Another test, not as hard but misread a question
So another day another coding interview test. This one was from the company Booking.com located in Amsterdam. The position is full-stack developer so I think I benefited from having a more general knowledge.
The test included 18 multiple choice questions and only 2 actual coding tests. I felt like I got through the 18 multiple choice questions quickly. That left me a good amount of time for the actual coding questions. I decided to use Ruby today. I love how Ruby looks and it feels great when you solve a problem and the code looks nice and clean.
That was the case with the first coding question, my answer was short, simple, and passed all the tests. That said I think it could have been more efficient.
The final question I kind of screwed up in my reading of it. I remember someone on here was saying sometimes they just want to see how you think. So I submitted my not quite right answer anyways. Had the question been what I thought it was my answer would have been perfect and very clean.
Though the actual problem was slightly harder than what I was thinking.
So I can say my performance was better than yesterday but definitely far from where I want to be.
I think I might start using Ruby more for other stuff. I realize it doesn't have the best performance but I just like the feel of it. Looking at a Ruby script everything just seems to quickly make sense. I've definitely used Javascript a lot more than Ruby but despite that Ruby just looks and reads better to me.
Glad to hear the second test went better! It sounds like you have the flexibility to choose the backend language you’re most comfortable with. That should put you at an advantage. I’ve dabbled with Ruby and like it but haven’t spent any real time with it since no one uses it in Milwaukee. Good luck on your next test. I think you said you have one more(?).
What is popular in Milwaukee? When I think of Milwaukee I think of that 70s show :-)
That 70's Show is what I hope most people think of when it comes to Milwaukee. Sometimes they'll say say, oh yeah, that's the city where Jeffrey Dahmer lived! But I digress... Milwaukee is very much a C# .net town. There are a lot of banks here, so it makes sense. There is also a smaller need for Java and C++. A year ago, I started seeing the demand for JavaScript pick up here, but it's slow compared to other cities. What's interesting to me is that MKE is also slow to adapt Python. I know two Python developers, one who works in MKE and another who works for a company in the Bay area. They're allowing him to work remotely, so he's comparatively well paid. It's so interesting to me that technology ends up being regional. It's part of the structure that supports business, so you can tell a lot about a city by which technologies they employ.
Sounds like my hometown. Medium sized city, 2 hours north-east of Detroit.
Just corporate type places, it's harder if you are unique around there. People have really specific expectations about how you should dress, talk, and think.
I didn't fit in, left after college and never looked back.
I almost forgot about that one. It's at 10am so I can't stay up too late :s
I'm nervous because I already did a video interview with them. So it'll be embarrassing if I do bad :/
Have you played around with Groovy? I happen to think it's far superior than python, javascript or ruby. It's like Java 3.0 ...
I haven't heard of it. Will have to check it out.
Though I'm not a huge fan of Java. I only ever used it in a few classes.
I didn't like Java because it felt like we always had to use an IDE. I think I like python/ruby/javascript because I often work on small scripts/projects alone.
The strength of Java seems to be working on large projects with many developers. The biggest team I've worked on is 6 people, and even then it is max 2 developers on any given part.
The beautiful thing about Groovy is that it feels like a scripting language. It's similar to python, but better. Obviously, tho, you need to be running a JVM as you would for any Java application.
Yes, Java is definitely good for large projects like you said. But, the reason why it's my go-to is because I can run it on my computer or Android phone.
nice post