that I can't code at all sure I wouldn't know a concept that I might not have done but am surely not someone who can't code
AccomplishedLeave506@reddit
Most of those questions would be unanswerable to probably 80% of developers. The general skill level is depressingly low.
The fact that you know and can use O notation to work out algorithm cost puts you in the top ten percent. I know engineers with 20 years experience, earning significant money, who don't even know what big O is. Depressing, but it does mean being even relatively competent makes you highly skilled and sought after. You'll be fine.
CaptainPigtails@reddit
Should have walked out when he said it wasn't an interview. Asshole was just wasting your time.
Next-Builder-2047@reddit (OP)
Didn't walk out though he might be unprofessional for saying that I am not.
ehr1c@reddit
Leaving an interview when they're wasting your time is the furthest thing from unprofessional
Kqyxzoj@reddit
Indeed. Walking out of bullshit ~~interviews~~ conversations is time well spent.
peripateticman2026@reddit
Exactly.
IcarusTyler@reddit
Yeah a reasonable interview is not programming task after programming task
emefluence@reddit
Yeah they're negging you. Tries are probably my favourite data structure, and I have had precisely zero call to use them in my career as a professional web developer. Your answers sound decent and thoughtful, it sounds very much like you just encountered a wanker. It happens, just don't take a job with one!
jemimamymama@reddit
This behavior is unfortunately in every industry, even customer service roles. It's sad and disgusting how someone just trying to work with a skill they're passionate about means a good opportunity to put them down just to manipulate them into a job role they don't realize isn't quite what they're applying for in the first place
Business-Decision719@reddit
Yeah, the fact that they still wanted to hire OP, but didn't want them to worry about compensation, really says it all. They could've just as easily found a polite way to end the interview (sorry, "discussion") if they really thought OP was incompetent. This was all about feeding insecurity discouraging new hires from negotiating more hours or better pay.
ChitranshAgarwal@reddit
Have more than 8 years of experience in core software development and architecture. I never had to use tries
Zahrad70@reddit
Some interview strategies are simply: make the candidate feel worthless then lowball them with an obvious show of holding one’s nose.
Know your worth. Don’t let them get in your head.
NemTren@reddit
Would fail it as well, 5+ years fullstack.
Cheers.
Though as well as I could make interviewer fail it or you as well, it's not this hard when it's done on purpose. Good thing you've made a post to ask.
Mentalextensi0n@reddit
You got manipulated by a toxic startup trying to get people to take lower pay.
Next-Builder-2047@reddit (OP)
I won't get manipulated just felt bad though he wasted 1 hour of my time saying rude things
Mentalextensi0n@reddit
Good! But actually you did partially fall for it, which is shown by you making this post. They tricked you into questioning yourself. I would do the same, but since I am looking in from the outside I can see the truth. Best of luck friend.
hollaSEGAatchaboi@reddit
Manage your emotions, nerd. You projected, got called out and tried to salvage your weakness with "Actually, I'm technically correct."
It's sad, because OP was polite to you, and your weakness severely diminished an otherwise good effort.
HorrorLettuce1012@reddit
very well said
Next-Builder-2047@reddit (OP)
Thank you so much. I was feeling little disheartened for what he said wanted to share with the community I am in as I don't have many friends to talk about it.
Kqyxzoj@reddit
Well, in that case include the name of the company, so other people know to avoid it. Or at the very least be forewarned. AND post a company review on a site like glassdoor.
Oh, and apply at glassdoor as full whatever dev, because the current full suck dev doesn't know how to handle redirects.
https://www.glassdoor.com/index.htm?countryRedirect=false&countryRedirect=true&countryRedirect=true
SlightUniversity1719@reddit
Bro from what you said I think you did good, that guy was just setting up the stage to give you a low ball offer.
astutesnoot@reddit
Were they Indian? Are you not?
ReddRobben@reddit
I had this same interview. Dude was clearly hungover, began by saying he had been asked to interview me last minute and really didn't want to, and then proceeded to just dump on me for the rest of our time together. He asked me about a dynamic programming problem that had nothing to do with what I was there for and no matter what I said I was wrong and stupid. Any job in which that's how the interview goes is a job you've been spared.
NatureBoyJ1@reddit
I'm really glad I've had a job as a developer for 30+ years. No way I could pass these interview tests. My answers would mostly be "I'd Google that". And I've done C, XSLT, several Java web frameworks, SQL, JavaScript, Python, VBA, and probably a few things I've forgotten.
TheSystemBeStupid@reddit
This guy suffers from sps and wanted you to witness him felate himself. Unfortunately this is a common trait in tech. Sooooo many nerds with superiority complexes.
Empty-Helicopter5684@reddit
Wow for a fresher, your knowledge of leetcode as well as front end seems very advanced. How and where did you study? Did you have any prior internship/experience that helped you
incamas225@reddit
Life will continually try to test you and make you question yourself. Resist.
Perfect_Papaya_3010@reddit
You didn't mention if this was a senior or junior role.
I don't know frontend well so I don't know if there are specific ways to increase performance but if it was a senior role for C# I would expect that they would assume the interviewee knows about span and marshalling (which is mainly only used if you REALLY need better performance, otherwise you'll just reduce a request with a few nanoseconds but making the code unnecessarily complicated)
But if it's just a startup I'd expect that their focus is on functionality and not performance to begin with. It's also not hard for an experienced programmer to Google and learn these things in a few minutes.
So no unless the role was "frontend performance enhancer" I think they're stupid
Vivid-Competition-20@reddit
My response to that puke of a person would be this: Do you do a lot of that here? Is that something that comes up a lot here? If so, I wouldn’t be interested in doing that full-time, so a part time role would be better. I’m more interest in progressing in my career and not being stuck doing the same thing all the time.
Stankyfish_99@reddit
Sounds like you were interviewed by someone who emboldens their own ego and self worth by making other feel stupid. What an asshole. I’ve had interviewers ask me questions that sounded like they were basically asking me to solve the blocking issue he just cleared last week after a month of trying that now seems trivial or elementary to him now…as an excuse to then show me his solution after I didn’t solve it in 5 minutes.
Your interviewer wasn’t even letting you answer before he started changing the question. Someone forgot their ADD med that morning.
DoomGoober@reddit
We always had a policy of letting the engineer finish questions.
That may mean they go for the entire interview on the warm up question, if that's what they needed. They probably wouldn't get hired, but until you let an interviewee warm up and get rolling, you never know.
Of course, we pre-screened like crazy before interviews which is what gave us the luxury of letting interviewees spend as much time as they wanted on each question.
Next-Builder-2047@reddit (OP)
I didn't get your process of Interviewing part. Could you explain it more?
Jack_Harb@reddit
What he means is, that you would not cut someone short if the answer. And give the candidate time to think. Even if it takes 5minutes.
An interview is a stressful environment. Not normal for sure and the interviewer should give the candidate space to warm up, get into his rhythm and mindset.
The prescreening he said relies on CV research, giving them a task ahead like „implement this or that, how long do you need?“ then you give them the time and review it, even together with them so you can evaluate their code + you have an understanding how long he needs and estimates a task ahead.
Additionally of course cultural Interview ahead of time.
At peak times, my current employer has like 7 interviews. I am an interviewer myself quite often.
Next-Builder-2047@reddit (OP)
Did not go through any of the above process in this one but yes learnt that's how some interviewers are. I will probably move on and get better ones.
Jack_Harb@reddit
Don’t take I personal and don’t feel bad about it really. I am in hiring for one of the biggest tech companies. Let me tell you, the way he challenges you is outdated and doesn’t bring out the best candidate.
1st of all, it’s better practice to ask for technical topics and probe for understanding, rather than forcing to implant something on the spot
2nd of all, give them a task to do and review it with them together, ask probing question. Give the applicant the chance to improve or even explain their reasoning. Which helps way more unfastening the level of a candidate.
3rd of all, don’t belittle someone, you are there to evaluate the candidate not release steam on them.
4th of all, if someone blanks or doesn’t know for real, move one. The importance lies in understanding how experience the candidate is. And EVERYONE has knowledge gaps. If they are needed for the job they can be learned if the rest is promising.
Tl;dr: don’t feel bad. The guy who interviewed you was probably a dick and has no proper education in good interviewing practices. You are a good developer and should not feel down because someone indicated that. Know your worth and believe in you. We all suffer from imposter syndrome. Don’t know why people make it even harder on us.
Good luck mate!
Next-Builder-2047@reddit (OP)
Thank you so much for your advice and words. I would look forward to better opportunities.
Defiant_War8030@reddit
Can you tell me your yoe when u were applying for this job
Next-Builder-2047@reddit (OP)
I have an year of experience.
Defiant_War8030@reddit
And can you tell your tech stack. As i have been applying relentlessly , I am getting rejection mails only. My tech stack is mern, nextJS, postgreSQL,and some other tools I have used for my projects
Next-Builder-2047@reddit (OP)
Mern.
Schokokampfkeks@reddit
Honestly he did you a favor. I would not want to work for a company that wants to have this bs as the first impression. The guy was on a power trip.
Imagine what working there would mean when they aren't even capable of sticking to the interview assignments for 10 minutes.
Next-Builder-2047@reddit (OP)
I agree they are taking advantage of the current market scenario low paying freshers and just shattering their confidence
Kqyxzoj@reddit
Looking forward to that glasdoor review!
Kqyxzoj@reddit
That right there is exactly why you should worry about compensation.
Kqyxzoj@reddit
"Because it can be done either way, and today I feel like using recursion. Yesterday was full of iterations already. I'm sure you'll understand. But AFTER I finish this, I will be happy to show you how we can convert it from recursion to iteration. Then we can run some benchmarks with realistic data on it to see if the performance difference justifies rude interruptions."
BRDataScience@reddit
that's a jerk, don't feel bad about it
zorecknor@reddit
Any place asking that kind of questions for a postion that is not a Senior working on a particular domain that requires that kind of knowledge at the tip of their fingers, is a place that thinks too high of itself and should be avoided at all costs.
Those are the kind of questions that you solve in 5 min if you encountered them before, or takes some hours googling around learning about the domain.
Bee892@reddit
I’m fresh off a degree in Software Engineering that was a five-year program with 18 months of internship experience, and I just had to look up what the hell a trie was. In all of those five years, that data structure was never mentioned a single time. What a bunch of crap.
armahillo@reddit
I know a job is a job, but it sounds like you dodged a bad work environment.
Try/catch is something you should learn. If nothing else, it can let you avoid writing messy blocks of cautious code. Its also useful for curating error traces to make debugging easier.
wickedgoose@reddit
Okay, fair. A FE dev should absolutely know these tries, but there is always a catch.
Who allowed trees and tries to have the same pronunciation? And tries are a dang type of tree and god interviewing is such a nightmare no matter how much you know
armahillo@reddit
Oh wait — well TIL i guess
https://web.stanford.edu/class/archive/cs/cs166/cs166.1146/lectures/09/Small09.pdf
Ive been programming for decades and have worked with the data structures mentioned in that pdf, but this is the first time Ive heard them called “tries”.
wickedgoose@reddit
Well that is good! The CS prof who introduced them to me a million years ago pronounced them as "trees". I'm glad that isn't universal because that was very confusing for obvious reasons. We all learn today!
Next-Builder-2047@reddit (OP)
You can't seem to know that unless you did one. I never had in my one year of experience
Next-Builder-2047@reddit (OP)
It's not try catch block used for error handling it's tries which is a data structure used for string matching in an efficient way
armahillo@reddit
TIL that it is apparently short for “reTRIEval”?
https://web.stanford.edu/class/archive/cs/cs166/cs166.1146/lectures/09/Small09.pdf
Not your fault, but this is a terrible abbreviation.
PetrisCy@reddit
He tried to scam you into a cheap position. Its not about you or your skills
danjnj@reddit
I’ve been in the industry as a frontend engineer for over 20 years. I’m an engineering manager who conducts hiring interviews across an org of several hundred engineers of varying levels, from new grads to staff+ roles.
I can say without any reservations: it was the interviewer, not you, who can’t do their job well.
SynchronousMantle@reddit
Some people aren’t very good interviewers. Don’t take it personally.
help_send_chocolate@reddit
I taught interviewing for a long time. This is an interview by someone who's just bad at interviewing. And, separately, not someone I personally would want to work with.
Quite a few people seem to behave like assholes. Some use "I'm smart" as an excuse. It's not an excuse.
It's best not to work with assholes.
aidencoder@reddit
Sounds more like someone trying to flex their ego in an interview.
Red flag.
vleeskarton@reddit
Looks like you dodged a bullet. That seemed like a very toxic place to work at. I had similar experiences last year when I was looking for new places to work. It always felt like the interviewer felt intimidated by someone who came near/above his knowledge level, so they started to throw curveballs during the interview in order to justify declining or underpaying you. These kinds of devs probably have been working at the company for a long time and have a really big ego.
Infectedinfested@reddit
Even if you got accepted, you would likely be working under this guy and he might be there belittling you for the rest of your days in that company (which might not be long), resulting in you having a shitty experience.
You couldn't imagine the amount of elitist shitheads in IT with double agenda's...
As someone who learned IT, I valued efficiency a lot, even more so outside the code and everytime i see this kind of behavior done by people higher up the ladder (IT or not) my stomach turns.
Next-Builder-2047@reddit (OP)
Yes there are people in this industry like this
AlienRobotMk2@reddit
I just looked up what a trie is and honestly it sounds inefficient on Javascript because of how many look ups it would take. A sorted array would be more efficient in most cases since the sorting can be done entirely by the Javascript engine.
Next-Builder-2047@reddit (OP)
I did suggest him the sorting method and he wasn't really ready for that path wanted an Optimised version of it
InsaneTeemo@reddit
I think this highlights one of the major issues with algorithm interview questions and is part of why there is so much contention around the use of them.
To me, this seems like he doesn't even understand the whole idea of using these types of questions.
He wasn't interested in seeing how you think or what your problem solving abilities look like. To him, there was only one right answer, and unfortunately for you, you didn't spend so much time just memorizing the "correct" optimized answer for every possible question he could come up with, so better luck next time!
Not to mention, the questions were not relevant to the role, but his expectation of what the "right" answer to the question is shows that the questions were barely relevant to software development at all.
Next-Builder-2047@reddit (OP)
The funny part is I searched on google with tries as well and it's not most optimized because of how it uses extra space and the normal solution doesn't
AlienRobotMk2@reddit
Well, you know what they say: premature optimization is the root of all evil.
Next-Builder-2047@reddit (OP)
True
_Sa0irxe8596_@reddit
you dodged a bullet there. dont doubt yourself just keep on applying
-think@reddit
An interviewer who argued with me a little too hard (imo) that a try/catch was more performant than a conditional in the loop I was writing.
I told them they were right technically (they were) but it didn’t matter. This was in python and the loop was over 15 items. If that level of performance was needed we would know that and not choose python.
Developers, myself more than included, can be opinionated, blunt and socially… obtuse.
Even if we became refined and polite, interviews are junk in this field. We have no handle on education or training or verification. I have a couple of decades of professional experience for names that most people in tech would know. I am a skilled programmer, dedicated to IC work and getting better. I am given the harder problems at work. I have been recruited to fix critical problems by reputation. I’m not a 10x dev or whatever, but I have no reason to doubt my abilities.
But I do. It’s easily to let interviews fuck with you. Each time I interview I have to relearn a bunch of CS stuff each time.
You are not someone who doesn’t know how to code, you were someone who hasn’t learned tries yet. Now you’re someone who does. Soon you’ll be someone who has to look it up to remember the specifics.
I have never used a trie directly at work. I’m sure I’ve used libraries that rely on them. These things, like my small argument, can be treated as blips. Keep going, don’t let the bastards get you down.
Next-Builder-2047@reddit (OP)
Thank you for your gold advice. I surely won't let anyone get to me now.
mechanicalyammering@reddit
Sounds like he was trying to mess with ya or didn’t like your look or vibe. Or maybe he thinks he needs someone who works good “under pressure.” Or maybe he’s just a dumb asshole.
Philboyd_Studge@reddit
A Trie is just a type of graph. I wrote a tutorial on one like ten years ago here
peripateticman2026@reddit
Missing the forest for the trees.
peripateticman2026@reddit
99% sure that was Indian.
BreakerOfModpacks@reddit
I would understand him if it were try as in try/catch, but nah, you just dodged a bullet.
Calamero@reddit
This
RaceMaleficent4908@reddit
Thats just leet code crap nobody needs to know
roninsti@reddit
I hate this so much. I’m an engineering lead actively hiring for senior + engineers and I would never ask any nonsense like this.
Been developing applications for a long time and I don’t run into “leet code” style problems ever to solve actual issues a production application faces.
Also, we have so many AI tools passively helping up while we code that if I did run into anything in that realm, my robot friend would do a better job than j ever could at solving it.
This style of interviewing proves nothing about the candidate and their ability to work on a production application.
Xypheric@reddit
I can’t solve any of that, been paid to do web development for 5 years now. You are just fine!!!!!
mandaliet@reddit
Heh if not knowing tries is disqualifying that would wipe out the majority of programmers I have ever worked with.
Advanced_Slice_4135@reddit
I’ve been programming for over 30 yrs wouldn’t have gotten through that interview lol. Sorry this happened to you.
RoadRevolutionary835@reddit
Recognizing my own bias, it seems likely that your interviewer was biased about women and dead set about proving you wrong, when he could not, he manufactured something ridiculous.
chipstastegood@reddit
This is not a common task for a front end developer. Sucks that you missed out on this job opportunity because of this interview, but there will be others that will be a better fit. You likely wouldn’t have liked working there anyway, if this interviewer is any indication of the culture in the company.
Next-Builder-2047@reddit (OP)
He is the founder himself so obviously the culture would have been like this only
chipstastegood@reddit
You dodged a bullet.
StretchMoney9089@reddit
May I ask how much they offered you? This sounds like a really overkill interview for an average paid job
Next-Builder-2047@reddit (OP)
They never mentioned the CTC telling me it's greater than my current compensation so I think near about 17-18 in indian currency for the full time role not sure about the part time they were offering me
Comprehensive-Pin667@reddit
Sounds like a shit interviewer. Not your fault. Better luck next time.
Next-Builder-2047@reddit (OP)
Thanks
runningOverA@reddit
That's only one interview. It's not all.
And they probably already had someone better in mind.
Next-Builder-2047@reddit (OP)
I think yes they had one
doesnt_use_reddit@reddit
This is how this industry works. Excellent and perfectly qualified people get rejected for totally inane reasons. That's why it's just a numbers game. Apply to ten gigs you're qualified for, and get one offer. The rest are just tripping over themselves.
Next-Builder-2047@reddit (OP)
Even getting those 10 gigs isn't easy these days
JDabsky@reddit
This is another example why coding interviews are garbage. It does nothing to really evaluate your coding abilities or technical knowledge. Talking about technologies you have used and how those technologies work is more valuable assessment.
Next-Builder-2047@reddit (OP)
True but they only care about LC
Soft-Escape8734@reddit
Don't worry about it. You obviously are smarter than he is and he was trying to trip you up. Nobody will want to hire someone smarter, they're too insecure. Look up the Peter Principle.
hpxvzhjfgb@reddit
I've been a programmer since like 2010 and I still don't know what a trie is. I've heard of them but never encountered them anywhere so I've never had to look it up.
I've also never encountered a linked list anywhere and the only reason I know what they are is because so many beginners are obsessed with them for some reason. I've never implemented or used one for anything.
dthdthdthdthdthdth@reddit
If you never encountered a linked list, you have limited experience as a programmer though. Countless of mainstream programming languages have those in some form in their standard libraries.
Tries are just prefix trees, they are somewhat more specialized.
angrynoah@reddit
the library has them but have you used them? Pretty sure I've used java.util.LinkedList exactly zero times in 20 years
dthdthdthdthdthdth@reddit
In functional programming singly linked lists are a very common data structure. I've used it a lot in this context. I've used doubly linked lists very rarely, that's true. In imperative programming you are copying data often anyway, and something array based is more efficient most of the time. You would only have to go for a linked list if you require the different performance characteristics, like having a lot of insertions. But you should definitively know about linked lists.
I also have used LinkedHashMap quite a few times, which is a hash map combinded with a linked list to guarantee iteration order. It is also very useful to keep iteration order and therefore program execution deterministic.
hpxvzhjfgb@reddit
using a programming language that has linked lists in its standard library doesn't count as using linked lists
nerd4code@reddit
You have definitely encountered and used a linked list somewhere. The damn things arise at the drop of a hat. The pathname ../../.., for example, uses parent links, which form a list when walked iteratively. Used a call stack? Almost certainly involved a linked list. Large file? FAT32 filesystem? Linked list. Allocated or freed memory? Thrown a fault? Linked list.
So perhaps knowing what a linked list is could be useful to you, after all. Everything in life can’t always coast on the achievements of other people.
hpxvzhjfgb@reddit
I wouldn't count using a type that someone else made that has a linked list somewhere inside it as using a linked list. I mean I've never directly used one. never implemented one, never imported a linked list type or library.
Mountain-Bag-6427@reddit
Last time I checked, callstacks generally were... you know... stacks...
Next-Builder-2047@reddit (OP)
Beginners are not obsessed with doing this it's just how companies are operating these days they want this crazy level of LC coders
kagato87@reddit
In a higher level language you might even be using a linked list anyway!
I think the stringbuilder class uses one, and many larger appendable object classes would benefit so at least some will use them use them.
I've used linked lists on programming exercises. They really are handy in their scenarios, and as a devdba I'm keenly aware of how the leaf node system in databases shares some similarities with a linked list.
mikeyj777@reddit
You should judge them for using pre-teen level gaslighting.
i-Blondie@reddit
That’s harsh. I really don’t think he was looking for you to succeed here. If there was useful, albeit overly critical, feedback take it and forget him. If there’s nothing of use move on and don’t absorb the childish digs.
Colonelcool125@reddit
I genuinely can’t think of a single situation where a front end would need to use a trie
mxldevs@reddit
I don't even know what a trie is. Might've used it once.
I could probably remember it if I looked it up.
Next-Builder-2047@reddit (OP)
10 years of experience
reubendevries@reddit
Any interviewer that cuts you off mid-answer and goes down another rabbit hole or tangent about your doing it wrong, is a bullet dodged. I HAVE zero problems with interviews that think a candidate is wrong, but to what advantage is it for you or your company to shame the person being interviewed? Take their feedback lightly, and move on, I wouldn’t ever continue to interview for a company like that.
Next-Builder-2047@reddit (OP)
I wouldn't continue with their proposal any further. It's hard to get interview these days and when you do get one it becomes like this
kasumisumika@reddit
This guy is a sham. You'll be fine.
Next-Builder-2047@reddit (OP)
Sure I will
HakoftheDawn@reddit
I learned what a trie is for a project, talked about it once related to a programming challenge, and haven't ever used one in real life.
You're fine.
Next-Builder-2047@reddit (OP)
Sure but gotta know it now for next interviews.
JealousAd4989@reddit
Since when do you need to code to do frontend sht 😂
Next-Builder-2047@reddit (OP)
Another lost mind in this big world
HealyUnit@reddit
If it's any consolation, I had an interview at Pathrise a few years ago (2018 or so). For those that don't know, they're one of those interview prep programs that focuses on helping you to get a job. The interviewer shows up with bathroom-closet-level lighting, in a ratty old hoodie, and with a Walmart bargain-bin microphone. Meanwhile I, being in full interview season, show up in a suit and tie. You know, being respectful.
He starts grilling me on writing an autosuggest kinda thing, with tries and all that. This is despite the fact that if he'd taken half a second to even glance at my resume, he'd clearly see that I have no formal (e.g., degree) training in comp sci. He ends the interview by basically telling me I'm not going to make it as a programmer, and that I might be better off as some "lesser" job (his inference, not mine!) like QA.
For comparison, I now work as a front-end-leaning full-stack engineer at one of the biggest aerospace/defense companies in the world. We have numerous ridiculously smart QA people whom I have the pleasure of working with whose job it is to know our products inside out and to absolutely tear them apart. Don't ever imply to me that QA is in any way a "lesser" job than your "standard" software engineer.
In your story, I'm particularly bothered by how often the guy changes the story. Like, in my company, we do the smart thing and plan shit months in advance. You want a massive, sweeping change to the project? Submit a feature request and wait a few months at least. Good planning is part of being a professional software engineer, and him going "Actually no, do plan B. Wait no, do plan C. Wait..." is a huge red flag.
Also, your job is a front-end role. There are extremely few reasons that a front-end role would ever need to use any DSA beyond pretty much a for loop. And there's a very good reason for this (no, it's not that front-end devs are stupid or something): you should never be doing your heavy lifting on the front end. At the very most, you should be able to look at some complex bit of math on the front end and go "eww, this is too much math. Let's do this on the back-end".
Next-Builder-2047@reddit (OP)
Someone who understood the context of the entire thing happening. I am glad that you said it
ForexedOut@reddit
I honestly have no idea what a trie is, and where is a linked list used in the front-end? Sounds like they were trying to look for a reason to underpay you.
Next-Builder-2047@reddit (OP)
I have heard about them never used them or had a use case of using them
TomWithTime@reddit
If you want to smoke trolls like that interviewer you could also learn proxies. They can make some really crazy looking code. I used them to solve an interview problem once that had three sections:
Class implementation
A space for your code
Usage/execution of the class
The prompt for that assignment was that I was not allowed to modify the class or the execution and I could only write in the middle section. The problem is that the usage clearly doesn't work. The usage has chaining like
obj.Fn1().Fn2()but the implementation doesn't support it. It was a weird problem because in a real world situation I can't imagine you wouldn't be able to just update the execution. Even if the implementation was some third party thing you could vendor and modify it or build a wrapping class to extend the functionality, but I was told not to do that. It seemed impossible, but for that assignment I researched and used proxies.By trapping the calls to the class I could create the chaining functionality without editing the other 2 sections. Hardest and most interesting interview question I've ever had. The follow up interview was really bad though so they might have just used me to solve an issue they had lol
ForexedOut@reddit
Don't let this take a toll om you, you've probably managed to avoid a very toxic working environment.
lucidrainbows@reddit
Tries are used for autocomplete, but nobody is implementing their own autocomplete lol.
ForexedOut@reddit
Just realizing how cooked I am!!!
radiojosh@reddit
I'm an IT guy who thinks himself competent at coding without any formal computer science degree. I am trying to learn C# right now. I just want you to know that the scenario you laid out and the answers you provided under pressure really showed me how much I don't know, how absolutely humongous the chasm is between me and a competent developer, and I loved every minute of it. It feels like a rare privilege, and I believe you are the real deal.
Next-Builder-2047@reddit (OP)
No I am not and as a beginners or even as a senior you never know enough it's just that you just keep learning and there is so much to learn.
radiojosh@reddit
Well just know that your knowledge and ability are admired by someone who hasn't made it so far down the road yet.
Next-Builder-2047@reddit (OP)
I am sure you will know much more than I knew when you make it this far someday. And you will become a very good engineer ahead. All the best to you.
Lostagru@reddit
Reading this reminds me that there will always be people to put you down especially when you work hard and build up confidence in this field. Don’t let them put you down and keep applying to jobs I assure you that there will be one that will call out to you! Best of luck from one programming student to another!
Next-Builder-2047@reddit (OP)
Thank you so much for your kind and motivating words. I wish you all the best too for your journey ahead from one student to another.
GeneticsGuy@reddit
I agree with others' assessments that they were just trying to belittle someone.
Now, a Trie is kind of a neat thing, but it is a VERY specific use and I've literally never had to use, even on the backend, outside a Dats structures and algorithms course I took in college years ago. I still remember it because that class was hell as the professor literally had used learn to build everything by scratch at base level to pass it, and then implement it into an actual real-world use case. Like 90% of that class I've never used in the real world, but it sure helps with leet coding!!!
Where are they used... maybe in something like autocomplete. The key giveaway is when the interviewer mentioned prefix sorting which is the specific use case of this
Here's the thing though... why would you ever build this from scratch ad there are built-in libraries that do this all for you already. Are you interviewing for a backend engineer to build libraries or are you interviewing for a front end job that uses them efficiently?
Sounds like the company just wanted to have an excuse to screw you over.
Next-Builder-2047@reddit (OP)
And I indeed was screwed but it's alright I wouldn't just go ahead with part time roles belittling my own dreams or abilities
Septseraph@reddit
If you don't know try/catch then you are missing a big part of programming. To all those who do not understand the operators need to learn. Being a front-end developer and not knowing try/catch is a big red flag. You can not be assured that you are getting proper information from the backend. Implementing try/catch allows you to gracefully handle errors. PLEASE LEARN!
Next-Builder-2047@reddit (OP)
Man it's not try/catch used for error handling I obviously know that. Tries is a data structure used for String matching algos in an efficient way. I mean I can understand you don't know what tries are but atleast read the entire things
SecretSquirrelSauce@reddit
After having had, and performed multiple interviews:
That dude was just being a dick. Dismiss him entirely. Fresh up on tries.
Next-Builder-2047@reddit (OP)
Yes I would
oclafloptson@reddit
The interviewer was seeking justification for offering a pay rate that was lower than what you were looking for. They likely never intended to offer you a full time position
Next-Builder-2047@reddit (OP)
And he kept saying this isn't a interview it's just a small discussion which went over an hour
oclafloptson@reddit
Yeah I mean I've been a PM before it's very tempting to be shady like this but it hurts you in the long run because your employees harbor doubts about your leadership and you wind up with a high turnover rate.
Just understand it's not personal. They probably already had a pick in mind that they needed approval for and were focusing on that, would be my guess. Doesn't justify putting you down... They probably could have simply reviewed your credentials and told you straightforward what the jig was before even interviewing
Next-Builder-2047@reddit (OP)
Yes true. Being somewhat transparent saves everyone's time and effort.
floopsyDoodle@reddit
No, and be glad you didn't get stuck with that nutter as a manager or lead. I know it doesn't help when looking for work but you dodged a bullet not getting in there.
Look up "negging" when dating, this is what it sounds like they were doing "Oh, you're a terrible coder but we're so kind we'll still let you work here for far lower money a 'good' coder would get."
Again, easier said than done but don't get disheartened by these idiots. SHould we know tries, sure it's always good to know, have I ever used or seen a colleague use them in any work I"ve done on enterprise scale apps that serve millions of users a month? No. They are specific to certain situaitons and not knowing them really just means you haven't come across that situation yet. The best option is for you to go and learn Tries so next time you can ace it and be glad you didn't get stuck with that Interviewer reviewing your code and shitting on everythign you did because you didn't do it the way they wanted.
Next-Builder-2047@reddit (OP)
Yes sure. I am looking up on how to implement them I sure knew what it does but didn't know know how to implement them
So_Dev@reddit
Idk what a "try" or what tries actually are and I'm trying to build a website.... Soooo. Idk. Can't really know something you've never had to work with yet right?
The real question is did you learn something from all this or no?
If not my feedback would be to simply find one thing you can actually take away from this and move on. Don't let it get to you, that's for sure.
Next-Builder-2047@reddit (OP)
I did learn something which is saying dsa isn't important or required for front end is somehow wrong and not just applies for Big companies but smaller ones as well simple cause of how competitive the market is
kundor@reddit
A trie, not a try. It's a term for a prefix tree. A fun thing to know about, but it's one of those things where in any actual use-case you would be using a library that implements it under the hood, not implementing it yourself.
Additional-Flan1281@reddit
Toxic!
AaronMichael726@reddit
When people correct you or change the problem the correct response is “oh wow, that’s so genius. I can’t believe that wasn’t the first thing I thought of.”
Compliment the interviewer, ask for help, keep calm and just flatter the interviewer. Your ability to solve a problem to their standards has very little to do with the interviewer. Hiring managers care more about how you work when you’re stuck. They want to know that you can ask questions, take feedback, and adjust on the fly.
Next-Builder-2047@reddit (OP)
I did try to come up with those but the fact that he wasn't letting me try Or show him I know other approaches as well. Tried to brush me off by saying I can't code that well so will be offering you a part time which you can do with full time of your. I know it's hard but you can totally do it
gopiballava@reddit
I just had to remind myself what a trie was. I’ve never used one in code at work. I’ve been programming professionally since 1999. I have worked at Google, among other companies.
SpoonFed_1@reddit
Fuck those mofo
They use interviews to feel superior
Anybody can come up with a mindfuck of a problem and then just trash any solution you come up with.
"oh don't worry, this is not an interview", well then why the fuck am I here??
fredlllll@reddit
nah youre good. big part of programming is knowing how to search for solutions for a problem, not memorizing every fucking bit of CS knowledge that ever existed. also how the fuck needs to regularly optimize text searches in frontend??
Caramel_Last@reddit
I think the company was on a project to build an 'online longest common subsequence finder' SaaS. That's the MVP and the premium feature is 'online trie visualizer' SaaS for $9.99 per month
Next-Builder-2047@reddit (OP)
Nah nowhere even close to that.
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