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Reddit mentions of Elements of Programming Interviews: The Insiders' Guide

Sentiment score: 15
Reddit mentions: 27

We found 27 Reddit mentions of Elements of Programming Interviews: The Insiders' Guide. Here are the top ones.

Elements of Programming Interviews: The Insiders' Guide
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Found 27 comments on Elements of Programming Interviews: The Insiders' Guide:

u/dinmordk1 · 47 pointsr/learnprogramming

For Theory/Lectures

  1. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClEEsT7DkdVO_fkrBw0OTrA
  2. https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/data-structures/
  3. https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/fundamentals-of-algorithms/
  4. https://www.coursera.org/learn/algorithms-part1
  5. https://www.coursera.org/learn/algorithms-part2
  6. https://www.coursera.org/specializations/algorithms
  7. https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-006-introduction-to-algorithms-fall-2011/lecture-videos/
  8. https://www.codechef.com/certification/data-structures-and-algorithms/prepare#foundation
  9. https://www.amazon.com/Elements-Programming-Interviews-Insiders-Guide/dp/1479274836/ref=sr_1_3?crid=Y51H99ZLXW8S&keywords=elements+of+programming+interviews&qid=1558622746&s=gateway&sprefix=elements+of+pro%2Caps%2C349&sr=8-3 [C++/Python/Java]
  10. https://www.amazon.com/Cracking-Coding-Interview-Programming-Questions/dp/0984782850/ref=sr_1_1?crid=10BA7LH4GNFTS&keywords=cracking+the+coding+interview&qid=1558622733&s=gateway&sprefix=cracking+the+co%2Caps%2C368&sr=8-1

    For Practice

  11. https://www.hackerearth.com/practice/
  12. https://www.hackerrank.com/dashboard
  13. https://leetcode.com/problemset/all/
  14. https://www.interviewbit.com/practice/
  15. https://www.spoj.com/problems/classical/sort=6
  16. https://www.codechef.com/problems/school/?sort_by=SuccessfulSubmission&sorting_order=desc
  17. https://codeforces.com/problemset?order=BY_SOLVED_DESC
  18. https://practice.geeksforgeeks.org/
  19. https://a2oj.com/ps
  20. https://projecteuler.net/archives
  21. https://hack.codingblocks.com/
  22. https://www.reddit.com/r/dailyprogrammer/
u/markdoubleyou · 13 pointsr/cpp

Those quizzes were brutal... they mostly covered esoteric features, undefined behavior, and how the compiler deals with terrible code (variable hiding, etc.).

I'd start off with FizzBuzz for the phone screen (via collabedit or something) to quickly check syntax knowledge, and, if they pass that (brace for 50% failure), I'd move on to a trivial algorithm and beat the hell out of it to see how deep they go into the language.

For example, ask them to reverse a character array, and, after they finish an implementation, keep asking them to revise it:

  • Use pointer arithmetic
  • Use array notation
  • Use std::swap
  • Use std::reverse()
  • Use std::string and a reverse_iterator

    and on and on... if you get a blank look when you mention a reverse iterator or <algorithm> then you'll know their knowledge doesn't go very deep.

    For on-site questions, I've been hearing very good things about Elements of Programming Interviews: The Insiders' Guide ...there's a C++ and a Java edition. It's not an online quiz, but it has good questions that'll measure programming ability instead of just language trivia.
u/cfors · 9 pointsr/cscareerquestions

Elements of Programming Interviews

This book is way easier to digest than CLRS. I used it extensively for not only preparing for interviews but as a resource for my algorithms course. I'm going to honest it's harder than cracking the coding interview but the lessons in the chapters are MUCH more clear imo.

u/Soreasan · 8 pointsr/cscareerquestions

Make your own projects or code to build a portfolio. Upload the code to Github to build an online portfolio.

Here are some excellent books that may help as well:

Elements of Programming Interviews

Cracking the Code Interview

Programming Interviews Exposed

u/PM_ME_YOUR_SCI-FI · 8 pointsr/cscareerquestions

> Most of the jobs out there are temporary or contract (short/long/C2H)

This sounds patently untrue. I'm certain that the vast majority of people in CS have full-time jobs rather than temp or contract.

>
Recruiters won't even look at you if you don't have a knowledge in a specific stack (even for entry level)

Also untrue, especially for entry level, where good companies won't care what tech stacks you know.

> Recruiters don't even look at your resume, all they do is keyword search

Partially true. Resumes are often automatically filtered by how many buzzwords they contain. If you can use buzzwords without making your resume seem over the top, do it.

>
I've been told that I shouldn't even apply for SDE jobs because I'm a "tester" and how I probably don't know of any CS fundamentals (because my degree is in CompE, not CS)

Bullshit. Any company worth working for - most companies - will not take that attitude. They might be skeptical, but they would never suggest you don't apply.

> Interviewers don't seem to have interest in interviewing

It doesn't matter; it's their job. And most interviewers are competent at interviewing, so nothing to worry about, regardless of how "interested" they are. (Though an "interested" interviewer, while rare, is a pleasure!)

>
Companies have absurd hiring standards (they are all looking for a unicorn for 50-60k/yr pay, through contract)

Depends on the company.

> * Entry level jobs require years of PROFESSIONAL experience in a specific technology


Entirely false.

---

The current job market is fine, prosperous even. Craft a strong resume, post it in the resume advice thread, and send it out to companies. Apply to a bunch of companies, account for a 5-15% response rate (higher if you're more skilled).

Getting interviews will be the easy part; to pass them, you'll need to pass difficult algorithms questions. Books like Cracking the Coding Interview and Elements of Programming Interviews are essential reads; then go on a website like LeetCode and grind away at problems until you can solve easies in 20 minutes or less, mediums in 30 minutes or less, and hards in 60-120 minutes. I'd say a 3:9:1 ratio of easy:medium:hard would be a good ratio to go with, and do as many problems as possible until you're comfortable with where you are (for me, that was about 120 problems). The premium subscription is well worth it for problems tailored to certain companies.


Edit: spelling

u/poopmagic · 8 pointsr/cscareerquestions

>Do you find that the standard system of technical interviews (data structures & algorithms) is an effective way of assessing candidates? Why or why not?

When I was an undergraduate, the dominant interview approach involved brainteasers like "why are manhole covers round?" Initially, these were reliable indicators of future success. But after every other company started copying Microsoft mindlessly and asking the same set of questions, the approach quickly became less effective. People optimized for interview performance with books like How Would You Move Mount Fuji? and How to Ace the Brainteaser Interview.

Brainteasers were mostly phased out after Google introduced the current approach involving data structures and algorithms. Initially, these were reliable indicators of future success. But after every other company started copying Google mindlessly and asking the same set of questions, the approach quickly became less effective. People optimized for interview performance with books like Cracking the Coding Interview and Elements of Programming Interviews.

There are certainly parallels between what happened then and what's happening now. The difference today is that people have taken things to another level with platforms like Pramp and bootcamps like Interview Kickstart. New businesses keep popping up that focus on cracking the current system, and I don't think that bodes well for its future.

But what can we do about it? The fact is that any interviewing process can be cracked once its format becomes popular and standardized. Let's say that some major company like Facebook introduces a new standard that involves candidates giving two-hour presentations about significant personal projects and then answering tough questions from a committee. You may be familiar with this format if you've ever applied for a research position. I actually think this would be great for 2-3 years until everyone starts doing it and Gayle Laakmann McDowell or whoever publishes "Cracking the Personal Project Presentation." And then a bunch of new businesses will pop up to sell you slide templates, professional reviews, etc.

In short, I'm not a big fan of the current system (EDIT: because it's been "cracked") but I honestly don't know of a better one (EDIT: that won't suffer the same fate).

u/10_6 · 5 pointsr/learnprogramming

Some books that could help you practice algorithms and coding challenges are:

  1. Elements of Programming Interviews

  2. The Algorithm Design Manual

  3. Cracking the Coding Interview

    If you want some actual practice solving challenges with some guidance and/or help, I'd recommend Coderbyte which provides solutions to the problems along with the ability to view other user solutions so you can learn how others solve the same challenges. This article might help you find some other coding challenge websites as well.
u/squirrelmasterzero · 3 pointsr/cscareerquestions

This book has everything you'd ever need to practice for a technical interview barring design patterns, basic database design and framework specific stuff.
Worth the investment imo.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1479274836?cache=9b500b2ef102be94720051e93b4472f6&pi=SY200_QL40&qid=1407757596&sr=8-1#ref=mp_s_a_1_1

u/sumzup · 3 pointsr/cscareerquestions

>There is also the good book "Algorithms For Interviews" by Adnan Aziz and Amit Prakash (2010), which contains much harder questions, focusing on clever algorithms and not on implementation details.

This book has a replacement that was released last year. It's definitely the best book to take one to the next level.

u/TheSploogeMcDuck · 3 pointsr/cscareerquestions

I rarely see this posted here for some reason, but I've found Elements of the Programming Interview to be a really great book, and far more helpful than websites like careercup.

u/Berecursive · 3 pointsr/computervision

Pretty difficult to guess to be honest. They may just end up asking 'Google' style questions in which case I would recommend Elements of Programming Interviews which I think is much better than Cracking the coding interview.

u/FourForYouGlennCoco · 3 pointsr/learnprogramming

I'd suggest finding a good course and a good book that you can use for reference. Then cementing your skills by doing lots of problems.

The book: this one's easy. Skiena's Algorithm Design Manual is highly regarded, surprisingly readable, and affordable by textbook standards. Don't need to read it cover to cover, but it's great reference, and I'd suggest reading the really critical chapters like graph search and sorting.

The course: You can't really do better than Stanford's course, taught by Tim Roughgarden. I took it a few years ago and have used it to brush up every time I apply for a new job.

The problems: it's important not to dive into this until after you've learned the basic concepts. But Leetcode is the standard, and for good reason -- it has a ton of problems, many of which are leaked from real companies. At first, these problems will seem very difficult -- it make take hours to solve a 'medium' level problem, if you can get it at all. If you simply can't get it, read the solutions and really understand them.

I also recommend the book Elements of Programming Interviews. You'll hear a lot of love for Cracking the Coding Interview on this sub, but it's too easy and outdated for current interview prep. It's a fine intro book, but it won't take you all the way to where you need to be.

u/mgob · 2 pointsr/learnprogramming

I've found Elements of Programming Interviews to be beter than both Cracking the Coding Interview and Programming Interviews Exposed. It may have less background information on each subject, but I find wikipedia/the internet to be better for learning these topics anyway. The problems are more challenging and more out of the box. The only detracting factor is that the solutions are all templated, which I find clutters the code a little bit, but I suppose its good to learn to read code like that anyway.

I was studying for interviews at a major company known for its difficult interview process and had all three of the aforementioned books - after a week of looking through all of them this is the only one I used. And I did get the job :)

u/sun_tzu_vs_srs · 2 pointsr/UofT

As far as courses go just take the math-oriented ones like algos and data structures seriously. It's about developing your problem solving ability more than anything. Strong problem solver, strong interviews. Also developing an intuitive understanding of complexity and problem classes will help you to think clearly.

For interview-specific stuff courses won't help you. Pick up Cracking the Coding Interview and Elements of Programming Interviews. The latter used to be called Algorithms for Interviews which is also good.

Protip: last time I checked all these books were available through Safari Books Online, which most university libraries give you access to for free.

u/Himmelswind · 2 pointsr/cscareerquestions

I can't answer your other questions but EPI is Elements of Programming Interviews, a Cracking the Coding Interview-esque book of algorithm puzzles that's somewhat more challenging than CTCI.

u/IronLionZion95 · 2 pointsr/cscareerquestions

Usually the CTCI referred to here is Cracking The Coding Interview. It´s probably the best known interview preparation book. You can easily find the PDF online but I would recommend buying it because it´s like an algorithms/datastructures bible and it will make it easier to take notes (it´s also a tiny investment compared to the potential pay-off). I think if you can comfortably do all of the questions (incl. moderate+hard) then you will be close to ready for Google. It depends from person to person. But I would recommend doing some LeetCode Google flagged questions afterwards to gauge how well prepared you are. For some people CTCI alone is enough while for others an additional 50-100 LeetCode are sufficient (some skip to LeetCode directly and do 150-300 questions on there). Note that CTCI is an alternative to EPI (Elements of Programming Interviews). Doing both would be a bit redundant. From what I gather EPI has more challenging problems so might prepare you better for Google, but if you´re very rusty then CTCI might be an easier start.

There´s plenty of resources available on this; I suggest checking out the relevant FAQs in the sidebar of this subreddit.

u/tact1cal · 1 pointr/cscareerquestions

Probably you wouldn't get much for 3 days, but for the future:

u/everylittlethingido · 1 pointr/ITCareerQuestions

Take a look at this and this book

u/infinitebeam · 1 pointr/cscareerquestions

Elements of Programming Interviews (https://www.amazon.com/Elements-Programming-Interviews-Insiders-Guide/dp/1479274836). It's another book for interview prep. A lot of people, including me, consider it to be superior to CTCI in terms of number of problems, coverage of topics (it has about 20 chapters on DS+Algo), problem difficulty, code quality and explanation of solutions. I used EPI+leetcode (for the most part) for my prep.

u/wiprogrammer · 1 pointr/UWMadison

Elements-Programming-Interviews-Insiders-Guide This book is also offered in Java, Python

This book goes into better details than the normal tech interview (Cracking the Coding Interview) it will teach you common ways to solve problems as well as good programming practices as well as how to handle the interview and the offer.


Then you could be practicing problems on Leetcode.com, however I cannot speak for exactly how Epic interviews but I have interviewed at larger companies they should be similar.

u/Silchas_Ruine · 1 pointr/cscareerquestions

I've been looking to prepare for some Internships for Summer 2015. I've heard a lot of good things about Cracking the Coding Interview, but I was wondering what everyone's thoughts are on Elements of Programming Interviews.

u/TheTarquin · 1 pointr/cscareerquestions

I'm going to disagree with a several of the other comments here: don't feel pressed to ask textbook questions that are narrowly related to the job you're hiring for. Hiring narrow specialists tends to yield devs that are good at a narrow set of tasks. "Abstract algo questions" have a better track record of hiring strong devs that are better able to pick up any task that may come up.

Remember: it's easier for a great programmer to learn a new technology than it is for someone who knows that technology to become a great programmer. I should know: I've done over two hundred interviews for my current employer, most for positions where I would have to work with the developer directly. I've been in interviews where we hired the wrong candidate and it's almost never worked out well. In most of those failed hires, the rationale was "well, yes, he didn't do great on the interview, but he has experience with $TECHNOLOGY that we desperately need!"

As for your question: I highly recommend "Elements of Programming Interviews" by Aziz, et al. Amazon link

It provides a wide range of questions that you can tweak to suit your needs, in a range of difficulties from relatively easy to mind-bendingly difficult. None of the problems, however, are trivial in the way FizzBuzz is. (And seriously, if you're asking FizzBuzz or similar in interview, your sourcing process needs some work.)

I hope this helps. Interviewing programmers is a devilishly hard problem and tough, pointed data structures, algorithms, coding, and design questions under interview conditions isn't an ideal solution, but it is the least shitty one anyone's yet found, so far as I know.

Best of luck in your search!