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SPEAKER 1: Hello, everyone.

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Welcome.

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Let's get started.

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We are so grateful to have Tommy
MacWilliam here with us today

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to do our prep and practice workshop.

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What number is this for you, Tommy?

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TOMMY MACWILLIAM: I want to say
it's like, seven or eight, maybe.

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SPEAKER 1: Wonderful.

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We're so happy to have him here.

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Thank you, again.

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I'm going to let Tommy give more
of an introduction of himself

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and the rest of his team from
Figma, but again, welcome, Tommy.

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TOMMY MACWILLIAM: Well it's
really, really good to be here.

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I'm so excited to be back in person and
not just be a square in a Zoom screen,

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so I'm really excited to see
all of your faces as well.

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So I'm Tommy.

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I grew up in Boston,
currently living in New York.

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I graduated from Harvard in 2013,
which now feels forever ago,

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but I was one of the head TFs
of CS 50 from 2010 to 2013.

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I was in Mather House.

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No one's in Mather House.

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Well, I was so that's great.

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And I'm here today with
a few folks from Figma.

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We have Ashley, Carolyn, and
Hannah, who'll be on the Zoom chat,

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answering questions.

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So today, I'm really excited
today to talk about how

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to prepare for technical interviews.

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Really, the genesis of
this talk was helping

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people learn all of the
sort of unspoken rules

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and secret handshakes that go into
succeeding in a technical interview.

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It's the type of stuff you don't
necessarily learn in a course,

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and so I'm really excited
to help fill in those gaps

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and help set you up for success as
you begin or continue your journey

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through technical interviewing.

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So today, we're really
trying to cover the whole end

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to end process of interviewing.

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We're talking about choosing companies,
how to format your resume, and then

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the whole interview process.

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What to do before?

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What to do during?

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We'll have a mock interview,
we'll go through it

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in a live example of what to do or maybe
not do during a technical interview.

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And then we'll wrap up with
how to think about and reflect

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after your interviews are done.

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So the first thing I want to talk
about today is choosing companies.

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This is a really non-obvious
thing, and the one thing

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I want you to take away from this
is that everybody is different.

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You know, what you're looking
for what your friends are looking

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for might be totally different
things, and so don't feel bad

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if you feel like your place
is at a larger company

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or your place is at a smaller company.

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There's no right answers here.

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And so rather than telling you
exactly what companies to apply for,

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other than Figma, I want to give
you these principles and frameworks

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to think about how you
might narrow down that list.

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A lot of folks have a tendency to
apply to 500 different companies,

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but you're probably setting
yourself up for failure

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with doing a bunch of
interviews every day,

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so here's a framework for narrowing
that down a bit earlier in your process.

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So number one is asking yourself,
what are you looking for?

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Again, this might be really different
than what your friends are looking for

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and your peers are
looking for, so don't feel

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like you ever have the wrong answer.

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Some folks are looking for
a more structured company

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with a lot of mentorship,
particularly early on in your career,

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to learn from more experienced
folks, while other folks want

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to join somewhere a lot smaller.

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Sort of learn by doing, don't have
mentors telling you exactly what to do.

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Neither one of those
is the right answer,

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but they are very different companies
and very different experiences,

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so think and reflect
for yourself what it

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is you want to get out of your
internship or first roll out

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of college.

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Second thing to think about, especially
as you go through the interview process

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is would you be excited to work
with these people every day?

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During your internship or role, you're
going to be spending a lot of time

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with people.

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There's a tendency to Zoom in on
what projects am I working on,

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what team I'm working on,
but the people around you

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are really what's going to
define this experience for you.

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So as you're going through
the interview process,

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think about who is
being represented there

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and how they sort of vibe
with what you're looking for.

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A related thing is looking
at a company's values page.

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Every company has them, Figma included.

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Learn about what a company
values more than other companies.

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Every company will say they
value hiring the best people

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and shipping impactful
changes, but there's

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layers below that will give you a flavor
of what the actual day to day work

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looks like.

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Finally, a really easy heuristic for
thinking about where you want to work

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is what size company you're working for.

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So this is a graphic from
Dustin Moskovitz, the Asana CEO,

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back when he was giving
tech recruiting talks.

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And this sort of--

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I won't go through this
whole table, but this kind of

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lays out what it looks like to work
at a small, medium, and large company.

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I will say this graphic is quite
old, so the numbers on the top here

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I would double or triple what you call
a small or large company at this point.

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But you can generally see
that at a small company,

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you're not going to have
a super well defined role.

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You might be wearing a bunch of hats.

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You might show up in your first
day to assemble your desk.

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Where at a large company, you're
going to have a lot more structure,

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a lot more road mapping and planning
and strategy defined for you,

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and you're sort of going to come in and
have a lot of impact through execution

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and working with other
experienced engineers.

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So again, I'll say one last time,
there is no right answer on this chart.

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What people are looking for
is very, very different,

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so think about and reflect
what it is you want and use

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this chart as a heuristic
to start filtering down

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the wide spectrum of companies.

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So that's it on choosing companies.

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So next let's talk
briefly about resumes.

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And I say briefly because
resumes are really not

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as important as a lot of
people think they are.

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Does anyone have a guess for how long
me as a hiring manager or recruiter

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might spend reading your resume?

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Any guesses?

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Ten seconds?

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Five seconds.

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Ten seconds.

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I've given this talk too many times.

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It's actually been more generous.

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I'm going to say 30 seconds is my
like, median time reading a resume.

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So you don't need to spend six
months perfecting your resume

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to get through to the next step.

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We're really just looking
for a few key things.

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And so I'm going to leave you
with my ten patented resume rules.

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If you follow these ten things,
you almost certainly cannot mess up

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your resume, and that's your goal here.

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Number one, most importantly, one page.

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No exceptions.

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I've read the resumes of engineers
with 30 plus years of experience

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across five to ten different companies.

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Their resumes were one page.

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That means your resume
can be one page too.

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I know you've done a lot of great
stuff, had a bunch of internships, done

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a bunch of extracurriculars.

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I am not reading past page one, period.

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So don't make your resume
more than one page.

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Second, make it easy to skim.

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I am your audience.

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I just told you I'm spending
30 seconds of my time on this.

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If I'm spending 20 of those seconds
trying to figure out where the heck

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you worked because it's not formatted
well or it's not easy to skim,

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you've only got ten seconds left
for me to read your content.

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So make it really, really easy for me
as the hiring manager or the recruiter

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or whomever to skim your
resume and get the key details.

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Three make your contact info obvious.

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The goal of submitting your resume
is to be contacted by a company

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to move forward with the next steps.

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I don't know how many
resumes I've read that didn't

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have an email or a phone number or an
obvious way to contact this person.

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Super easy mistake to make, so
just make sure it's really easy

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to contact you from your resume.

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Number four, and this is maybe
the advice you hear the most,

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try to highlight
specific accomplishments.

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If you can talk about you improved
the performance of some system by 5%,

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you increased revenue by 3% by
optimizing some system, talk about that

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and try to use specifics.

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Many companies or
internships might put you

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under some nondisclosure agreement
that prevents you from disclosing

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the total ARR of some company.

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However, you can still be
specific about what you worked on

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and what the impact of that
was without getting yourself

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sued by the Google legal department.

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Number five, try to include your
interesting personal projects.

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In particular, if you only have zero
or one internships under your belt,

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this is your opportunity
to showcase what

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you've built outside of internships.

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Maybe it's a cool class project where
you built something and kind of went

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above and beyond the requirements.

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Maybe it's just something
you built in your free time

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because you wanted to solve some
problem or build some cool app.

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Please highlight that on your resume.

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I literally do click click on GitHub
links and flip through projects

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and try out apps, and it really does
help you stand out in particular

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if you don't have a bunch
of that experience already,

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which everyone has zero
experience at some point.

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And so this is a way to cold start your
resume and get it in front of folks So

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that's a bunch of do's.

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How about some don'ts?

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Number one, no charts
or ratings ever, period.

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Please.

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Don't tell me that you're a four
out of five stars on JavaScript,

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or an eight out of ten on collaboration.

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I have no idea what that means.

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I don't think you do either.

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So don't waste the space on your one
page of resume telling me precisely

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the three significant figures
how good you are at some tool.

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Number seven, don't include
an objective statement.

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Again, waste of space.

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There's a bunch of resumes
that say I'm looking

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for a fast paced internship in
the field of software engineering

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at a fast growing company.

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Like, duh.

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I mean, that's what
everyone's doing, right.

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There's no point in wasting your space
with that objective statement that

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doesn't separate you from
any other resume in the pile.

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Number eight, please use
a professional email.

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I've had some pretty ridiculous
emails across some resumes

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like, thegolfninja12345@gmail.com.

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Create a resume, first initial,
last name's a super great template.

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Really, lots of free email services.

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Don't use a silly email.

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Nine, include relevant links.

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If you've got a LinkedIn, included it.

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You've got a GitHub, include it.

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If you're a designer or a data
scientist, you've got a portfolio,

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please include that as well.

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Like I said, especially
for folks who might not

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have a bunch of previous
internship experience,

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we literally do click these
things, so please put them

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on there to give us the opportunity
give you the opportunity

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to showcase your skills really fully.

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Number ten, don't sweat the aesthetics.

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A lot of folks are really concerned
about getting the correct shade of blue

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for the header on their resume.

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I don't care.

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Just make sure the content is really
what's coming through in your resume.

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Don't spend a bunch of time
trying to design stuff.

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So those ten rules in mind,
I have two fake resumes.

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I promise they're not real
because I googled fake resume.

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And so I want to hear from the group
what we think about this resume.

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It's not all bad.

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It's not all good.

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So what's good and what's bad
according to those ten rules?

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Feel free to raise your hand.

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Yeah, in the back.

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AUDIENCE MEMBER 1: I think
that it's easy to navigate,

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and you can clearly see what is the
job title that they have and dates,

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and stuff.

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That's the good side.

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The bad side, it's--

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he has the ratings that you mentioned.

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So it's very subjective.

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And also, it is misusing the space, in
my opinion, in this thing of putting,

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I think header you can eventually
make that a bit more simple.

241
00:10:35,990 --> 00:10:39,180
And I cannot actually
read too much the points,

242
00:10:39,180 --> 00:10:42,820
but it doesn't seem that they are
focused too much on the achievements.

243
00:10:42,820 --> 00:10:46,195
They have some of them like,
in the last one that says like,

244
00:10:46,195 --> 00:10:47,410
[INAUDIBLE] of something.

245
00:10:47,410 --> 00:10:50,562
But the rest doesn't look
like, very focused points.

246
00:10:50,562 --> 00:10:51,520
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: Yeah.

247
00:10:51,520 --> 00:10:54,850
So just so just to recap, so I think
this is definitely well structured.

248
00:10:54,850 --> 00:10:56,690
Words like data scientist are in bold.

249
00:10:56,690 --> 00:10:57,190
Great.

250
00:10:57,190 --> 00:10:58,720
I can read that really easily.

251
00:10:58,720 --> 00:11:01,210
We've got this very
strange chart over here,

252
00:11:01,210 --> 00:11:03,580
where it seems like
they're a good team player,

253
00:11:03,580 --> 00:11:05,630
but they don't have great
attention to detail.

254
00:11:05,630 --> 00:11:07,660
I'm not really sure how that adds up.

255
00:11:07,660 --> 00:11:13,070
Maybe one other observation
from someone else?

256
00:11:13,070 --> 00:11:13,910
Good or bad.

257
00:11:13,910 --> 00:11:18,740


258
00:11:18,740 --> 00:11:19,580
Yeah.

259
00:11:19,580 --> 00:11:21,330
AUDIENCE MEMBER 2: One
good observation is

260
00:11:21,330 --> 00:11:23,570
that they're using a
professional email address,

261
00:11:23,570 --> 00:11:26,810
but a bad observation is that
they have a profile which

262
00:11:26,810 --> 00:11:29,842
is sort of like the objective
and it's unnecessary.

263
00:11:29,842 --> 00:11:30,800
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: Yeah.

264
00:11:30,800 --> 00:11:32,008
I think that's exactly right.

265
00:11:32,008 --> 00:11:33,822
So good contact
information easy to read.

266
00:11:33,822 --> 00:11:36,530
However, they've got this waste
of space and this waste of space.

267
00:11:36,530 --> 00:11:39,380
The actual content is really
this small square over here

268
00:11:39,380 --> 00:11:40,850
and this small square over here.

269
00:11:40,850 --> 00:11:41,990
There's probably a
lot more room for them

270
00:11:41,990 --> 00:11:45,110
to be highlighting specific achievements
by removing a lot of this cruft

271
00:11:45,110 --> 00:11:46,800
that I'm really not that interested in.

272
00:11:46,800 --> 00:11:48,500
OK, that's one.

273
00:11:48,500 --> 00:11:51,860
And here is google images
fake resume number two.

274
00:11:51,860 --> 00:11:54,425
What's good about this and what's bad?

275
00:11:54,425 --> 00:11:58,600


276
00:11:58,600 --> 00:11:59,290
Yeah.

277
00:11:59,290 --> 00:12:02,492
AUDIENCE MEMBER 3: I
just have a [INAUDIBLE]..

278
00:12:02,492 --> 00:12:03,450
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: Yeah.

279
00:12:03,450 --> 00:12:05,910
It is really, really dense.

280
00:12:05,910 --> 00:12:07,150
Pretty hard to read.

281
00:12:07,150 --> 00:12:09,335
I like that they've kind
of highlighted their roles,

282
00:12:09,335 --> 00:12:10,960
but there's just so much going on here.

283
00:12:10,960 --> 00:12:14,190
It's not easy for me to read
compared to the last one.

284
00:12:14,190 --> 00:12:15,170
Yeah.

285
00:12:15,170 --> 00:12:17,712
AUDIENCE MEMBER 4: Positive is
that they have their LinkedIn,

286
00:12:17,712 --> 00:12:20,212
but it's sort of hard for me
to find with how much text--

287
00:12:20,212 --> 00:12:21,170
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: Yeah.

288
00:12:21,170 --> 00:12:21,670
Exactly.

289
00:12:21,670 --> 00:12:25,010
So it's there, but it doesn't really
jump out to me at the starting point

290
00:12:25,010 --> 00:12:27,020
either.

291
00:12:27,020 --> 00:12:28,760
One other observation?

292
00:12:28,760 --> 00:12:33,550


293
00:12:33,550 --> 00:12:34,330
Yeah?

294
00:12:34,330 --> 00:12:39,250
AUDIENCE MEMBER 5: I think that they use
way many points under each experience,

295
00:12:39,250 --> 00:12:43,100
and if they have more experiences
that they share, they can just like,

296
00:12:43,100 --> 00:12:45,632
condense some of these things--

297
00:12:45,632 --> 00:12:46,590
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: Yeah.

298
00:12:46,590 --> 00:12:47,465
I think that's right.

299
00:12:47,465 --> 00:12:49,260
There's a whole lot of verbosity here.

300
00:12:49,260 --> 00:12:53,310
I think that's in part what's
making this easy to skim.

301
00:12:53,310 --> 00:12:54,540
Yeah.

302
00:12:54,540 --> 00:12:57,082
AUDIENCE MEMBER 6: I think
another positive is they like list

303
00:12:57,082 --> 00:13:01,047
their like, positive
attributes [INAUDIBLE]..

304
00:13:01,047 --> 00:13:02,380
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: Yeah, I agree.

305
00:13:02,380 --> 00:13:04,810
This part is actually maybe the most
memorable part of the whole thing.

306
00:13:04,810 --> 00:13:07,560
Sort of what they're doing,
what their area of expertise is.

307
00:13:07,560 --> 00:13:08,560
I'll add one more thing.

308
00:13:08,560 --> 00:13:09,935
I'm surprised nobody pointed out.

309
00:13:09,935 --> 00:13:11,650
I have literally no idea what this is.

310
00:13:11,650 --> 00:13:14,830
I don't know what they're trying to
convey here, but they didn't convey it.

311
00:13:14,830 --> 00:13:16,090
So don't try to get fancy.

312
00:13:16,090 --> 00:13:18,100
Don't think about too
much the aesthetics here.

313
00:13:18,100 --> 00:13:19,300
Simplify your resume.

314
00:13:19,300 --> 00:13:25,540
Make sure the content is really
being highlighted, not some thing.

315
00:13:25,540 --> 00:13:26,540
So that's it on resumes.

316
00:13:26,540 --> 00:13:28,460
I'm not spending any more time
on resumes in this workshop

317
00:13:28,460 --> 00:13:30,460
because like I said,
they're not that important.

318
00:13:30,460 --> 00:13:32,700
They're a way for you to
get your foot in the door,

319
00:13:32,700 --> 00:13:35,340
but at no point am I ever in a
debrief for candidates saying,

320
00:13:35,340 --> 00:13:37,700
well their resume had the
best font I've seen in weeks.

321
00:13:37,700 --> 00:13:39,033
We've got to give them the role.

322
00:13:39,033 --> 00:13:44,390
[LAUGHTER] So let's talk about what
to expect before the interview.

323
00:13:44,390 --> 00:13:46,810
So first, here's things
that you can expect.

324
00:13:46,810 --> 00:13:51,940
One, if you can, try to interview
early and plan it into your schedule.

325
00:13:51,940 --> 00:13:55,240
Interviewing is nearly another
class for you to take on.

326
00:13:55,240 --> 00:13:58,880
There's a whole lot of coordination
and it's a stressful experience.

327
00:13:58,880 --> 00:14:01,750
So I'm not telling you to
take an easy class or two,

328
00:14:01,750 --> 00:14:04,330
but I'm not not telling
you that either if it's

329
00:14:04,330 --> 00:14:06,640
going to help you with your schedule.

330
00:14:06,640 --> 00:14:10,450
And third, try to look for opportunities
that are geared to your experience.

331
00:14:10,450 --> 00:14:13,600
Many companies, the Googles,
the Microsofts, the Metas,

332
00:14:13,600 --> 00:14:17,350
they have internships geared
specifically at first year students

333
00:14:17,350 --> 00:14:19,060
or folks who don't have any experience.

334
00:14:19,060 --> 00:14:22,093
Try to apply to those first if that's
the category of person you are.

335
00:14:22,093 --> 00:14:24,010
If you have three
internships under your belt,

336
00:14:24,010 --> 00:14:26,050
don't try to apply to one of
those first year programs.

337
00:14:26,050 --> 00:14:28,480
Look for something that's
a bit more tailored to you.

338
00:14:28,480 --> 00:14:30,063
There's no sort of like, secrets here.

339
00:14:30,063 --> 00:14:31,230
Just read the opportunities.

340
00:14:31,230 --> 00:14:32,650
They'll usually be pretty clear.

341
00:14:32,650 --> 00:14:35,377
This is a fellowship for a
first year, and then this

342
00:14:35,377 --> 00:14:37,960
is, sort of, our standard
internship with an eye of converting

343
00:14:37,960 --> 00:14:41,270
towards a full time person.

344
00:14:41,270 --> 00:14:45,290
So here's a sketch of what
the process might look like.

345
00:14:45,290 --> 00:14:47,890
So many, many processes
will start with you

346
00:14:47,890 --> 00:14:51,970
meeting with a recruiter coming to an
event like this to meet with folks.

347
00:14:51,970 --> 00:14:54,010
The first technical
assessment will probably

348
00:14:54,010 --> 00:14:57,370
be some kind of online coding challenge.

349
00:14:57,370 --> 00:14:59,560
Maybe there's someone
human there moderating it.

350
00:14:59,560 --> 00:15:00,310
Maybe there's not.

351
00:15:00,310 --> 00:15:02,410
There's lots of tools
these days to just allow

352
00:15:02,410 --> 00:15:06,100
you to work on a problem in the
comfort and space in your own time.

353
00:15:06,100 --> 00:15:08,100
There may be some sort
of take home assignment.

354
00:15:08,100 --> 00:15:09,850
Maybe that's something
that's a bit longer

355
00:15:09,850 --> 00:15:13,750
in scope, maybe three to four hours
or a weekend to build something.

356
00:15:13,750 --> 00:15:16,090
There could be a technical
phone screen, which

357
00:15:16,090 --> 00:15:19,690
is a conversation live with an engineer
going through a coding problem,

358
00:15:19,690 --> 00:15:21,370
like the one we'll see later today.

359
00:15:21,370 --> 00:15:23,397
And then there's going
to be an on site that's

360
00:15:23,397 --> 00:15:25,480
sort of a blend of different
interviews, and we'll

361
00:15:25,480 --> 00:15:27,250
go into what those interviews look like.

362
00:15:27,250 --> 00:15:29,930
And I'll say that every company
doesn't have all of these steps.

363
00:15:29,930 --> 00:15:32,138
It's more that these are
the steps you may encounter.

364
00:15:32,138 --> 00:15:34,630
Companies will probably pick
and choose two of these maybe

365
00:15:34,630 --> 00:15:36,520
to define their process,
but here's all kind

366
00:15:36,520 --> 00:15:40,700
of the enemies you may
encounter along the way.

367
00:15:40,700 --> 00:15:45,100
So here are five types of
interviews that you might encounter.

368
00:15:45,100 --> 00:15:47,410
We're going to focus
the most on algorithms

369
00:15:47,410 --> 00:15:49,660
and coding today because
especially for early career

370
00:15:49,660 --> 00:15:52,870
folks that's the bread and butter
of your technical interviewing.

371
00:15:52,870 --> 00:15:56,080
But we'll also briefly touch on
systems design, practical interviews,

372
00:15:56,080 --> 00:15:59,382
deep dives, and values
interviews as well.

373
00:15:59,382 --> 00:16:01,090
So that's what you
can expect, but I also

374
00:16:01,090 --> 00:16:03,940
want to talk about what I
expect of you as an interviewer.

375
00:16:03,940 --> 00:16:05,440
So this is pulling back the curtain.

376
00:16:05,440 --> 00:16:08,020
This is the lens of what your
interviewer wants you to do.

377
00:16:08,020 --> 00:16:11,750
Broadly speaking, they want you to
be able to think through a problem.

378
00:16:11,750 --> 00:16:13,810
Some problem that you
haven't seen before,

379
00:16:13,810 --> 00:16:15,700
you're sort of drawing
on past experience,

380
00:16:15,700 --> 00:16:17,260
but you haven't seen
exactly this, we want

381
00:16:17,260 --> 00:16:19,677
to see how you're thinking,
the way you approach problems,

382
00:16:19,677 --> 00:16:21,040
and how you solve them.

383
00:16:21,040 --> 00:16:23,140
We want you to write functional code.

384
00:16:23,140 --> 00:16:26,470
We don't want a verbal description or a
paragraph description or a pseudocode.

385
00:16:26,470 --> 00:16:27,765
We want actual code.

386
00:16:27,765 --> 00:16:29,890
In some language, often
whatever language you want,

387
00:16:29,890 --> 00:16:34,240
but we do want the code to work and for
it to be real code with real syntax.

388
00:16:34,240 --> 00:16:35,540
Three, nobody's perfect.

389
00:16:35,540 --> 00:16:38,110
And so we want you to
fix issues along the way.

390
00:16:38,110 --> 00:16:41,207
Ideally if you're writing code, you're
identifying those issues yourself.

391
00:16:41,207 --> 00:16:43,540
Maybe you found a bug, maybe
you found some improvement.

392
00:16:43,540 --> 00:16:45,940
We're looking for you to be on the
lookout for those and fix them,

393
00:16:45,940 --> 00:16:47,210
but that doesn't always happen.

394
00:16:47,210 --> 00:16:48,770
Sometimes your interviewer
might point out,

395
00:16:48,770 --> 00:16:51,530
hey it seems like you've got a bug
if you consider this edge case.

396
00:16:51,530 --> 00:16:53,920
We're looking for you to be able to
fix that and not sort of stress out,

397
00:16:53,920 --> 00:16:56,680
maybe being able to adapt
your code to new Information.

398
00:16:56,680 --> 00:16:58,630
Looking for you to reason about runtime.

399
00:16:58,630 --> 00:17:00,713
We'll talk about that in
a bit, but be able to say

400
00:17:00,713 --> 00:17:03,610
is the solution linear or
logarithmic or whatever.

401
00:17:03,610 --> 00:17:07,810
And lastly and most importantly, we're
looking for you to communicate clearly.

402
00:17:07,810 --> 00:17:09,730
The interview is a conversation.

403
00:17:09,730 --> 00:17:12,849
Your goal in that conversation
is to communicate your solution

404
00:17:12,849 --> 00:17:15,339
through words, through
code, so make sure that's

405
00:17:15,339 --> 00:17:18,920
really clear to your interviewer.

406
00:17:18,920 --> 00:17:21,890
So now let's talk a bit about
preparing for interviews.

407
00:17:21,890 --> 00:17:25,310
And like I said, we're going to focus
the most on these algorithms encoding

408
00:17:25,310 --> 00:17:28,970
interview, which is going to be
what you're mostly going to see.

409
00:17:28,970 --> 00:17:31,850
The first thing you want to
do as you're preparing, really

410
00:17:31,850 --> 00:17:33,710
start with the basics.

411
00:17:33,710 --> 00:17:36,860
When you're in an interview,
it's really stressful.

412
00:17:36,860 --> 00:17:39,770
No matter how many interviews you
do, I did some interviews recently,

413
00:17:39,770 --> 00:17:41,330
it's still really stressful.

414
00:17:41,330 --> 00:17:46,070
The number one thing you can do to
reduce that stress is to practice.

415
00:17:46,070 --> 00:17:48,710
The more types of problems
you've seen, the more

416
00:17:48,710 --> 00:17:51,920
times you've been in a time setting
with some weird-looking Leet Code

417
00:17:51,920 --> 00:17:54,410
problem you've never seen
before, it's going to reduce

418
00:17:54,410 --> 00:17:55,702
the stress as much as possible.

419
00:17:55,702 --> 00:17:58,610
It'll never be zero, but you
can reduce it with practice.

420
00:17:58,610 --> 00:18:01,970
More specifically, pick a
language and stick to it.

421
00:18:01,970 --> 00:18:05,570
It's very rare, possible,
but very rare for a company

422
00:18:05,570 --> 00:18:08,448
to say you must interview
in precisely this language.

423
00:18:08,448 --> 00:18:10,490
So instead, what you should
do is pick a language

424
00:18:10,490 --> 00:18:11,782
that you feel comfortable with.

425
00:18:11,782 --> 00:18:13,700
Maybe you've used it
in a bunch of classes.

426
00:18:13,700 --> 00:18:16,280
Maybe you had an internship
where you use Python.

427
00:18:16,280 --> 00:18:19,580
Pick one of those languages like
a Python or a Ruby or a JavaScript

428
00:18:19,580 --> 00:18:23,840
that's fairly simple, has a bunch
of built in tools, and use it.

429
00:18:23,840 --> 00:18:26,600
The last thing you want to do
going into an interview problem

430
00:18:26,600 --> 00:18:29,267
is say, all right, what language
do I want to use to solve this?

431
00:18:29,267 --> 00:18:32,840
You should know that cold before
the question even gets asked.

432
00:18:32,840 --> 00:18:37,280
And once you pick a language, try to
learn the foundations of that language.

433
00:18:37,280 --> 00:18:40,040
Syntax, built ins, error handling.

434
00:18:40,040 --> 00:18:42,530
If you're in an interview and
you're trying to remember,

435
00:18:42,530 --> 00:18:44,900
how do I get the length
of a string in Python?

436
00:18:44,900 --> 00:18:45,650
Is it Len?

437
00:18:45,650 --> 00:18:46,910
Is it dot size?

438
00:18:46,910 --> 00:18:48,470
It's just stress, right?

439
00:18:48,470 --> 00:18:50,810
You want to eliminate
that variable completely.

440
00:18:50,810 --> 00:18:54,360
Just have these basics down
cold and be ready to use them,

441
00:18:54,360 --> 00:18:57,110
so that all of your stress and all
of your energy in the interview

442
00:18:57,110 --> 00:19:01,160
itself goes towards solving the
problem and not all the boring stuff

443
00:19:01,160 --> 00:19:04,490
around that.

444
00:19:04,490 --> 00:19:07,180
So really want to start
with these basics.

445
00:19:07,180 --> 00:19:09,550
So having heard this,
what are some things

446
00:19:09,550 --> 00:19:14,540
that people think you
should know how to do cold?

447
00:19:14,540 --> 00:19:17,735
Raise your hand and let me know.

448
00:19:17,735 --> 00:19:18,235
Yeah.

449
00:19:18,235 --> 00:19:19,240
AUDIENCE MEMBER 7: Like, write a loop.

450
00:19:19,240 --> 00:19:19,570
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: Yeah.

451
00:19:19,570 --> 00:19:20,080
That's a great one.

452
00:19:20,080 --> 00:19:20,950
Being able to write a loop.

453
00:19:20,950 --> 00:19:21,670
What's the syntax?

454
00:19:21,670 --> 00:19:22,503
Does it have braces?

455
00:19:22,503 --> 00:19:23,663
Is there a colon?

456
00:19:23,663 --> 00:19:25,330
Is there even a y-loop in this language?

457
00:19:25,330 --> 00:19:25,720
Right a loop.

458
00:19:25,720 --> 00:19:26,510
That's a really good one.

459
00:19:26,510 --> 00:19:27,040
What else?

460
00:19:27,040 --> 00:19:30,320


461
00:19:30,320 --> 00:19:31,273
Yeah.

462
00:19:31,273 --> 00:19:31,980
AUDIENCE MEMBER 8: Conditionals.

463
00:19:31,980 --> 00:19:32,400
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: Yeah.

464
00:19:32,400 --> 00:19:32,942
Conditionals.

465
00:19:32,942 --> 00:19:33,533
Exactly.

466
00:19:33,533 --> 00:19:34,950
What's the state for conditionals?

467
00:19:34,950 --> 00:19:36,630
What is the syntax there?

468
00:19:36,630 --> 00:19:40,600
How about one more, and
then I'll give you my list.

469
00:19:40,600 --> 00:19:41,170
Yeah.

470
00:19:41,170 --> 00:19:43,420
AUDIENCE MEMBER 9: How
to visualize an array?

471
00:19:43,420 --> 00:19:44,290
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: Yeah, that's great.

472
00:19:44,290 --> 00:19:46,415
List an array is super,
super common in Primitives.

473
00:19:46,415 --> 00:19:48,820
Being able to know, is it
called a vector, is it a list.

474
00:19:48,820 --> 00:19:50,998
Having that really, really comfortable.

475
00:19:50,998 --> 00:19:53,290
So here's a few other things
that-- along the same line

476
00:19:53,290 --> 00:19:54,190
of what we just mentioned.

477
00:19:54,190 --> 00:19:55,990
One is making sure to create a function.

478
00:19:55,990 --> 00:19:57,580
You'd be shocked at the
number of interviews

479
00:19:57,580 --> 00:20:00,490
that I've started where someone has
said, how do I create a function again?

480
00:20:00,490 --> 00:20:01,573
You don't want to be that.

481
00:20:01,573 --> 00:20:02,710
Just have that down cold.

482
00:20:02,710 --> 00:20:03,940
Define classes.

483
00:20:03,940 --> 00:20:04,840
Work with strings.

484
00:20:04,840 --> 00:20:07,030
Tons of interview questions
have to do with strings.

485
00:20:07,030 --> 00:20:09,800
Lists, as someone just
mentioned, and trees as well.

486
00:20:09,800 --> 00:20:11,287
So just have this practice down.

487
00:20:11,287 --> 00:20:13,120
You shouldn't have to
be wondering, oh crap,

488
00:20:13,120 --> 00:20:15,580
how do I represent a
binary tree in Ruby?

489
00:20:15,580 --> 00:20:19,232
Just know that going in.

490
00:20:19,232 --> 00:20:21,690
An interesting thing about--
interesting interview problem,

491
00:20:21,690 --> 00:20:23,898
is that we're is going to
ask you what's the runtime.

492
00:20:23,898 --> 00:20:26,040
It's like baked into every
interviewer's trainings.

493
00:20:26,040 --> 00:20:28,200
Like, just say the words,
what's the runtime.

494
00:20:28,200 --> 00:20:31,620
And what's interesting is that
interview problems really rarely

495
00:20:31,620 --> 00:20:33,180
have complex complexity.

496
00:20:33,180 --> 00:20:38,370
Your answer is never going to be 2
to the n divided by log n factorial--

497
00:20:38,370 --> 00:20:39,150
it's not that.

498
00:20:39,150 --> 00:20:41,680
It's going to be all of the simple ones.

499
00:20:41,680 --> 00:20:44,790
So with that in mind, what
are some common runtimes

500
00:20:44,790 --> 00:20:47,592
that you might encounter
for an interview problem?

501
00:20:47,592 --> 00:20:48,610
AUDIENCE: Log n.

502
00:20:48,610 --> 00:20:49,860
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: Yeah, log n.

503
00:20:49,860 --> 00:20:50,610
That's a good one.

504
00:20:50,610 --> 00:20:51,180
What else?

505
00:20:51,180 --> 00:20:52,333
AUDIENCE: Linear.

506
00:20:52,333 --> 00:20:54,000
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: Linear, and what else?

507
00:20:54,000 --> 00:20:54,900
AUDIENCE: N square.

508
00:20:54,900 --> 00:20:56,970
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: N square--
we've basically got them all.

509
00:20:56,970 --> 00:20:59,020
Honestly, that's not going to
be more complicated than that.

510
00:20:59,020 --> 00:21:02,062
So you've got-- to add a couple more,
you've got constant, we didn't say.

511
00:21:02,062 --> 00:21:05,710
Polynomial is just the generalized
form of quadratic and cubic.

512
00:21:05,710 --> 00:21:06,990
And then exponential as well.

513
00:21:06,990 --> 00:21:09,150
If you answer the question
and you say exponential,

514
00:21:09,150 --> 00:21:11,652
that almost always means
your interview is not

515
00:21:11,652 --> 00:21:13,860
done yet, because you can
do better than exponential.

516
00:21:13,860 --> 00:21:16,318
Not always, but that's kind of
a signal that you can get it

517
00:21:16,318 --> 00:21:18,010
into one of these other runtimes.

518
00:21:18,010 --> 00:21:21,030
So if you find yourself
deriving some math principle

519
00:21:21,030 --> 00:21:24,510
or proving some theory where you're
answering the complexity question,

520
00:21:24,510 --> 00:21:25,500
you're probably wrong.

521
00:21:25,500 --> 00:21:30,130
Just say one of these five words and
that's what your interview wants.

522
00:21:30,130 --> 00:21:35,470
So along the same line, you also want
to build out your toolbox of concepts.

523
00:21:35,470 --> 00:21:39,040
There's a whole bunch of interview
questions out there, but many of them

524
00:21:39,040 --> 00:21:43,790
are really just dressing up some
core CSS concept and disguising it.

525
00:21:43,790 --> 00:21:47,870
So some of the concepts you'll
probably encounter, one is recursion.

526
00:21:47,870 --> 00:21:50,740
So how can you take this problem
divide it into subproblems,

527
00:21:50,740 --> 00:21:54,610
and solve the original problem with the
sort of combination of the subproblems?

528
00:21:54,610 --> 00:21:55,690
Graph searches.

529
00:21:55,690 --> 00:21:58,240
A bunch of things can just
be reduced to graph searches,

530
00:21:58,240 --> 00:22:01,360
so knowing what breadth-first
search or depth-first search is.

531
00:22:01,360 --> 00:22:03,910
What a binary tree is, for instance.

532
00:22:03,910 --> 00:22:04,960
Greedy algorithms.

533
00:22:04,960 --> 00:22:07,840
A lot of questions sound like
they've got some crazy solution,

534
00:22:07,840 --> 00:22:11,450
but the answer is just sort
of approach it greedily.

535
00:22:11,450 --> 00:22:13,130
A lot of string questions are out there.

536
00:22:13,130 --> 00:22:16,130
Things Like palindromes versus string
and one of our marketing questions

537
00:22:16,130 --> 00:22:19,100
it's a string question so just being
really comfortable with strings.

538
00:22:19,100 --> 00:22:22,095
How to access them,
create them, mutate them.

539
00:22:22,095 --> 00:22:23,720
And then, lastly searching and sorting.

540
00:22:23,720 --> 00:22:26,210
Ton of interview questions,
sort of, take the form,

541
00:22:26,210 --> 00:22:30,470
find a path through the trees,
or transform this into that,

542
00:22:30,470 --> 00:22:33,620
just boils down to some kind
of search or some kind of sort.

543
00:22:33,620 --> 00:22:35,840
So have these basics down.

544
00:22:35,840 --> 00:22:38,312
Sort of be really comfortable
with recursion, which I know

545
00:22:38,312 --> 00:22:40,520
is a scary topic, but if
you get comfortable with it,

546
00:22:40,520 --> 00:22:43,790
you're going to be able to start
unlocking the solution to a whole bunch

547
00:22:43,790 --> 00:22:44,910
of interview questions.

548
00:22:44,910 --> 00:22:47,810
And again, it doesn't get
much, much fancier than this.

549
00:22:47,810 --> 00:22:51,740
One sort of advanced topic here,
if you've taken 121 or 124,

550
00:22:51,740 --> 00:22:53,990
is this thing called
dynamic programming, which

551
00:22:53,990 --> 00:22:57,160
is this way of caching values and
transforming some exponential solution

552
00:22:57,160 --> 00:22:59,150
into something polynomial, hopefully.

553
00:22:59,150 --> 00:23:01,100
So you might see that as well as
you're searching around topics,

554
00:23:01,100 --> 00:23:03,683
but that's a bit more of an
advanced one and sort of for the--

555
00:23:03,683 --> 00:23:06,960
maybe for the new grad roles,
as opposed to the intern roles.

556
00:23:06,960 --> 00:23:09,300
So those are the topics.

557
00:23:09,300 --> 00:23:13,020
And so how about the tools
that you have at your disposal?

558
00:23:13,020 --> 00:23:14,578
So one is arrays and linked lists.

559
00:23:14,578 --> 00:23:16,370
Be comfortable creating
those, knowing what

560
00:23:16,370 --> 00:23:17,900
the difference is, how to use them.

561
00:23:17,900 --> 00:23:21,620
Hash tables are a super easy
way to make some runtime faster,

562
00:23:21,620 --> 00:23:23,000
so know how to use those.

563
00:23:23,000 --> 00:23:25,910
Binary search comprises
a huge proportion

564
00:23:25,910 --> 00:23:29,010
of interview questions for some reason
are just disguised binary search,

565
00:23:29,010 --> 00:23:30,470
so get really good at that.

566
00:23:30,470 --> 00:23:31,670
Shortest path algorithm.

567
00:23:31,670 --> 00:23:35,420
Sort of, how to navigate a
graph, and sort of memorization,

568
00:23:35,420 --> 00:23:39,620
which is one of the techniques possibly
behind dynamic programming of caching

569
00:23:39,620 --> 00:23:42,143
values and reusing
previous computations.

570
00:23:42,143 --> 00:23:44,810
So these are the things just sort
of practice different problems

571
00:23:44,810 --> 00:23:46,520
with these different tools.

572
00:23:46,520 --> 00:23:49,370
And whenever you encounter a
problem, your first thought

573
00:23:49,370 --> 00:23:51,530
should be, OK, well
what's in my toolbox,

574
00:23:51,530 --> 00:23:58,340
and how can I apply these tools
to this question that I just got?

575
00:23:58,340 --> 00:24:02,700
So that's the preparation, the
intellectual part of preparation.

576
00:24:02,700 --> 00:24:05,370
And so now let's talk about
the actual tactics here.

577
00:24:05,370 --> 00:24:09,080
So one is simulate the
environment as much as you can.

578
00:24:09,080 --> 00:24:11,030
I have a tendency, and
I've seen many people

579
00:24:11,030 --> 00:24:13,980
have a tendency, to read some
question like in the books

580
00:24:13,980 --> 00:24:16,730
that you're looking at, think about
it for like a minute, be like,

581
00:24:16,730 --> 00:24:18,290
oh, yeah it's probably
something like this.

582
00:24:18,290 --> 00:24:19,280
Like, yeah, I got it.

583
00:24:19,280 --> 00:24:22,340
Flip to the answer key, and then
be like, oh yeah, I totally had it.

584
00:24:22,340 --> 00:24:25,400
If you find yourself doing that, that
is totally the wrong thing to do.

585
00:24:25,400 --> 00:24:29,360
Many, many people overestimate
the degree to which they have it.

586
00:24:29,360 --> 00:24:32,960
So I'd really encourage you to actually
sit down, write out the solution

587
00:24:32,960 --> 00:24:34,152
to the problem yourself.

588
00:24:34,152 --> 00:24:35,360
Don't look at the answer key.

589
00:24:35,360 --> 00:24:36,260
Try to time yourself.

590
00:24:36,260 --> 00:24:39,215
Put yourself on a, I don't
know, 30 to 45 minute clock,

591
00:24:39,215 --> 00:24:41,090
because that's a real
thing in the interview.

592
00:24:41,090 --> 00:24:42,860
Try to get used to that.

593
00:24:42,860 --> 00:24:46,633
Don't try to-- if you're in an interview
that doesn't let you look up something

594
00:24:46,633 --> 00:24:48,050
on Google, simulate that yourself.

595
00:24:48,050 --> 00:24:51,258
Know what it's like to work without your
autocomplete or without your answers

596
00:24:51,258 --> 00:24:51,890
on Google.

597
00:24:51,890 --> 00:24:56,060
And as you're doing that, try to look
for patterns in your own performance.

598
00:24:56,060 --> 00:24:57,690
Again, everybody's really different.

599
00:24:57,690 --> 00:25:01,220
Some people are amazing at recursion,
but sort of struggle with graph

600
00:25:01,220 --> 00:25:01,730
algorithms.

601
00:25:01,730 --> 00:25:04,472
Some people just never really
get behind dynamic programming,

602
00:25:04,472 --> 00:25:06,680
but are really good at these
kind of string problems.

603
00:25:06,680 --> 00:25:10,542
Everyone's different and try to assess
your own strengths and weaknesses.

604
00:25:10,542 --> 00:25:13,250
If you're looking online and you're
sort of looking at questions,

605
00:25:13,250 --> 00:25:15,517
they're almost always
categorized by something.

606
00:25:15,517 --> 00:25:16,850
Divide and conquer, or whatever.

607
00:25:16,850 --> 00:25:18,850
So try to do a few of
those different categories

608
00:25:18,850 --> 00:25:21,800
and see where you're good, where
you're not, and zone in on the areas

609
00:25:21,800 --> 00:25:23,003
where you're not.

610
00:25:23,003 --> 00:25:25,420
And then lastly, if you can,
try to practice with friends.

611
00:25:25,420 --> 00:25:29,120
You can get an interview buddy and
practice being the interviewer,

612
00:25:29,120 --> 00:25:30,345
being the interviewee.

613
00:25:30,345 --> 00:25:33,470
Even if you've never done interviewing
before, you kind of get the idea of,

614
00:25:33,470 --> 00:25:34,730
oh maybe, I know the answer.

615
00:25:34,730 --> 00:25:35,600
I can give hints.

616
00:25:35,600 --> 00:25:36,922
It's also a lot less lonely.

617
00:25:36,922 --> 00:25:40,130
It's not a fun thing to do by ourselves,
so if you can get an interview buddy

618
00:25:40,130 --> 00:25:42,213
and practice together, you
can just, sort of, help

619
00:25:42,213 --> 00:25:45,950
simulate a more realistic
environment, which ultimately that's

620
00:25:45,950 --> 00:25:47,060
your North Star here.

621
00:25:47,060 --> 00:25:49,640
When you're sitting in an
environment with an interviewer,

622
00:25:49,640 --> 00:25:51,680
you want to feel like
you've done this before.

623
00:25:51,680 --> 00:25:53,377
You're as comfortable as you can be.

624
00:25:53,377 --> 00:25:54,710
This doesn't feel weird and new.

625
00:25:54,710 --> 00:25:57,230
And the way to do that is
to really take the time,

626
00:25:57,230 --> 00:26:00,820
simulate the environment beforehand.

627
00:26:00,820 --> 00:26:02,110
So that's all of your prep.

628
00:26:02,110 --> 00:26:07,785
So now let's talk a bit about
strategies during the interview itself.

629
00:26:07,785 --> 00:26:10,160
The thing that I'm going to
repeat a bunch of times today

630
00:26:10,160 --> 00:26:13,940
is that as an interviewer,
I care about process

631
00:26:13,940 --> 00:26:16,460
a lot more than I care about output.

632
00:26:16,460 --> 00:26:18,500
There have been many,
many, many interviews

633
00:26:18,500 --> 00:26:20,630
I've done where the
person I'm interviewing

634
00:26:20,630 --> 00:26:23,510
didn't get the correct answer,
their code didn't work,

635
00:26:23,510 --> 00:26:26,760
didn't think of some edge case, and they
still made it through the next round.

636
00:26:26,760 --> 00:26:30,167
And the reason is because their
thought process was really clear,

637
00:26:30,167 --> 00:26:32,750
they were able to articulate the
trade offs of their approach,

638
00:26:32,750 --> 00:26:36,380
and I'm confident that with a couple
more minutes and maybe 10% less stress,

639
00:26:36,380 --> 00:26:38,250
they could have gotten
the answer correct.

640
00:26:38,250 --> 00:26:41,000
So think about that as
you're interviewing.

641
00:26:41,000 --> 00:26:44,930
Don't zone in and get really lasered
in on did I get the right answer.

642
00:26:44,930 --> 00:26:47,820
Laser in on your process for
getting that right answer,

643
00:26:47,820 --> 00:26:50,040
which we're about to talk about.

644
00:26:50,040 --> 00:26:52,940
So the first part of the interview
will be some sort of icebreaker.

645
00:26:52,940 --> 00:26:55,580
I always advise people before
they start an interview,

646
00:26:55,580 --> 00:26:58,730
take a deep breath before you
click the blue button on Zoom.

647
00:26:58,730 --> 00:27:02,270
Just take a deep breath,
center yourself, and get ready.

648
00:27:02,270 --> 00:27:03,953
Have an intro prepared.

649
00:27:03,953 --> 00:27:05,870
As an interviewer, they'll
introduce themself.

650
00:27:05,870 --> 00:27:06,240
I'm Tommy.

651
00:27:06,240 --> 00:27:07,698
I've been an Figma for nine months.

652
00:27:07,698 --> 00:27:08,720
I work on these teams.

653
00:27:08,720 --> 00:27:10,400
Have a quick intro prepared on your end.

654
00:27:10,400 --> 00:27:13,250
I've seen some candidates
sort of like, ramble for like,

655
00:27:13,250 --> 00:27:16,280
ten minutes about their
cat's name in second grade.

656
00:27:16,280 --> 00:27:19,640
So just have a quick 30 second
intro prepared on your end.

657
00:27:19,640 --> 00:27:21,350
Again, just don't even think about this.

658
00:27:21,350 --> 00:27:22,610
Like erase the variable.

659
00:27:22,610 --> 00:27:26,347
Have this stuff down cold so your
energy is going towards the problem.

660
00:27:26,347 --> 00:27:28,430
Your interviewer might ask
you about some project.

661
00:27:28,430 --> 00:27:31,760
It might be like an hour long interview
where maybe 40 minutes of that

662
00:27:31,760 --> 00:27:34,218
is coding, but 20 minutes
they're going to say, oh, tell me

663
00:27:34,218 --> 00:27:37,040
about your last internship,
so be ready for that.

664
00:27:37,040 --> 00:27:39,800
Pick a project you can talk
about for five to ten minutes.

665
00:27:39,800 --> 00:27:41,000
What the challenges were.

666
00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:44,220
What went well, what didn't.

667
00:27:44,220 --> 00:27:47,270
But again, just have that
down cold, and don't ramble.

668
00:27:47,270 --> 00:27:50,600
When people are nervous, myself
included, maybe I'm doing it now,

669
00:27:50,600 --> 00:27:54,110
they have a tendency to ramble and not
end their sentences and keep talking.

670
00:27:54,110 --> 00:27:57,290
So try to be mindful of that
in your interview conversation,

671
00:27:57,290 --> 00:28:00,200
to stop and pause and let
your interviewer interject

672
00:28:00,200 --> 00:28:03,630
and ask questions.

673
00:28:03,630 --> 00:28:06,485
Next piece of advice, you're going
to receive some technical problem

674
00:28:06,485 --> 00:28:07,610
you haven't seen it before.

675
00:28:07,610 --> 00:28:11,420
It probably has scary terms
like integer and sorted list.

676
00:28:11,420 --> 00:28:12,170
Don't panic.

677
00:28:12,170 --> 00:28:14,300
Sort of, practice, get used to this.

678
00:28:14,300 --> 00:28:16,250
If your reaction is
panic, try to practice

679
00:28:16,250 --> 00:28:20,330
and get used to solving these sort
of new and unfamiliar problems.

680
00:28:20,330 --> 00:28:23,960
If you've seen the problem
before, like exactly that problem,

681
00:28:23,960 --> 00:28:25,687
tell your interviewer.

682
00:28:25,687 --> 00:28:28,520
I've interviewed a bunch of folks
who think they can win the Academy

683
00:28:28,520 --> 00:28:31,020
Award for pretending they haven't
seen an interview problem,

684
00:28:31,020 --> 00:28:32,520
and I haven't handed one out yet.

685
00:28:32,520 --> 00:28:33,780
They never win.

686
00:28:33,780 --> 00:28:36,530
And it's really, really bad and
borderline unethical for a company

687
00:28:36,530 --> 00:28:38,510
to be like, cheating in
this way on an interview.

688
00:28:38,510 --> 00:28:39,260
So don't do that.

689
00:28:39,260 --> 00:28:41,480
You're just sort of setting
yourself up for failure.

690
00:28:41,480 --> 00:28:43,220
Many times, the interview
will say, OK, cool.

691
00:28:43,220 --> 00:28:43,850
Thanks for telling me.

692
00:28:43,850 --> 00:28:45,020
We're going to do it anyway.

693
00:28:45,020 --> 00:28:47,300
And you sort of proceed that
way, and the interviewer

694
00:28:47,300 --> 00:28:48,550
can kind of keep that in mind.

695
00:28:48,550 --> 00:28:50,717
But if you have seen it,
just tell your interviewer.

696
00:28:50,717 --> 00:28:52,220
Don't try to get away with it.

697
00:28:52,220 --> 00:28:55,430
After you get a problem,
ask clarifying questions.

698
00:28:55,430 --> 00:28:58,912
A really good thing that I like to see
is say, OK, well here's the problem.

699
00:28:58,912 --> 00:28:59,870
So let me just confirm.

700
00:28:59,870 --> 00:29:02,312
With this input, the
output should be this.

701
00:29:02,312 --> 00:29:03,770
Your interviewer is like, oh, yeah.

702
00:29:03,770 --> 00:29:04,312
That's right.

703
00:29:04,312 --> 00:29:07,400
And you've concluded to yourself,
I now understand the constraints

704
00:29:07,400 --> 00:29:10,310
of this problem, rather than jumping
in and assuming it's something,

705
00:29:10,310 --> 00:29:12,650
and then your interviewer doesn't
realize you're on the wrong track,

706
00:29:12,650 --> 00:29:14,700
and 20 minutes later, the
two of you realize, oh,

707
00:29:14,700 --> 00:29:17,270
we're actually solving the wrong thing,
and you just burn those 20 minutes.

708
00:29:17,270 --> 00:29:20,240
So just confirm you have a full
understanding of the problem,

709
00:29:20,240 --> 00:29:22,460
and a great tactic is just
to say, here's an input,

710
00:29:22,460 --> 00:29:25,682
is this the correct output.

711
00:29:25,682 --> 00:29:27,390
As you're solving a
problem, you're going

712
00:29:27,390 --> 00:29:31,050
to do this really weird thing that you
don't do when you're coding normally,

713
00:29:31,050 --> 00:29:34,380
and that's you're going to be
constantly speaking out loud.

714
00:29:34,380 --> 00:29:36,962
It's really sort of tempting to say, OK.

715
00:29:36,962 --> 00:29:37,920
Thanks for the problem.

716
00:29:37,920 --> 00:29:38,910
See you on 20.

717
00:29:38,910 --> 00:29:40,260
I'll shoot you over solution.

718
00:29:40,260 --> 00:29:41,190
Don't do that.

719
00:29:41,190 --> 00:29:43,950
Be constantly vocalizing
your thought process.

720
00:29:43,950 --> 00:29:47,070
So say things like, all right, so
first I'm going to create a function,

721
00:29:47,070 --> 00:29:48,870
let's call it find minimum.

722
00:29:48,870 --> 00:29:51,280
We just need to take one argument here.

723
00:29:51,280 --> 00:29:52,120
It's a list.

724
00:29:52,120 --> 00:29:54,000
So the first thing we're going
to do is loop through the list.

725
00:29:54,000 --> 00:29:54,720
Things like that.

726
00:29:54,720 --> 00:29:58,230
Articulate what you're thinking,
and code as you're speaking.

727
00:29:58,230 --> 00:30:02,750
That's the best way to communicate your
thought process to the interviewer.

728
00:30:02,750 --> 00:30:06,350
Also, try to think through
multiple possible approaches.

729
00:30:06,350 --> 00:30:08,180
There's probably a
chance that you'll think

730
00:30:08,180 --> 00:30:09,890
of approaches that
aren't very efficient,

731
00:30:09,890 --> 00:30:11,780
and approaches that
are very efficient, so

732
00:30:11,780 --> 00:30:15,950
try to talk that out loud before you
write a single character of code.

733
00:30:15,950 --> 00:30:19,670
Explain a possible solution to your
interviewer, get on the same page

734
00:30:19,670 --> 00:30:23,270
that you're aligned and you're like,
roughly on the right track here.

735
00:30:23,270 --> 00:30:25,220
If it's helpful, draw a diagram.

736
00:30:25,220 --> 00:30:27,918
Some interview tools will
have a whiteboard attached

737
00:30:27,918 --> 00:30:29,210
where you can draw some things.

738
00:30:29,210 --> 00:30:31,550
Some won't, so you can
just use a pen and paper.

739
00:30:31,550 --> 00:30:33,140
Maybe show it to your
interviewer, maybe you don't.

740
00:30:33,140 --> 00:30:34,820
But some people are
very visual, and don't

741
00:30:34,820 --> 00:30:37,570
feel like you're not allowed to
be visual in one of these settings

742
00:30:37,570 --> 00:30:39,600
because you just have
some coderpad or replit.

743
00:30:39,600 --> 00:30:41,600
So drawing a diagram can
be a pretty helpful way

744
00:30:41,600 --> 00:30:45,920
for some people to visualize a problem.

745
00:30:45,920 --> 00:30:48,340
So we talked a lot
about all these things

746
00:30:48,340 --> 00:30:50,300
that you're going to do and prepare for.

747
00:30:50,300 --> 00:30:51,842
And again, it's not a very long list.

748
00:30:51,842 --> 00:30:54,175
None of these lists that I've
showed you, intentionally,

749
00:30:54,175 --> 00:30:55,520
have more than like five things.

750
00:30:55,520 --> 00:30:59,740
So when you have a problem, try to
pattern match against what you know.

751
00:30:59,740 --> 00:31:03,730
Against these core concepts we just
talked about, and against these tools

752
00:31:03,730 --> 00:31:05,080
in your toolbox.

753
00:31:05,080 --> 00:31:08,620
For instance, maybe you're given some
problem that say, OK, maybe you're

754
00:31:08,620 --> 00:31:11,878
like, running across a river, and
there's rocks floating on the river.

755
00:31:11,878 --> 00:31:14,170
What's the fastest way to
get from one end of the river

756
00:31:14,170 --> 00:31:15,100
to the other way to the river?

757
00:31:15,100 --> 00:31:16,090
Maybe that's a graph.

758
00:31:16,090 --> 00:31:18,040
Maybe you could formulate
that as a graph.

759
00:31:18,040 --> 00:31:19,810
Maybe you could
formulate it recursively,

760
00:31:19,810 --> 00:31:21,730
sort of divide the
river into sub rivers.

761
00:31:21,730 --> 00:31:23,260
Maybe there's a binary search.

762
00:31:23,260 --> 00:31:25,360
Maybe there's some way
to decomposing problems.

763
00:31:25,360 --> 00:31:29,320
But just sort go through, one by
one, the tools in your toolbox,

764
00:31:29,320 --> 00:31:30,640
and see what applies.

765
00:31:30,640 --> 00:31:34,587
There's a very, very, very high
probability that one of them applies.

766
00:31:34,587 --> 00:31:36,670
So just make sure you've
got them down, and you're

767
00:31:36,670 --> 00:31:39,835
going through what's going to make
the most sense for this problem.

768
00:31:39,835 --> 00:31:42,398


769
00:31:42,398 --> 00:31:44,440
A common tendency and a
common mistake I've seen,

770
00:31:44,440 --> 00:31:48,580
again, is for folks to think
really specifically about problems,

771
00:31:48,580 --> 00:31:50,570
rather than more general solutions.

772
00:31:50,570 --> 00:31:54,352
So for instance, maybe there's a
question that the input is some number.

773
00:31:54,352 --> 00:31:57,310
And maybe it's really obvious what
the solution is if you pass at zero.

774
00:31:57,310 --> 00:31:59,170
And so some people are like,
all right, well, if it's zero,

775
00:31:59,170 --> 00:32:00,220
then I'm just going to return one.

776
00:32:00,220 --> 00:32:02,082
And they'll say if n
is zero, return one.

777
00:32:02,082 --> 00:32:03,790
And if it's one, I'm
going to return two.

778
00:32:03,790 --> 00:32:05,260
And then, if n is 1, return two.

779
00:32:05,260 --> 00:32:08,650
That's almost always not the right
way of approaching the problem.

780
00:32:08,650 --> 00:32:11,170
Try to think more
generally with solutions,

781
00:32:11,170 --> 00:32:14,650
rather than just kind of zeroing
in on some specific instances.

782
00:32:14,650 --> 00:32:16,810
Or put another way, start
with high level ideas,

783
00:32:16,810 --> 00:32:19,930
rather than starting
with low level ideas.

784
00:32:19,930 --> 00:32:23,500
In general, if you're writing a
solution and it seems really complex,

785
00:32:23,500 --> 00:32:27,160
you've got all these data structures,
you've got like 500 lines of code,

786
00:32:27,160 --> 00:32:30,520
if it seems really
complicated, it's probably is.

787
00:32:30,520 --> 00:32:33,850
Very few interview problems have
extremely complicated solutions

788
00:32:33,850 --> 00:32:35,470
with all these different things.

789
00:32:35,470 --> 00:32:38,770
Many interview questions
are designed intentionally

790
00:32:38,770 --> 00:32:43,000
to be solved in just few lines of code
and really using the right concepts.

791
00:32:43,000 --> 00:32:45,892
So if you think it's too
complicated, it probably is.

792
00:32:45,892 --> 00:32:47,350
And check in with your interviewer.

793
00:32:47,350 --> 00:32:48,940
If you have this crazy
complicated solution,

794
00:32:48,940 --> 00:32:50,940
say does this seem like
it's on the right track,

795
00:32:50,940 --> 00:32:53,290
or is there a simpler way
that I could approach this?

796
00:32:53,290 --> 00:32:55,873
Your interview will give you
some feedback and some guardrails

797
00:32:55,873 --> 00:32:57,520
to guide you in the right direction.

798
00:32:57,520 --> 00:33:01,145
If you're really, really stuck,
don't be afraid to ask for help.

799
00:33:01,145 --> 00:33:03,520
Certainly, don't ask your
interviewer every three minutes

800
00:33:03,520 --> 00:33:06,395
what the next line of code should
be or if you're on the right track,

801
00:33:06,395 --> 00:33:10,180
but at the same time, if you just hit
a wall and everyone hits that wall,

802
00:33:10,180 --> 00:33:13,240
you just don't see a path forward,
just be honest about that.

803
00:33:13,240 --> 00:33:16,210
Say, OK, well I've got these
concepts, but I'm not exactly sure

804
00:33:16,210 --> 00:33:20,050
how we can solve this case, or
where I should go from here.

805
00:33:20,050 --> 00:33:23,620
As an interviewer, I
promise I want to help you.

806
00:33:23,620 --> 00:33:28,070
It's really not fun for me either for
someone to not do well in an interview.

807
00:33:28,070 --> 00:33:30,380
So I don't want that as
much as you don't want that.

808
00:33:30,380 --> 00:33:32,890
So ask for help if you're
stuck and give your interviewer

809
00:33:32,890 --> 00:33:34,508
an opportunity to help you.

810
00:33:34,508 --> 00:33:37,300
If you're just talking constantly
and don't give me the opportunity

811
00:33:37,300 --> 00:33:41,850
to jump in, I can't help you and you're
setting yourself up for more failure.

812
00:33:41,850 --> 00:33:44,980
And last, make sure
you explain a solution

813
00:33:44,980 --> 00:33:46,900
before touching a key on your keyboard.

814
00:33:46,900 --> 00:33:49,270
I mentioned this before,
but align on a high level

815
00:33:49,270 --> 00:33:52,090
idea before you start
writing code top to bottom.

816
00:33:52,090 --> 00:33:54,160
Many of yours won't
stop you if you start

817
00:33:54,160 --> 00:33:56,050
writing code from top to bottom,
because maybe you get it,

818
00:33:56,050 --> 00:33:58,270
and I don't want to get in
your way and mess you up.

819
00:33:58,270 --> 00:34:00,800
But almost always that's a bad idea.

820
00:34:00,800 --> 00:34:03,160
You want to make sure that
we're on the same page

821
00:34:03,160 --> 00:34:06,980
before you start typing some Python.

822
00:34:06,980 --> 00:34:11,239
And all of this is to say the process
matters so much more than the output.

823
00:34:11,239 --> 00:34:14,510
Having people communicate,
check in, receive feedback well,

824
00:34:14,510 --> 00:34:18,380
ask for tips, that's what we're looking
for here before we're thinking about,

825
00:34:18,380 --> 00:34:23,520
did they get exactly the right answer
with the precisely correct runtime.

826
00:34:23,520 --> 00:34:27,600
So another failure
mode here is folks who

827
00:34:27,600 --> 00:34:32,159
will try to jump to the most
optimal solution to a problem

828
00:34:32,159 --> 00:34:34,949
before they just get
something working at all.

829
00:34:34,949 --> 00:34:37,260
Very more often than
not, it's much better

830
00:34:37,260 --> 00:34:40,050
to leave an interview with
some sort of solution.

831
00:34:40,050 --> 00:34:44,038
Maybe it's not the perfect
runtime or the cleanest code

832
00:34:44,038 --> 00:34:46,080
you've written in your
life, but it's much better

833
00:34:46,080 --> 00:34:48,760
to leave an interview with
something rather than nothing.

834
00:34:48,760 --> 00:34:51,219
So in your process of
constantly communicating,

835
00:34:51,219 --> 00:34:54,630
try to get something working in
the time slot of the interview,

836
00:34:54,630 --> 00:35:00,210
and after something works, then start
simplifying your code, optimizing it.

837
00:35:00,210 --> 00:35:02,970
As your interviewer, again,
I'm going to want to help you.

838
00:35:02,970 --> 00:35:08,100
Many times I'll say something like, have
we considered using a list for this.

839
00:35:08,100 --> 00:35:10,770
The answer to that question is never no.

840
00:35:10,770 --> 00:35:12,380
Many people will say no.

841
00:35:12,380 --> 00:35:14,130
Like well maybe we
need-- maybe this isn't

842
00:35:14,130 --> 00:35:16,130
working because we haven't
restarted the server.

843
00:35:16,130 --> 00:35:18,570
No, that can't be it.

844
00:35:18,570 --> 00:35:21,630
If I give you any sort of hints
or guardrails, please take them.

845
00:35:21,630 --> 00:35:24,422
As an interviewer, I'm looking for
you to respond to feedback well,

846
00:35:24,422 --> 00:35:25,800
and I'm trying to help you.

847
00:35:25,800 --> 00:35:28,510
So don't just sort of get really
zoomed in on your approach

848
00:35:28,510 --> 00:35:29,760
and getting your code to work.

849
00:35:29,760 --> 00:35:32,760
It's a conversation and make
sure that it's a two way

850
00:35:32,760 --> 00:35:36,450
street during the interview as well.

851
00:35:36,450 --> 00:35:38,700
As you're writing code, a
really, really simple thing

852
00:35:38,700 --> 00:35:41,533
that if you haven't done interview
before this might not be obvious.

853
00:35:41,533 --> 00:35:44,610
Your goal is to write a function that
returns the answer, unless you're

854
00:35:44,610 --> 00:35:45,310
told otherwise.

855
00:35:45,310 --> 00:35:49,500
So you're not trying-- your first line
of code shouldn't be int main, int r,c,

856
00:35:49,500 --> 00:35:50,010
whatever.

857
00:35:50,010 --> 00:35:53,370
It should be the definition of a
function that takes in some inputs

858
00:35:53,370 --> 00:35:56,100
and returns some outputs.

859
00:35:56,100 --> 00:35:59,560
As you're writing code, decompose
that into functions as needed.

860
00:35:59,560 --> 00:36:03,120
Again, get something working, but if you
sort of observe that it would be easier

861
00:36:03,120 --> 00:36:06,480
to solve the problem if you had
some helper function to do x, y,z,

862
00:36:06,480 --> 00:36:10,400
feel free to tangent, write that
helper function, and then come back.

863
00:36:10,400 --> 00:36:12,830
All the sort of practices
that you learn about in CS 50

864
00:36:12,830 --> 00:36:17,450
are on clearly designed code and
code style, they apply here too.

865
00:36:17,450 --> 00:36:21,020
You don't have to go crazy like
commenting your code and putting doc

866
00:36:21,020 --> 00:36:23,960
strings on everything, but do
use readable variable names,

867
00:36:23,960 --> 00:36:28,190
reasonable names for functions,
as opposed to just a,b,c, x,y,z.

868
00:36:28,190 --> 00:36:30,710
And as you're going, if you
can, factor out common logic.

869
00:36:30,710 --> 00:36:33,860
Try to create well designed
code, but that's secondary

870
00:36:33,860 --> 00:36:36,650
compared to your first goal
of get something working,

871
00:36:36,650 --> 00:36:40,600
then start thinking about code design.

872
00:36:40,600 --> 00:36:44,400
Process, not output.

873
00:36:44,400 --> 00:36:47,550
You'll have two kind of
types of coding interviews.

874
00:36:47,550 --> 00:36:50,967
There's those where you can run
code and there's where you can't.

875
00:36:50,967 --> 00:36:53,550
Neither is better, there's no
sort of like, right answer here,

876
00:36:53,550 --> 00:36:54,700
but you're going to find them both.

877
00:36:54,700 --> 00:36:57,540
And so, I just want to give you
some tools for each situation.

878
00:36:57,540 --> 00:37:01,860
If you're not allowed to run your code,
your job is to be the computer, right.

879
00:37:01,860 --> 00:37:05,820
When you write down your code, you're
going to say, all right, does it work.

880
00:37:05,820 --> 00:37:08,400
Literally run through
your code line by line.

881
00:37:08,400 --> 00:37:10,950
Sort of, maybe you write
down the state of variables,

882
00:37:10,950 --> 00:37:13,440
walk through what branches of
a condition are going to hit,

883
00:37:13,440 --> 00:37:16,357
how many times you'll go through a
loop, but step through line by line

884
00:37:16,357 --> 00:37:19,270
as if you were a debugger
or a CPU running your code

885
00:37:19,270 --> 00:37:21,390
and say out loud what's going to happen.

886
00:37:21,390 --> 00:37:24,318
In the process of doing so, you
will either build confidence

887
00:37:24,318 --> 00:37:27,360
that your solution is correct because
your code is doing the right thing,

888
00:37:27,360 --> 00:37:28,193
or you'll find bugs.

889
00:37:28,193 --> 00:37:31,318
It's a great way to find bugs if you're
really literally going through what

890
00:37:31,318 --> 00:37:32,640
the code says it's going to do.

891
00:37:32,640 --> 00:37:36,630
And this is how a technique you
can use to proactively find bugs

892
00:37:36,630 --> 00:37:38,010
before your interviewer.

893
00:37:38,010 --> 00:37:41,010
Always a great sign if someone finds
their own bug before I have to say,

894
00:37:41,010 --> 00:37:46,130
I've seen this problem 1,000 times, you
didn't think about the zero input case.

895
00:37:46,130 --> 00:37:51,110
If you are allowed to run code, you
might not have to do that sort of line

896
00:37:51,110 --> 00:37:56,430
by line verbal run through because you
can actually physically run your code.

897
00:37:56,430 --> 00:37:58,640
Some people like to do that
run through anyway just

898
00:37:58,640 --> 00:38:00,320
to build more confidence in your code.

899
00:38:00,320 --> 00:38:01,620
That's totally fine.

900
00:38:01,620 --> 00:38:05,880
But if you can run your code, I would
highly advise you to run that code.

901
00:38:05,880 --> 00:38:09,920
So some specific tactics
here, write some test cases,

902
00:38:09,920 --> 00:38:12,680
you agreed on some of these cases
at the start of your interview

903
00:38:12,680 --> 00:38:14,570
with your interviewer,
actually encode those.

904
00:38:14,570 --> 00:38:17,737
Put them at the bottom of the file so
when run it, you can see if they pass.

905
00:38:17,737 --> 00:38:20,180
Don't just randomly guess
and check even if that's

906
00:38:20,180 --> 00:38:22,880
how you write real code, which
is not necessarily invalid,

907
00:38:22,880 --> 00:38:24,560
don't do it in an interview.

908
00:38:24,560 --> 00:38:27,170
So don't just be like, oh I got
a plus one, I'll try plus two,

909
00:38:27,170 --> 00:38:29,510
and I'll try minus one until it works.

910
00:38:29,510 --> 00:38:32,270
Reason through the changes
you're making and try

911
00:38:32,270 --> 00:38:34,610
to convince yourself
and your interviewer

912
00:38:34,610 --> 00:38:37,940
that you're making a change to
solve the problem correctly.

913
00:38:37,940 --> 00:38:40,430
And try to print and
debug a lot of state.

914
00:38:40,430 --> 00:38:43,520
If something's not running, don't just
sort of like stare at it and think.

915
00:38:43,520 --> 00:38:45,258
Start printing out different variables.

916
00:38:45,258 --> 00:38:46,550
What's the state of this input?

917
00:38:46,550 --> 00:38:47,342
What's the counter?

918
00:38:47,342 --> 00:38:49,550
When the counter is three,
how long is this list?

919
00:38:49,550 --> 00:38:52,550
And then that's going to help
you identify and spot bugs.

920
00:38:52,550 --> 00:38:56,210
So it's not all that different
than probably actual writing code

921
00:38:56,210 --> 00:38:58,550
for a problem set or
some project, but don't

922
00:38:58,550 --> 00:39:00,560
be afraid to do that
in an interview either.

923
00:39:00,560 --> 00:39:03,100
I would not recommend dropping
down to some debugger,

924
00:39:03,100 --> 00:39:05,553
or trying to val grind or
interview code or something.

925
00:39:05,553 --> 00:39:07,220
You just don't have time for that stuff.

926
00:39:07,220 --> 00:39:09,770
So printing out code and printing
out all the relevant state

927
00:39:09,770 --> 00:39:12,420
can be a really useful tool.

928
00:39:12,420 --> 00:39:14,660
Again, it's about the
process not the output.

929
00:39:14,660 --> 00:39:18,110
We want to see how you're
finding bugs, not necessarily

930
00:39:18,110 --> 00:39:21,460
that you wrote perfect bug free code.

931
00:39:21,460 --> 00:39:23,543
So that's everything on
algorithms and coding.

932
00:39:23,543 --> 00:39:26,710
What I want to do briefly is talk about
each of these other interview types,

933
00:39:26,710 --> 00:39:29,002
and then we're going to dive
into a mock interview that

934
00:39:29,002 --> 00:39:31,820
goes through an algorithm
and coding question.

935
00:39:31,820 --> 00:39:34,090
So the second type of
interview you might encounter

936
00:39:34,090 --> 00:39:37,460
is a systems design interview.

937
00:39:37,460 --> 00:39:39,553
So a systems design
interview is basically

938
00:39:39,553 --> 00:39:42,220
a question where you're not going
to be writing a bunch of code,

939
00:39:42,220 --> 00:39:45,380
but instead you're going to be
architecting some larger system.

940
00:39:45,380 --> 00:39:48,550
And so just like we talked about those
code building blocks, your loops,

941
00:39:48,550 --> 00:39:50,650
your strings, your
functions, your linked lists,

942
00:39:50,650 --> 00:39:53,140
you also have some systems
design building blocks.

943
00:39:53,140 --> 00:39:56,200
Things about how do we want to
store data, what type of database

944
00:39:56,200 --> 00:40:00,040
do we want to use, what type of tables
should we use to record the users

945
00:40:00,040 --> 00:40:02,780
or who's following whom,
or what the likes are.

946
00:40:02,780 --> 00:40:05,320
So think about how to
represent data and databases.

947
00:40:05,320 --> 00:40:08,500
Caching layers, if we're going to be
reading from some database a bunch.

948
00:40:08,500 --> 00:40:09,910
Is there a way to cache that?

949
00:40:09,910 --> 00:40:11,350
Things like message queues.

950
00:40:11,350 --> 00:40:13,330
Maybe we want to have
some service that talks

951
00:40:13,330 --> 00:40:15,762
to some other service along some queue.

952
00:40:15,762 --> 00:40:18,970
Maybe some parts of the questions should
run online, like when I load a page,

953
00:40:18,970 --> 00:40:20,073
this stuff should happen.

954
00:40:20,073 --> 00:40:21,490
Other stuff should happen offline.

955
00:40:21,490 --> 00:40:23,680
So we'll like, run some
process every minute

956
00:40:23,680 --> 00:40:26,920
that writes some data to some database
that some other thing just reads.

957
00:40:26,920 --> 00:40:27,880
Similar thing here.

958
00:40:27,880 --> 00:40:30,790
Just know these building
blocks in advance.

959
00:40:30,790 --> 00:40:34,010
And then during the question, all
you're doing is piecing them together.

960
00:40:34,010 --> 00:40:36,802
You know what a database is, you
know how to represent tables,

961
00:40:36,802 --> 00:40:39,010
so let's tie all these tables
together into something

962
00:40:39,010 --> 00:40:40,630
that represents your application.

963
00:40:40,630 --> 00:40:43,600
Create some visuals draw arrows
between services and things.

964
00:40:43,600 --> 00:40:46,060
And also, think through the
requirements of your system.

965
00:40:46,060 --> 00:40:48,310
Ask your interviewer, is
this going to have to support

966
00:40:48,310 --> 00:40:51,050
10 users, 1,000 users, a million users?

967
00:40:51,050 --> 00:40:53,050
The system you architect
is really going to vary

968
00:40:53,050 --> 00:40:54,592
based on the answer to that question.

969
00:40:54,592 --> 00:40:56,383
So make sure you're
asking that and getting

970
00:40:56,383 --> 00:40:58,300
on the same page with your interviewer.

971
00:40:58,300 --> 00:41:02,030
A practical interview I've
seen kind of take two shapes.

972
00:41:02,030 --> 00:41:05,830
One shape is that you are given
a code base, like maybe it's

973
00:41:05,830 --> 00:41:08,230
a huge code base, some GitHub
project, and your job is

974
00:41:08,230 --> 00:41:09,710
to make some change to it.

975
00:41:09,710 --> 00:41:13,240
So maybe it's some app, but you want
to change the color of some button

976
00:41:13,240 --> 00:41:15,580
to blue, or make the
behavior do some other thing.

977
00:41:15,580 --> 00:41:17,500
If that's the case, these
can be really scary,

978
00:41:17,500 --> 00:41:19,300
because you're like I haven't
seen this code base before.

979
00:41:19,300 --> 00:41:20,800
This is like 500 lines of code.

980
00:41:20,800 --> 00:41:22,600
What am I supposed to do here?

981
00:41:22,600 --> 00:41:23,890
Searching code is your friend.

982
00:41:23,890 --> 00:41:25,480
Try to search for concepts.

983
00:41:25,480 --> 00:41:27,760
If you're trying to
change the home feed,

984
00:41:27,760 --> 00:41:30,820
search around the code
base for feed or home feed.

985
00:41:30,820 --> 00:41:34,310
And then as you're running code,
stack traces are your friend.

986
00:41:34,310 --> 00:41:37,060
One of my favorite things to do
when I'm looking at some code base

987
00:41:37,060 --> 00:41:38,680
and I'm like, all right,
I'm in some function,

988
00:41:38,680 --> 00:41:41,290
but like, what's calling this
function, is I just go and divide

989
00:41:41,290 --> 00:41:43,750
by 0 inside of that function,
because what that's going to do

990
00:41:43,750 --> 00:41:45,160
is it's going to crash
your program and you're

991
00:41:45,160 --> 00:41:47,260
going to get a nice stack
trace of all the things

992
00:41:47,260 --> 00:41:50,135
that are calling the functions, and
how did you end up in this place.

993
00:41:50,135 --> 00:41:53,380
So that's a really easy way to
start getting a grasp of a new code

994
00:41:53,380 --> 00:41:55,607
base quickly, which is
the goal of this question,

995
00:41:55,607 --> 00:41:58,690
because you're sort of having to learn
this huge thing and just 45 minutes

996
00:41:58,690 --> 00:42:01,140
or so.

997
00:42:01,140 --> 00:42:03,337
If you're not given a
code base, this is what

998
00:42:03,337 --> 00:42:04,920
a take home interview might look like.

999
00:42:04,920 --> 00:42:08,490
It might be build an app or write
a script to scrape this website

1000
00:42:08,490 --> 00:42:10,230
or represent something.

1001
00:42:10,230 --> 00:42:13,740
If that's the case, you really
want to focus on code quality

1002
00:42:13,740 --> 00:42:14,850
with your solution.

1003
00:42:14,850 --> 00:42:17,760
Here we're really, really less
concerned about did you do it

1004
00:42:17,760 --> 00:42:21,160
the right way, and more about what
is the design of your code look like.

1005
00:42:21,160 --> 00:42:23,730
The question to ask yourself
consistently throughout this

1006
00:42:23,730 --> 00:42:25,950
is would I actually
push this to production

1007
00:42:25,950 --> 00:42:27,698
if I were an intern at this company.

1008
00:42:27,698 --> 00:42:29,740
If the answer is no, take
some time to fix it up,

1009
00:42:29,740 --> 00:42:32,280
because as an interviewer, as I'm
reading this I'm like, all right,

1010
00:42:32,280 --> 00:42:35,100
well this is literally what would be
put to production if this person were

1011
00:42:35,100 --> 00:42:36,090
an intern on my team.

1012
00:42:36,090 --> 00:42:36,990
Am I happy with this?

1013
00:42:36,990 --> 00:42:38,250
Yes or no.

1014
00:42:38,250 --> 00:42:41,578
So that's what a practical
interview might look like.

1015
00:42:41,578 --> 00:42:44,370
A deep dive is actually something
we're starting to see a lot more.

1016
00:42:44,370 --> 00:42:47,190
We do one at Figma for some roles.

1017
00:42:47,190 --> 00:42:50,670
Your job here is just to present
some interesting past project.

1018
00:42:50,670 --> 00:42:52,350
Maybe it's a class final project.

1019
00:42:52,350 --> 00:42:54,180
Maybe it's a past internship.

1020
00:42:54,180 --> 00:42:56,310
And as you're doing
so, what we're really

1021
00:42:56,310 --> 00:42:59,460
looking for is for you to
know the details in and out.

1022
00:42:59,460 --> 00:43:01,920
If you built some system,
but then you can't tell me

1023
00:43:01,920 --> 00:43:04,350
how some component of that
system works, I don't really

1024
00:43:04,350 --> 00:43:06,210
have confidence that you
knew what you were doing,

1025
00:43:06,210 --> 00:43:07,793
or that you actually built the system.

1026
00:43:07,793 --> 00:43:12,120
So try to know the details and
the lower level stuff in and out.

1027
00:43:12,120 --> 00:43:18,015
And I don't really care as
much about exactly the order

1028
00:43:18,015 --> 00:43:20,010
in which you wrote something.

1029
00:43:20,010 --> 00:43:23,430
I'm much more interested in your
trade offs and thought process.

1030
00:43:23,430 --> 00:43:26,700
This is some design that you
built. What else did you consider?

1031
00:43:26,700 --> 00:43:29,310
What other designs did
you end up not going with?

1032
00:43:29,310 --> 00:43:31,830
What was your thought
process in making trade offs?

1033
00:43:31,830 --> 00:43:34,470
Maybe it's around speed
or usability or whatever.

1034
00:43:34,470 --> 00:43:37,500
So discuss all the things
you thought about on the way

1035
00:43:37,500 --> 00:43:41,350
to arriving to this final solution,
not just the final solution itself.

1036
00:43:41,350 --> 00:43:43,140
And finally, highlight the challenges.

1037
00:43:43,140 --> 00:43:45,180
What parts of this were
really non-obvious, not

1038
00:43:45,180 --> 00:43:47,470
intuitive, the hardest
things for you to build.

1039
00:43:47,470 --> 00:43:48,660
That's what I'm interested
as an interviewer.

1040
00:43:48,660 --> 00:43:49,860
What was the hardest thing that you did?

1041
00:43:49,860 --> 00:43:52,110
What's the most what's the
thing you're most proud of?

1042
00:43:52,110 --> 00:43:55,310
And you should highlight that yourself.

1043
00:43:55,310 --> 00:43:58,220
And last is the values
interview. so this

1044
00:43:58,220 --> 00:44:02,120
is a totally non-technical interview,
with someone like me, like a manager,

1045
00:44:02,120 --> 00:44:05,630
and not necessarily with
someone on the engineering team.

1046
00:44:05,630 --> 00:44:07,970
And to think about
values interviews, you're

1047
00:44:07,970 --> 00:44:12,260
really going to be talking about your
past experience, the collaboration,

1048
00:44:12,260 --> 00:44:15,200
prioritizing projects, working
with others, all the stuff

1049
00:44:15,200 --> 00:44:17,180
around writing code.

1050
00:44:17,180 --> 00:44:20,730
And I generally think about this
interview as having two parts.

1051
00:44:20,730 --> 00:44:23,990
The first part is you looking
back on your past experience,

1052
00:44:23,990 --> 00:44:25,280
your past internships.

1053
00:44:25,280 --> 00:44:26,300
What did you learn?

1054
00:44:26,300 --> 00:44:27,410
What are you proud of?

1055
00:44:27,410 --> 00:44:29,512
What was really hard for you?

1056
00:44:29,512 --> 00:44:30,720
How did you work with others?

1057
00:44:30,720 --> 00:44:34,280
So look back and just start
reflecting on those past experiences

1058
00:44:34,280 --> 00:44:36,710
and be able to talk about them.

1059
00:44:36,710 --> 00:44:39,200
And the other half of this
interview is looking forward.

1060
00:44:39,200 --> 00:44:41,480
You know, why are you
interested in this internship?

1061
00:44:41,480 --> 00:44:43,490
What are you looking
for in your next role?

1062
00:44:43,490 --> 00:44:45,380
Where do you want to
be in 6 to 12 months?

1063
00:44:45,380 --> 00:44:47,550
What skills or languages
do you want to learn?

1064
00:44:47,550 --> 00:44:50,175
But also, where do you want to
be in three to five years, which

1065
00:44:50,175 --> 00:44:52,280
is this crazy like, long
timeline to think about,

1066
00:44:52,280 --> 00:44:55,050
but I'm really interested in
your long term career goals.

1067
00:44:55,050 --> 00:44:57,560
Maybe you want to be a technical
lead working on back end.

1068
00:44:57,560 --> 00:45:00,440
Maybe you want to be a manager of
some team working on front end.

1069
00:45:00,440 --> 00:45:03,650
I'm genuinely interested to know
where your goals and aspirations are.

1070
00:45:03,650 --> 00:45:05,870
And if your answer to
this is, I don't know,

1071
00:45:05,870 --> 00:45:07,490
that's not a great signal
for me as an interviewer,

1072
00:45:07,490 --> 00:45:09,980
because I'm a little bit worried that
you don't have that growth mindset

1073
00:45:09,980 --> 00:45:11,850
and sort of that appetite for learning.

1074
00:45:11,850 --> 00:45:15,058
And so the best way to be ready for this
is just think about this in advance.

1075
00:45:15,058 --> 00:45:17,210
Do some reflection and
introspection on your own,

1076
00:45:17,210 --> 00:45:19,700
both your past experiences
and where you want to go next,

1077
00:45:19,700 --> 00:45:22,730
and just have some talking points
around questions like this.

1078
00:45:22,730 --> 00:45:25,070
Many of these questions
will also take the form

1079
00:45:25,070 --> 00:45:27,600
of tell me about a time you blank.

1080
00:45:27,600 --> 00:45:30,150
And so the more you're reflecting
on your past experiences,

1081
00:45:30,150 --> 00:45:35,670
the more you'll be able to pull stories
out and talk about things effectively.

1082
00:45:35,670 --> 00:45:39,588
So that's an overview of all
the things to think about

1083
00:45:39,588 --> 00:45:40,880
before and during an interview.

1084
00:45:40,880 --> 00:45:42,930
So now, we're going to do one.

1085
00:45:42,930 --> 00:45:46,250
So I'm excited to welcome up
our first mock interviewer.

1086
00:45:46,250 --> 00:45:49,244
if you want to come up here and
we'll simulate an interview.

1087
00:45:49,244 --> 00:45:52,330
[APPLAUSE]

1088
00:45:52,330 --> 00:45:52,830
All right.

1089
00:45:52,830 --> 00:45:54,090
Yeah.

1090
00:45:54,090 --> 00:45:56,470
Let's get some hype.

1091
00:45:56,470 --> 00:45:56,970
All right.

1092
00:45:56,970 --> 00:45:58,350
So do you want to-- let's see.

1093
00:45:58,350 --> 00:46:01,260
Maybe we can just use the mic.

1094
00:46:01,260 --> 00:46:03,360
So here's our problem.

1095
00:46:03,360 --> 00:46:06,630
It's up here in the
docstring, but we're going

1096
00:46:06,630 --> 00:46:09,570
to be working with an array
that has been rotated.

1097
00:46:09,570 --> 00:46:13,170
So let's define as rotated array
as one that's assorted array,

1098
00:46:13,170 --> 00:46:16,390
but all the elements have been
rotated over some number of times.

1099
00:46:16,390 --> 00:46:19,440
So you can see here, if you take
the array 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, rotate it

1100
00:46:19,440 --> 00:46:22,440
three times, you get 3, 4, 5, 1, 2.

1101
00:46:22,440 --> 00:46:26,610
So your challenge is
given some rotated array,

1102
00:46:26,610 --> 00:46:28,860
find the number of times
it has been rotated.

1103
00:46:28,860 --> 00:46:30,907


1104
00:46:30,907 --> 00:46:31,990
INNOCENT MUNAI: All right.

1105
00:46:31,990 --> 00:46:34,152
Will folks hear me if
the microphone is here.

1106
00:46:34,152 --> 00:46:35,110
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: Yeah.

1107
00:46:35,110 --> 00:46:37,150
Maybe I can-- maybe I'll
like awkwardly hold it.

1108
00:46:37,150 --> 00:46:39,580
This doesn't happen in
real interviews I promise.

1109
00:46:39,580 --> 00:46:42,580
INNOCENT MUNAI: All right,
so my name is Innocent Munai.

1110
00:46:42,580 --> 00:46:46,060
I'm a sophomore at the college
studying computer science.

1111
00:46:46,060 --> 00:46:49,930
I'm one of the members of the
teaching staff this year for CS 50,

1112
00:46:49,930 --> 00:46:53,710
and I'm excited to take
part in this mock interview.

1113
00:46:53,710 --> 00:46:57,860
So yeah, and a little nervous,
so let's see how this goes.

1114
00:46:57,860 --> 00:47:00,010
All right, so hi, Tommy.

1115
00:47:00,010 --> 00:47:00,610
How are you

1116
00:47:00,610 --> 00:47:01,300
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: Doing great.

1117
00:47:01,300 --> 00:47:02,770
Thanks for joining the interview today.

1118
00:47:02,770 --> 00:47:03,220
INNOCENT MUNAI: Thank you.

1119
00:47:03,220 --> 00:47:04,090
How is your day been?

1120
00:47:04,090 --> 00:47:05,340
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: Not too bad.

1121
00:47:05,340 --> 00:47:08,140
It's a little rainy here in
Boston, but I can't complain.

1122
00:47:08,140 --> 00:47:08,440
INNOCENT MUNAI: Oh, yeah.

1123
00:47:08,440 --> 00:47:08,710
Sure.

1124
00:47:08,710 --> 00:47:10,160
I mean, my day was good as well.

1125
00:47:10,160 --> 00:47:13,790
I just came out from leading a
lab session for an introduction

1126
00:47:13,790 --> 00:47:15,790
to computer science class
that I'm teaching for.

1127
00:47:15,790 --> 00:47:16,090
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: Nice.

1128
00:47:16,090 --> 00:47:16,900
First time teaching it?

1129
00:47:16,900 --> 00:47:17,530
INNOCENT MUNAI: Yeah.

1130
00:47:17,530 --> 00:47:18,160
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: Very exciting.

1131
00:47:18,160 --> 00:47:18,490
INNOCENT MUNAI: And it's been great.

1132
00:47:18,490 --> 00:47:19,210
So I'm glad.

1133
00:47:19,210 --> 00:47:19,630
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: All right.

1134
00:47:19,630 --> 00:47:20,200
All right.

1135
00:47:20,200 --> 00:47:21,533
INNOCENT MUNAI: All right, sure.

1136
00:47:21,533 --> 00:47:23,200
So I guess we can get started.

1137
00:47:23,200 --> 00:47:23,530
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: Yeah.

1138
00:47:23,530 --> 00:47:24,430
Let's jump right into it.

1139
00:47:24,430 --> 00:47:25,763
INNOCENT MUNAI: All right, sure.

1140
00:47:25,763 --> 00:47:28,900
So I will first read
through the problem.

1141
00:47:28,900 --> 00:47:34,900
And I usually use pen and paper
to sort of digest the question.

1142
00:47:34,900 --> 00:47:36,400
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: Yeah, that's fine.

1143
00:47:36,400 --> 00:47:36,730
INNOCENT MUNAI: If that's OK?

1144
00:47:36,730 --> 00:47:39,542
Yeah, so if you see me looking
like, at the bottom of the screen,

1145
00:47:39,542 --> 00:47:41,500
just know that I'm trying
to look at the paper.

1146
00:47:41,500 --> 00:47:41,740
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: All right.

1147
00:47:41,740 --> 00:47:42,580
That sounds great.

1148
00:47:42,580 --> 00:47:43,455
INNOCENT MUNAI: Sure.

1149
00:47:43,455 --> 00:47:50,140
So the prompt says let's define a
rotation array as a sorted array

1150
00:47:50,140 --> 00:47:55,190
where the numbers have all been rotated
to the right some number of places,

1151
00:47:55,190 --> 00:47:58,870
with numbers wrapping around when
they reach the end of the list.

1152
00:47:58,870 --> 00:48:05,530
And we're given a list right
here with elements 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

1153
00:48:05,530 --> 00:48:12,430
If it's rotated three times,
then it becomes 3, 4, 5, 1, 2.

1154
00:48:12,430 --> 00:48:13,210
All right.

1155
00:48:13,210 --> 00:48:15,790
So given such an array,
we need to find the number

1156
00:48:15,790 --> 00:48:17,680
of times it was rotated, right?

1157
00:48:17,680 --> 00:48:18,220
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: That's right.

1158
00:48:18,220 --> 00:48:19,303
INNOCENT MUNAI: All right.

1159
00:48:19,303 --> 00:48:27,120
So in this case, if this
is the rotated array--

1160
00:48:27,120 --> 00:48:30,340
I'll just copy it and
paste it right here.

1161
00:48:30,340 --> 00:48:35,490
If this is the rotated array,
then we expect our function

1162
00:48:35,490 --> 00:48:41,130
to roturn three, right,
because this means

1163
00:48:41,130 --> 00:48:42,730
the array was rotated three times.

1164
00:48:42,730 --> 00:48:43,590
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: That's right.

1165
00:48:43,590 --> 00:48:44,673
INNOCENT MUNAI: All right.

1166
00:48:44,673 --> 00:48:48,960
So let me think of like a
different rotated array,

1167
00:48:48,960 --> 00:48:52,740
and try to see whether I actually
got the point of the problem.

1168
00:48:52,740 --> 00:49:05,880
All right, so I'll think of one that
begins with 2, 3, 4, 5 and 1 right

1169
00:49:05,880 --> 00:49:08,520
here.

1170
00:49:08,520 --> 00:49:15,330
Will this be rotated four times?

1171
00:49:15,330 --> 00:49:16,020
Is that true.

1172
00:49:16,020 --> 00:49:16,710
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: Yeah, that's right.

1173
00:49:16,710 --> 00:49:17,760
One more than the previous.

1174
00:49:17,760 --> 00:49:18,450
INNOCENT MUNAI: Oh, right.

1175
00:49:18,450 --> 00:49:18,990
Sure.

1176
00:49:18,990 --> 00:49:24,940
So then in this case,
just before I proceed,

1177
00:49:24,940 --> 00:49:29,130
I would try to come up with a
solution that works on my example,

1178
00:49:29,130 --> 00:49:32,280
and then sort of like generalize
for all kinds of inputs.

1179
00:49:32,280 --> 00:49:37,830
All right, so looking at this
problem right here, it seems that--

1180
00:49:37,830 --> 00:49:42,510
looking at the pattern, it seems
that what we are actually looking for

1181
00:49:42,510 --> 00:49:52,530
is the index of the number that is
like less than the previous one.

1182
00:49:52,530 --> 00:49:58,930
So sort of like, I could narrow
this down to a search problem

1183
00:49:58,930 --> 00:50:08,620
where we are looking for
the index of the number that

1184
00:50:08,620 --> 00:50:12,522
is less than the previous.

1185
00:50:12,522 --> 00:50:13,480
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: Yeah.

1186
00:50:13,480 --> 00:50:15,430
Put another way there,
or the minimum element.

1187
00:50:15,430 --> 00:50:17,320
You're looking for the index of that.

1188
00:50:17,320 --> 00:50:18,310
INNOCENT MUNAI: The minimum element.

1189
00:50:18,310 --> 00:50:18,810
All right.

1190
00:50:18,810 --> 00:50:21,370
Just because all the
elements on the right

1191
00:50:21,370 --> 00:50:24,970
will have to be like, greater than this
one, because they are sort of sorted.

1192
00:50:24,970 --> 00:50:25,660
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: Yeah, exactly.

1193
00:50:25,660 --> 00:50:26,320
INNOCENT MUNAI: All right.

1194
00:50:26,320 --> 00:50:26,820
All right.

1195
00:50:26,820 --> 00:50:30,150
So we are sort of
looking like the minimum.

1196
00:50:30,150 --> 00:50:30,650
Right.

1197
00:50:30,650 --> 00:50:33,930


1198
00:50:33,930 --> 00:50:40,830
So then in this case, I will
have to define a function that

1199
00:50:40,830 --> 00:50:44,430
works along the lines of this solution.

1200
00:50:44,430 --> 00:50:53,340
I will call my function
find rotation key,

1201
00:50:53,340 --> 00:50:59,520
and then this function is
going to take in an array,

1202
00:50:59,520 --> 00:51:03,000
let's call it nums, because
it's like an array of nums.

1203
00:51:03,000 --> 00:51:09,000
And then, this function
is going to return

1204
00:51:09,000 --> 00:51:10,558
the index that is required, right?

1205
00:51:10,558 --> 00:51:11,475
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: Yep.

1206
00:51:11,475 --> 00:51:12,558
INNOCENT MUNAI: All right.

1207
00:51:12,558 --> 00:51:20,940
So working through what happens here,
what I need to do is go through--

1208
00:51:20,940 --> 00:51:29,100
I'll need to go through
each element of the array,

1209
00:51:29,100 --> 00:51:37,110
and then I will check for an--

1210
00:51:37,110 --> 00:51:44,370
I will check for an element
that is less than the previous.

1211
00:51:44,370 --> 00:51:46,470
I mean, I'm looking for
the minimum, but like,

1212
00:51:46,470 --> 00:51:49,080
I could check for
both, whether it's less

1213
00:51:49,080 --> 00:51:50,670
than the previous one and the next.

1214
00:51:50,670 --> 00:51:53,160
But for this case, it's
sufficient to just check

1215
00:51:53,160 --> 00:51:55,020
whether it's less than the next, right?

1216
00:51:55,020 --> 00:51:55,440
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: That's right.

1217
00:51:55,440 --> 00:51:55,950
That's right.

1218
00:51:55,950 --> 00:51:56,825
INNOCENT MUNAI: Sure.

1219
00:51:56,825 --> 00:52:04,980
And then what I need to return
is the index of that element.

1220
00:52:04,980 --> 00:52:05,822
How does this--

1221
00:52:05,822 --> 00:52:06,780
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: Yeah.

1222
00:52:06,780 --> 00:52:07,260
That makes sense.

1223
00:52:07,260 --> 00:52:08,190
That makes sense to me.

1224
00:52:08,190 --> 00:52:08,640
INNOCENT MUNAI: All right.

1225
00:52:08,640 --> 00:52:09,570
Thank you so much.

1226
00:52:09,570 --> 00:52:14,552
All right, so then I think I can just
go ahead and change this into code.

1227
00:52:14,552 --> 00:52:15,510
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: Yeah.

1228
00:52:15,510 --> 00:52:16,260
Let's do that.

1229
00:52:16,260 --> 00:52:17,593
INNOCENT MUNAI: All right, sure.

1230
00:52:17,593 --> 00:52:21,640
So I need to go through
each element of the array.

1231
00:52:21,640 --> 00:52:28,860
So I'll use for loop for i in range.

1232
00:52:28,860 --> 00:52:36,060
I want i to be in the range of my
array, so I'll just use i in range nums.

1233
00:52:36,060 --> 00:52:41,400
And then right here, I need
to check for an element that

1234
00:52:41,400 --> 00:52:42,630
is less than the previous.

1235
00:52:42,630 --> 00:52:49,020
So it means-- right now I'm at
index i, so what I need to do is--

1236
00:52:49,020 --> 00:53:01,480
if an element at index i is less than
an element at the previous element,

1237
00:53:01,480 --> 00:53:06,300
then I will return that index, right.

1238
00:53:06,300 --> 00:53:07,860
That's what I'm looking for.

1239
00:53:07,860 --> 00:53:08,410
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: Makes sense.

1240
00:53:08,410 --> 00:53:09,993
INNOCENT MUNAI: So sort of like, this.

1241
00:53:09,993 --> 00:53:14,340
And then in this case,
this has to be semicolon.

1242
00:53:14,340 --> 00:53:20,720
All right, this comment
should go up because it

1243
00:53:20,720 --> 00:53:24,530
describes what is being done here.

1244
00:53:24,530 --> 00:53:25,070
All right.

1245
00:53:25,070 --> 00:53:28,820
So let me try going
through explaining what

1246
00:53:28,820 --> 00:53:31,373
happens in each line of
this program for my input.

1247
00:53:31,373 --> 00:53:32,540
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: All right.

1248
00:53:32,540 --> 00:53:35,360
INNOCENT MUNAI: So for i
in range nums, and that

1249
00:53:35,360 --> 00:53:38,250
means from the very first
element to the last element.

1250
00:53:38,250 --> 00:53:41,270
so for my first element,
this will be two.

1251
00:53:41,270 --> 00:53:46,130
And for that case, it will check whether
it's less than the previous element,

1252
00:53:46,130 --> 00:53:50,310
so it will do this check
where i is 0 at this point.

1253
00:53:50,310 --> 00:53:53,090
So my numbers 0 is 2, right?

1254
00:53:53,090 --> 00:53:56,090
And then, I will check whether
it's less than the previous one.

1255
00:53:56,090 --> 00:54:00,170
Nums i plus 1, and i plus
1, in this case, is 1.

1256
00:54:00,170 --> 00:54:05,295
And nums one will give me three,
which is the next element and not

1257
00:54:05,295 --> 00:54:06,170
the previous element.

1258
00:54:06,170 --> 00:54:06,620
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: Exactly.

1259
00:54:06,620 --> 00:54:08,370
INNOCENT MUNAI: So I
need to change this--

1260
00:54:08,370 --> 00:54:09,880
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: Yep.

1261
00:54:09,880 --> 00:54:11,680
INNOCENT MUNAI: --to i minus 1.

1262
00:54:11,680 --> 00:54:18,100
And then, right here, what happens is
that since it's 0 and it's minus 1,

1263
00:54:18,100 --> 00:54:21,220
it will check with the last
element, and it will return

1264
00:54:21,220 --> 00:54:23,150
whether it's truly less than that.

1265
00:54:23,150 --> 00:54:27,790
And if it's not, then it will run
the entire loop over and over again,

1266
00:54:27,790 --> 00:54:32,780
and come up with the point where the
element is less than the previous one.

1267
00:54:32,780 --> 00:54:38,230
So for that case, if my algorithm
works for this particular input,

1268
00:54:38,230 --> 00:54:40,450
I'm going to try to come up
with several other inputs

1269
00:54:40,450 --> 00:54:43,600
and try to see whether it
works for those inputs as well.

1270
00:54:43,600 --> 00:54:45,490
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: Sure.

1271
00:54:45,490 --> 00:54:49,720
INNOCENT MUNAI: I will come
up with one input, when--

1272
00:54:49,720 --> 00:54:50,560
let's see.

1273
00:54:50,560 --> 00:54:58,190
Let's use this one, the one given
from the example, and in this case,

1274
00:54:58,190 --> 00:55:05,080
let's say we have 4 right
here where we have duplicates.

1275
00:55:05,080 --> 00:55:05,950
4 and 4.

1276
00:55:05,950 --> 00:55:09,850
So in this case, this is just
rotating the same three times,

1277
00:55:09,850 --> 00:55:15,620
so we should expect the same number--
like the rotation key to be the same.

1278
00:55:15,620 --> 00:55:26,870
And then, I would also think of a
situation where we have an empty array.

1279
00:55:26,870 --> 00:55:28,790
And in this case, it
should just return 0.

1280
00:55:28,790 --> 00:55:30,290
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: Yeah, that's fine.

1281
00:55:30,290 --> 00:55:32,623
INNOCENT MUNAI: There's nothing
that's happening really.

1282
00:55:32,623 --> 00:55:42,880
And then in a case where we have the
numbers just without any rotation,

1283
00:55:42,880 --> 00:55:46,880
and in this case, it should
really give me 0 as well.

1284
00:55:46,880 --> 00:55:48,380
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: Yeah, not rotated.

1285
00:55:48,380 --> 00:55:49,463
INNOCENT MUNAI: All right.

1286
00:55:49,463 --> 00:55:51,970
So a number can be on a
rake, could be rotated

1287
00:55:51,970 --> 00:55:58,030
0 times, 1 times, 2 times, all the
way to the length of that array,

1288
00:55:58,030 --> 00:55:59,780
or even more than that.

1289
00:55:59,780 --> 00:56:04,720
So in this case, I would check to see
whether if this array would be rotated

1290
00:56:04,720 --> 00:56:09,280
five times, which is the length of the
array, it would sort of go in a circle

1291
00:56:09,280 --> 00:56:10,610
and still be the same.

1292
00:56:10,610 --> 00:56:15,040
So it means my test case
is cover when arrays

1293
00:56:15,040 --> 00:56:18,400
rotate at like, at 0 times,
rotated like the maximum times,

1294
00:56:18,400 --> 00:56:20,750
and like, all the middle cases.

1295
00:56:20,750 --> 00:56:24,400
So my assumption is that if my
algorithm works for these cases,

1296
00:56:24,400 --> 00:56:25,870
it will work for all cases.

1297
00:56:25,870 --> 00:56:26,080
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: Yeah.

1298
00:56:26,080 --> 00:56:26,650
That looks right.

1299
00:56:26,650 --> 00:56:27,525
INNOCENT MUNAI: Yeah.

1300
00:56:27,525 --> 00:56:29,592
So you have maybe any
ideas of more test cases?

1301
00:56:29,592 --> 00:56:30,550
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: Yeah.

1302
00:56:30,550 --> 00:56:32,170
Let's try a few these,
and let's try running it.

1303
00:56:32,170 --> 00:56:32,750
See it works.

1304
00:56:32,750 --> 00:56:33,625
INNOCENT MUNAI: Sure.

1305
00:56:33,625 --> 00:56:37,930
So first I will work through
this with one of my age cases.

1306
00:56:37,930 --> 00:56:40,940
And in this case, let's
say the empty array.

1307
00:56:40,940 --> 00:56:44,710
So it will go through the
empty array, try to check,

1308
00:56:44,710 --> 00:56:46,450
but it won't return anything.

1309
00:56:46,450 --> 00:56:52,780
But I want-- if there is not
any element in that array,

1310
00:56:52,780 --> 00:56:54,440
this loop won't be executed.

1311
00:56:54,440 --> 00:56:56,410
So I want to handle that case too.

1312
00:56:56,410 --> 00:57:05,860
So in this sense, I might
have to have return zero, just

1313
00:57:05,860 --> 00:57:08,260
to account for the case when
this loop won't be executed.

1314
00:57:08,260 --> 00:57:09,905
And that's for the empty array.

1315
00:57:09,905 --> 00:57:11,155
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: Makes sense.

1316
00:57:11,155 --> 00:57:12,238
INNOCENT MUNAI: All right.

1317
00:57:12,238 --> 00:57:14,260
So now I think I should run some--

1318
00:57:14,260 --> 00:57:14,500
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: Yeah.

1319
00:57:14,500 --> 00:57:15,100
Let's try running it.

1320
00:57:15,100 --> 00:57:15,370
INNOCENT MUNAI: All right.

1321
00:57:15,370 --> 00:57:15,870
Sure.

1322
00:57:15,870 --> 00:57:29,890
So I will say if name is main,
I want to run the main function.

1323
00:57:29,890 --> 00:57:43,500
So I will sort of print, calling
this function onto several inputs.

1324
00:57:43,500 --> 00:57:45,220
Let's see.

1325
00:57:45,220 --> 00:57:49,160
So I just want to order
inputs in the same--

1326
00:57:49,160 --> 00:57:55,530
so I'll just do this one
and then take this one.

1327
00:57:55,530 --> 00:57:58,950
Put it right here.

1328
00:57:58,950 --> 00:58:03,980
Second input three.

1329
00:58:03,980 --> 00:58:04,752
Oh no.

1330
00:58:04,752 --> 00:58:05,960
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: No worries.

1331
00:58:05,960 --> 00:58:08,070
I have some hot keys, that's all.

1332
00:58:08,070 --> 00:58:08,570
You're good.

1333
00:58:08,570 --> 00:58:10,280
INNOCENT MUNAI: All right.

1334
00:58:10,280 --> 00:58:17,868
Then I will take this input, pass it
to this function, this time around.

1335
00:58:17,868 --> 00:58:19,910
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: Yeah,
let's try just these two.

1336
00:58:19,910 --> 00:58:20,270
INNOCENT MUNAI: Oh, yeah.

1337
00:58:20,270 --> 00:58:21,170
Sure.

1338
00:58:21,170 --> 00:58:25,170
So I'll just run this.

1339
00:58:25,170 --> 00:58:26,900
Oh, it yells at me.

1340
00:58:26,900 --> 00:58:30,860
It tells me this object cannot
be interpreted as an integer.

1341
00:58:30,860 --> 00:58:34,430
Oh, that's true because
at this point here

1342
00:58:34,430 --> 00:58:41,060
I needed my range to be from 0 to like
one less the length of the nums array.

1343
00:58:41,060 --> 00:58:46,250
And I know that there's a function
that can give me the length of nums.

1344
00:58:46,250 --> 00:58:48,187
Do you happen to know what it is?

1345
00:58:48,187 --> 00:58:48,770
Could I just--

1346
00:58:48,770 --> 00:58:49,220
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: Yeah.

1347
00:58:49,220 --> 00:58:49,782
Len is right.

1348
00:58:49,782 --> 00:58:50,990
INNOCENT MUNAI: Len is right.

1349
00:58:50,990 --> 00:58:52,580
Thank you.

1350
00:58:52,580 --> 00:58:57,290
So I'll just call Len here,
and run the program once again.

1351
00:58:57,290 --> 00:58:58,190
All right.

1352
00:58:58,190 --> 00:59:03,140
So seems like the first two
cases have passed in this case.

1353
00:59:03,140 --> 00:59:04,515
I will also try to run this case.

1354
00:59:04,515 --> 00:59:05,890
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: Yeah, actually.

1355
00:59:05,890 --> 00:59:08,610
Just for time, I think we
can actually pause there.

1356
00:59:08,610 --> 00:59:09,890
So thanks so much.

1357
00:59:09,890 --> 00:59:10,220
INNOCENT MUNAI: All right.

1358
00:59:10,220 --> 00:59:12,470
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: We'll pause
there for the interview.

1359
00:59:12,470 --> 00:59:15,590
[APPLAUSE]

1360
00:59:15,590 --> 00:59:16,940
So observations from folks.

1361
00:59:16,940 --> 00:59:20,748
What went well and what
could have gone better?

1362
00:59:20,748 --> 00:59:22,040
Overall I think this was great.

1363
00:59:22,040 --> 00:59:24,440
AUDIENCE MEMBER 9: Well,
the best part I thought

1364
00:59:24,440 --> 00:59:27,680
was the communication was so consistent
in every step of the process,

1365
00:59:27,680 --> 00:59:31,400
as well as this is a big part of
any interview, the tone of respect

1366
00:59:31,400 --> 00:59:33,950
he had for you as he was
going through the codes.

1367
00:59:33,950 --> 00:59:34,160
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: Yeah.

1368
00:59:34,160 --> 00:59:34,550
I totally agree.

1369
00:59:34,550 --> 00:59:35,800
The communication was amazing.

1370
00:59:35,800 --> 00:59:37,820
You sort of saw it at
every step along the way,

1371
00:59:37,820 --> 00:59:41,030
sort of vocalizing exactly what he
was thinking, and sort of doing that.

1372
00:59:41,030 --> 00:59:44,030
It's a tough tightrope to walk, talking
what you're thinking and writing

1373
00:59:44,030 --> 00:59:46,988
the code, but that's exactly what
you want to be doing in an interview.

1374
00:59:46,988 --> 00:59:48,450
Exactly what we just saw.

1375
00:59:48,450 --> 00:59:49,005
What else?

1376
00:59:49,005 --> 00:59:58,820


1377
00:59:58,820 --> 00:59:59,866
Yeah.

1378
00:59:59,866 --> 01:00:02,250
AUDIENCE MEMBER 10: Kind
of adding on to that idea,

1379
01:00:02,250 --> 01:00:05,860
I like before he actually
got to typing up the code,

1380
01:00:05,860 --> 01:00:10,090
he wrote out into his
long process in comments.

1381
01:00:10,090 --> 01:00:13,218
It works as a guideline, but
also you as the interviewer

1382
01:00:13,218 --> 01:00:15,462
can see his long process.

1383
01:00:15,462 --> 01:00:16,420
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: Yeah.

1384
01:00:16,420 --> 01:00:17,295
That's exactly right.

1385
01:00:17,295 --> 01:00:20,620
We aligned on a solution before
he started typing, wrote that out

1386
01:00:20,620 --> 01:00:23,530
in pseudo code, and the two of
us were super confident together

1387
01:00:23,530 --> 01:00:25,390
that he was on the right track.

1388
01:00:25,390 --> 01:00:28,240
Maybe one last thing, and then
I'll add what stood out to me.

1389
01:00:28,240 --> 01:00:30,690


1390
01:00:30,690 --> 01:00:31,190
Yeah.

1391
01:00:31,190 --> 01:00:34,107
AUDIENCE MEMBER 11: The fact that
he didn't panic when the code didn't

1392
01:00:34,107 --> 01:00:35,320
go how he expecting it to.

1393
01:00:35,320 --> 01:00:35,740
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: Yes.

1394
01:00:35,740 --> 01:00:37,120
I don't know if that was
planned on your end or not,

1395
01:00:37,120 --> 01:00:39,203
but I thought the way you
react is exactly how you

1396
01:00:39,203 --> 01:00:40,877
want to react in an interview.

1397
01:00:40,877 --> 01:00:41,710
So you didn't panic.

1398
01:00:41,710 --> 01:00:44,170
So it looks like here's the
error, read the error message.

1399
01:00:44,170 --> 01:00:46,503
A lot of people just see red,
and they're like [YELLS]..

1400
01:00:46,503 --> 01:00:49,090
You sort of read it, and then
asked me is it Len or sighs.

1401
01:00:49,090 --> 01:00:50,450
I was confirming that with you.

1402
01:00:50,450 --> 01:00:52,332
So I thought that was really great.

1403
01:00:52,332 --> 01:00:54,040
Maybe I'll just add
a couple other things

1404
01:00:54,040 --> 01:00:56,650
that I really liked as the interviewer.

1405
01:00:56,650 --> 01:00:59,650
So one is you caught a bug
proactively and fixed it.

1406
01:00:59,650 --> 01:01:03,400
You sort of saw how running
through the code verbally,

1407
01:01:03,400 --> 01:01:05,500
you can kind of catch those things.

1408
01:01:05,500 --> 01:01:07,385
So I thought that was
really, really great.

1409
01:01:07,385 --> 01:01:09,760
And then, I thought the other
thing that was really great

1410
01:01:09,760 --> 01:01:12,093
was sort of thinking about
all these edge cases as well.

1411
01:01:12,093 --> 01:01:15,792
So we took a lot of time up front
agreeing on inputs and outputs.

1412
01:01:15,792 --> 01:01:17,500
And I think because
we spent so much time

1413
01:01:17,500 --> 01:01:19,420
up front, that's why
this went so smoothly

1414
01:01:19,420 --> 01:01:21,920
and we're able to cover
all the cases as we went.

1415
01:01:21,920 --> 01:01:23,740
So as the interviewer,
those are two things

1416
01:01:23,740 --> 01:01:26,300
that stood out to me in the
really positive direction.

1417
01:01:26,300 --> 01:01:28,510
So thanks so much for
the mock interview.

1418
01:01:28,510 --> 01:01:29,630
We appreciate it.

1419
01:01:29,630 --> 01:01:30,868
INNOCENT MUNAI: All right.

1420
01:01:30,868 --> 01:01:34,983
[APPLAUSE]

1421
01:01:34,983 --> 01:01:36,150
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: All right.

1422
01:01:36,150 --> 01:01:39,540
So I have some closing thoughts here.

1423
01:01:39,540 --> 01:01:42,060
And I want to make sure
we have at least 15,

1424
01:01:42,060 --> 01:01:45,840
20 minutes or so for questions for
me about whatever is on your mind

1425
01:01:45,840 --> 01:01:47,160
when it comes to interviewing.

1426
01:01:47,160 --> 01:01:50,783
So last we're going to wrap
up with after the interview.

1427
01:01:50,783 --> 01:01:52,950
Usually, at the end of an
interview, the interviewer

1428
01:01:52,950 --> 01:01:57,268
will leave you five minutes or so
at the end of the interview to say,

1429
01:01:57,268 --> 01:01:58,560
what questions you have for me?

1430
01:01:58,560 --> 01:02:01,470
Have some questions ready in advance.

1431
01:02:01,470 --> 01:02:04,370
Can anyone think of a question
they've asked an interviewer before,

1432
01:02:04,370 --> 01:02:06,287
or that they might want
to ask an interviewer.

1433
01:02:06,287 --> 01:02:09,210
I'll give you some examples, but
want to hear some from you too.

1434
01:02:09,210 --> 01:02:09,870
Yeah.

1435
01:02:09,870 --> 01:02:11,310
AUDIENCE MEMBER 12:
What's a day in your life?

1436
01:02:11,310 --> 01:02:11,670
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: Yeah.

1437
01:02:11,670 --> 01:02:12,810
That's a good one.

1438
01:02:12,810 --> 01:02:15,210
What is the day to day life
look like at your role?

1439
01:02:15,210 --> 01:02:15,840
What else?

1440
01:02:15,840 --> 01:02:21,600


1441
01:02:21,600 --> 01:02:22,170
Yeah.

1442
01:02:22,170 --> 01:02:23,460
AUDIENCE MEMBER 13: I guess, what is--

1443
01:02:23,460 --> 01:02:25,950
if you have an end goal, what is the
end goal with something technical,

1444
01:02:25,950 --> 01:02:27,700
like these type of
tools to use, and like,

1445
01:02:27,700 --> 01:02:29,190
why are you even coding in general?

1446
01:02:29,190 --> 01:02:29,460
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: Yeah.

1447
01:02:29,460 --> 01:02:30,377
That's a great one.

1448
01:02:30,377 --> 01:02:32,460
So what are the big problems
your team is solving?

1449
01:02:32,460 --> 01:02:34,200
What are you really trying
to solve at a higher level?

1450
01:02:34,200 --> 01:02:35,010
I love that.

1451
01:02:35,010 --> 01:02:37,968
Maybe one more, and then I'll give
you some ones that I think are good.

1452
01:02:37,968 --> 01:02:44,870


1453
01:02:44,870 --> 01:02:45,370
Yeah.

1454
01:02:45,370 --> 01:02:47,910
In the back.

1455
01:02:47,910 --> 01:02:48,933
Sorry?

1456
01:02:48,933 --> 01:02:49,840
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

1457
01:02:49,840 --> 01:02:50,770
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: Yeah,
that's a great one.

1458
01:02:50,770 --> 01:02:52,000
What have you learned recently?

1459
01:02:52,000 --> 01:02:54,400
What has been your experience,
and where are you growing?

1460
01:02:54,400 --> 01:02:55,567
I think that's really great.

1461
01:02:55,567 --> 01:02:59,380
In general, try to bias for questions--
exactly, day to day is the first one.

1462
01:02:59,380 --> 01:03:01,898
Try to bias for questions
that aren't Google-able.

1463
01:03:01,898 --> 01:03:04,690
Like asking questions like, how
many employees are at your company,

1464
01:03:04,690 --> 01:03:06,273
or what year was your company founded?

1465
01:03:06,273 --> 01:03:07,180
Highly Google-able.

1466
01:03:07,180 --> 01:03:09,430
You're like, not using
the best use of your time

1467
01:03:09,430 --> 01:03:12,097
or your interviewer's if that's
the type of stuff you're asking.

1468
01:03:12,097 --> 01:03:14,050
Instead, try to ask
questions that could only

1469
01:03:14,050 --> 01:03:15,460
be answered by someone at this company.

1470
01:03:15,460 --> 01:03:17,620
Things like their day to
day, their team's culture,

1471
01:03:17,620 --> 01:03:20,703
what they like about their team, what
they would want to change, something

1472
01:03:20,703 --> 01:03:23,260
they're proud of, what their
growth path has looked like.

1473
01:03:23,260 --> 01:03:25,990
These are really great
questions for you to get

1474
01:03:25,990 --> 01:03:28,462
a sense of what it's actually
like to work at this company,

1475
01:03:28,462 --> 01:03:31,670
and for your interviewer to share a bit
more about their personal experience,

1476
01:03:31,670 --> 01:03:35,530
which is going to be way more valuable
than some stat around fundraising.

1477
01:03:35,530 --> 01:03:40,390
So the last thing I want to say with
after the interview, don't worry.

1478
01:03:40,390 --> 01:03:44,590
Interviews are very,
very, very high variance.

1479
01:03:44,590 --> 01:03:47,605
Everyone bombs interviews,
myself included.

1480
01:03:47,605 --> 01:03:48,730
I like to share this story.

1481
01:03:48,730 --> 01:03:52,540
I was once interviewing
at a large social network

1482
01:03:52,540 --> 01:03:54,340
site that will not be named.

1483
01:03:54,340 --> 01:03:55,840
[LAUGHTER]

1484
01:03:55,840 --> 01:04:00,130
The question was something around
like, traversing a binary tree.

1485
01:04:00,130 --> 01:04:04,930
I decided that OCaml would be the
best language to write this in.

1486
01:04:04,930 --> 01:04:05,920
Nope.

1487
01:04:05,920 --> 01:04:08,500
So I totally bombed it, and a
lot of people are like, no Tom.

1488
01:04:08,500 --> 01:04:09,580
You didn't do that bad.

1489
01:04:09,580 --> 01:04:13,390
I did because when I was
walking out of the interview, I

1490
01:04:13,390 --> 01:04:16,060
my interviewer was in the
elevator with another interviewer

1491
01:04:16,060 --> 01:04:18,100
from this large unnamed
social network talking

1492
01:04:18,100 --> 01:04:20,200
about how bad I did in the interview.

1493
01:04:20,200 --> 01:04:22,690
So I like, walked into this
elevator, I was like, oh that--

1494
01:04:22,690 --> 01:04:25,600
really no doubt that I
bombed that interview.

1495
01:04:25,600 --> 01:04:27,700
So it happens to everybody.

1496
01:04:27,700 --> 01:04:30,730
If it happens to you, don't worry.

1497
01:04:30,730 --> 01:04:33,160
Interviews are not fun, and
they're really high variance.

1498
01:04:33,160 --> 01:04:35,535
There's a lot of candidates
who just-- you get a question

1499
01:04:35,535 --> 01:04:37,933
and it just doesn't click,
and then they don't do well

1500
01:04:37,933 --> 01:04:39,100
and they don't move forward.

1501
01:04:39,100 --> 01:04:41,860
But I bet they're a great candidate,
and they would have possibly

1502
01:04:41,860 --> 01:04:43,277
been a great addition to the team.

1503
01:04:43,277 --> 01:04:48,490
But just the whole variance of
interviewing, don't worry about that.

1504
01:04:48,490 --> 01:04:51,460
View each interview as an
opportunity to get better.

1505
01:04:51,460 --> 01:04:53,890
It's really easy to get
discouraged when you're constantly

1506
01:04:53,890 --> 01:04:56,770
getting no's all over the
place from different companies,

1507
01:04:56,770 --> 01:04:58,870
but try to view that as
a growth opportunity,

1508
01:04:58,870 --> 01:05:02,350
reflect on what went well, because
it wasn't all bad probably,

1509
01:05:02,350 --> 01:05:05,313
as well as where you can
improve, and try to grow and get

1510
01:05:05,313 --> 01:05:06,730
better and better at interviewing.

1511
01:05:06,730 --> 01:05:07,490
It's a skill.

1512
01:05:07,490 --> 01:05:08,740
It's a muscle you can develop.

1513
01:05:08,740 --> 01:05:10,402
Nobody has it out of the gate.

1514
01:05:10,402 --> 01:05:12,610
And you're not going to pass
100% of your interviews.

1515
01:05:12,610 --> 01:05:14,980
If you do, maybe you can
join me up here next year.

1516
01:05:14,980 --> 01:05:18,910
But don't worry if you don't do
well on some of your interviews.

1517
01:05:18,910 --> 01:05:21,280
So some takeaways from the talk.

1518
01:05:21,280 --> 01:05:23,770
Number one, make sure
you have the basics down.

1519
01:05:23,770 --> 01:05:26,560
This is the best way to reduce
stress and increase your success

1520
01:05:26,560 --> 01:05:28,060
rate of technical interviews.

1521
01:05:28,060 --> 01:05:30,280
Number two, build out your toolbox.

1522
01:05:30,280 --> 01:05:33,310
Be familiar with all the
concepts and tools you can

1523
01:05:33,310 --> 01:05:35,920
use to solve a problem in an interview.

1524
01:05:35,920 --> 01:05:39,610
Number three, do lots of
realistic practice problems.

1525
01:05:39,610 --> 01:05:43,840
Sit down, time yourself, don't
just look at the answer key.

1526
01:05:43,840 --> 01:05:47,380
Actually walk through the solution,
and communicate a solution

1527
01:05:47,380 --> 01:05:49,330
before writing code.

1528
01:05:49,330 --> 01:05:51,730
Verbally run your code,
look for issues, make

1529
01:05:51,730 --> 01:05:55,055
sure you're creating this bidirectional
conversation with your interviewer,

1530
01:05:55,055 --> 01:05:57,430
and in case you thought I
wouldn't show this slide again,

1531
01:05:57,430 --> 01:06:00,890
it's about the process,
not necessarily the output.

1532
01:06:00,890 --> 01:06:03,310
So think about how you're
getting to that answer

1533
01:06:03,310 --> 01:06:05,920
and how you're working
together with your interviewer.

1534
01:06:05,920 --> 01:06:07,390
So that's the end of the talk.

1535
01:06:07,390 --> 01:06:11,086
I'd love to take questions
from the audience.

1536
01:06:11,086 --> 01:06:20,270
[APPLAUSE]

1537
01:06:20,270 --> 01:06:20,878
Yeah.

1538
01:06:20,878 --> 01:06:22,670
AUDIENCE MEMBER 14:
What are some resources

1539
01:06:22,670 --> 01:06:26,182
that you suggest to find like,
technical interview questions?

1540
01:06:26,182 --> 01:06:27,140
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: Yeah.

1541
01:06:27,140 --> 01:06:30,620
So what are some resources for
finding technical interview questions?

1542
01:06:30,620 --> 01:06:32,840
So we'll put some
links in the Zoom chat.

1543
01:06:32,840 --> 01:06:35,450
So one is Leet Code has a ton of stuff.

1544
01:06:35,450 --> 01:06:38,870
What's cool is you could sort of write
the code and run it and see solutions.

1545
01:06:38,870 --> 01:06:40,520
Project Euler is another one.

1546
01:06:40,520 --> 01:06:41,540
Just a lot of problems.

1547
01:06:41,540 --> 01:06:43,790
Cracking the Code Interview
is one of those books that

1548
01:06:43,790 --> 01:06:45,903
just has a ton of practice problems.

1549
01:06:45,903 --> 01:06:47,570
But honestly, even just googling around.

1550
01:06:47,570 --> 01:06:49,403
Like, if you find
yourself like, man, I just

1551
01:06:49,403 --> 01:06:51,820
can't get recursion no matter
how many times I've done it,

1552
01:06:51,820 --> 01:06:54,008
just googling practice
recursion interview problems,

1553
01:06:54,008 --> 01:06:55,550
you'll probably find some good sites.

1554
01:06:55,550 --> 01:06:58,890
Like Geeks for Geeks is pretty
high on their SEO there.

1555
01:06:58,890 --> 01:06:59,600
So, yeah.

1556
01:06:59,600 --> 01:07:02,390
Those are some good ones I'd recommend.

1557
01:07:02,390 --> 01:07:02,990
Yeah.

1558
01:07:02,990 --> 01:07:04,990
AUDIENCE MEMBER 15: When
you're-- two questions.

1559
01:07:04,990 --> 01:07:07,670
One, when you're searching for
internships that are technical

1560
01:07:07,670 --> 01:07:09,830
or to find technical
interviews in general,

1561
01:07:09,830 --> 01:07:13,040
do you remember when you were searching
for internships, if you ever did,

1562
01:07:13,040 --> 01:07:14,780
what the best process was to do this?

1563
01:07:14,780 --> 01:07:18,470
And number two is when
trying to feel ready enough

1564
01:07:18,470 --> 01:07:20,892
to apply to one of these
tech internships, other

1565
01:07:20,892 --> 01:07:22,600
than building your
toolbox, which is when

1566
01:07:22,600 --> 01:07:25,030
we saw specific examples, what makes
you get to the point where you're like,

1567
01:07:25,030 --> 01:07:25,180
yeah.

1568
01:07:25,180 --> 01:07:26,710
I'm ready to go for
this interview stage.

1569
01:07:26,710 --> 01:07:29,770
Because at my point of coding, I don't
think I'm ready for that right now.

1570
01:07:29,770 --> 01:07:30,160
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: Yeah.

1571
01:07:30,160 --> 01:07:30,460
That's great.

1572
01:07:30,460 --> 01:07:31,168
So two questions.

1573
01:07:31,168 --> 01:07:34,660
One is how to top a funnel
sourcing for companies to apply to,

1574
01:07:34,660 --> 01:07:36,633
and then two is how
do when you're ready.

1575
01:07:36,633 --> 01:07:38,800
So number one, I think
honestly a really great thing

1576
01:07:38,800 --> 01:07:42,730
is to just like open your phone and look
at the products that you use every day.

1577
01:07:42,730 --> 01:07:45,130
Those companies are
probably hiring interns.

1578
01:07:45,130 --> 01:07:48,370
As well as talking to
friends and other people in--

1579
01:07:48,370 --> 01:07:49,690
if you're in CS--

1580
01:07:49,690 --> 01:07:52,150
excuse me, the CS department,
hearing about what

1581
01:07:52,150 --> 01:07:53,560
internships were really great.

1582
01:07:53,560 --> 01:07:56,170
Many companies, including
us, are recruiting on campus,

1583
01:07:56,170 --> 01:08:00,880
so try to join the email lists a company
blast out these events and invites on.

1584
01:08:00,880 --> 01:08:03,322
Those are some ways to identify things.

1585
01:08:03,322 --> 01:08:05,780
And then how to know when you're
ready, it's kind of tough.

1586
01:08:05,780 --> 01:08:07,030
Everyone's a bit different.

1587
01:08:07,030 --> 01:08:10,690
For me, there gets a point where I'm
sort of refreshing these practice

1588
01:08:10,690 --> 01:08:11,652
problems.

1589
01:08:11,652 --> 01:08:14,860
Maybe I get like, three in a row, and
I'm just feeling a bit more comfortable

1590
01:08:14,860 --> 01:08:17,380
or I'm solving things
consistently, maybe not 100%

1591
01:08:17,380 --> 01:08:21,250
correct 100% of the time, but
in general, I'm given a problem,

1592
01:08:21,250 --> 01:08:23,981
I can probably get most
of it in 30 minutes or so.

1593
01:08:23,981 --> 01:08:25,689
But again, everybody
is really different,

1594
01:08:25,689 --> 01:08:28,189
and even the difficulty of
problems is going to be different

1595
01:08:28,189 --> 01:08:30,609
and depending on how far
you are in your CS career.

1596
01:08:30,609 --> 01:08:32,649
But I'd say the best
way to learn is honestly

1597
01:08:32,649 --> 01:08:34,120
by going and doing the interviews.

1598
01:08:34,120 --> 01:08:36,422
Simulating is great, but if
you interview a few times

1599
01:08:36,422 --> 01:08:39,380
and you totally bomb them, that's a
really, really valuable experience.

1600
01:08:39,380 --> 01:08:42,069
So don't wait too, too long
before just jumping in.

1601
01:08:42,069 --> 01:08:43,736
The worst thing a company can say is no.

1602
01:08:43,736 --> 01:08:46,819
Well, the worst thing they do is tell
you in the elevator how bad you did.

1603
01:08:46,819 --> 01:08:48,609
The second worst thing
I can do is say no.

1604
01:08:48,609 --> 01:08:50,234
And so don't worry too much about that.

1605
01:08:50,234 --> 01:08:57,580


1606
01:08:57,580 --> 01:08:58,140
Yeah.

1607
01:08:58,140 --> 01:09:00,449
AUDIENCE MEMBER 16: Do
you have any suggestions

1608
01:09:00,449 --> 01:09:05,135
for things you did at Harvard that you
felt like were very beneficial as you

1609
01:09:05,135 --> 01:09:06,271
entered your career?

1610
01:09:06,271 --> 01:09:07,229
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: Yeah.

1611
01:09:07,229 --> 01:09:10,560
So stuff I did at Harvard that was
really beneficial for my career.

1612
01:09:10,560 --> 01:09:13,890
So some classes, I think,
are just better geared

1613
01:09:13,890 --> 01:09:16,140
towards getting good at
interviews than others.

1614
01:09:16,140 --> 01:09:17,880
124 I'd recommend.

1615
01:09:17,880 --> 01:09:20,790
182 they do like graph
algorithms all day long,

1616
01:09:20,790 --> 01:09:23,279
or at least they used
to when I was there.

1617
01:09:23,279 --> 01:09:26,819
So classes that are a bit more
data structures or algorithm

1618
01:09:26,819 --> 01:09:29,050
focused, I think, are really good.

1619
01:09:29,050 --> 01:09:32,010
Another thing is I tried to join
all these different email lists.

1620
01:09:32,010 --> 01:09:33,540
And I can't tell you the
names of them any more

1621
01:09:33,540 --> 01:09:35,498
because they're probably
all different, but try

1622
01:09:35,498 --> 01:09:38,010
to get on the lists for a bunch
of these different events.

1623
01:09:38,010 --> 01:09:40,385
There's no like-- a lot of
times there's no invite lists.

1624
01:09:40,385 --> 01:09:42,106
Just sort of like, if
you knew that Figma

1625
01:09:42,106 --> 01:09:44,439
is going to be in this room
on this day you can show up.

1626
01:09:44,439 --> 01:09:46,189
So try to get on all
these different lists

1627
01:09:46,189 --> 01:09:48,689
and look out for events just
to learn about companies,

1628
01:09:48,689 --> 01:09:51,990
learn about opportunities, and also
just meet more folks who can get to know

1629
01:09:51,990 --> 01:09:52,830
and practice with.

1630
01:09:52,830 --> 01:09:55,390


1631
01:09:55,390 --> 01:09:58,755
I was on like, every email
list you could think of.

1632
01:09:58,755 --> 01:10:00,710
AUDIENCE MEMBER 17:
How did you find those?

1633
01:10:00,710 --> 01:10:03,260
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: I would just
sort of ask around friends, like oh

1634
01:10:03,260 --> 01:10:05,780
like-- if some friend was like,
oh are you going to the x event?

1635
01:10:05,780 --> 01:10:07,760
And I was like, not only
what is that event, two

1636
01:10:07,760 --> 01:10:09,010
how did you find out about it?

1637
01:10:09,010 --> 01:10:11,110
And then go and join that.

1638
01:10:11,110 --> 01:10:11,610
Yeah?

1639
01:10:11,610 --> 01:10:14,312
AUDIENCE MEMBER 18: How
important are career fairs?

1640
01:10:14,312 --> 01:10:15,270
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: Yeah.

1641
01:10:15,270 --> 01:10:17,730
How important are career
fairs for recruiting?

1642
01:10:17,730 --> 01:10:20,140
I think as you're thinking
about what companies

1643
01:10:20,140 --> 01:10:22,890
do I want to apply to, even like
what companies are out there that

1644
01:10:22,890 --> 01:10:26,098
are hiring interns of some given degree,
I think there they're really, really

1645
01:10:26,098 --> 01:10:27,290
helpful.

1646
01:10:27,290 --> 01:10:30,787
Oftentimes, it can be great to meet a
recruiter and give them your resume.

1647
01:10:30,787 --> 01:10:33,120
For many folks, it doesn't
make too much of a difference

1648
01:10:33,120 --> 01:10:35,203
whether you like meet a
recruiter in person versus

1649
01:10:35,203 --> 01:10:37,080
apply through the early career channels.

1650
01:10:37,080 --> 01:10:40,485
So I'd say they are more useful
for you to find opportunities

1651
01:10:40,485 --> 01:10:42,360
you're excited about
that are sort of aligned

1652
01:10:42,360 --> 01:10:44,970
with your experience and your
skill level, as opposed to,

1653
01:10:44,970 --> 01:10:50,700
oh this is my in, like I gave a paper
copy of my resume to some recruiter.

1654
01:10:50,700 --> 01:10:51,200
Yeah.

1655
01:10:51,200 --> 01:10:54,350
AUDIENCE MEMBER 19: Any advice that
could be particularly more helpful

1656
01:10:54,350 --> 01:10:56,352
for PM interviews.

1657
01:10:56,352 --> 01:10:57,310
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: Yeah.

1658
01:10:57,310 --> 01:11:00,280
Any advice for PM interviews?

1659
01:11:00,280 --> 01:11:02,530
I would say that PM,
of all the interview

1660
01:11:02,530 --> 01:11:05,440
types we talked about here,
I'd say the PM interviews

1661
01:11:05,440 --> 01:11:10,180
are most or closest to the systems
design and values interview.

1662
01:11:10,180 --> 01:11:12,800
Values is sort of someone that
anyone's going to go through.

1663
01:11:12,800 --> 01:11:14,650
So I'd spend some time
thinking about that.

1664
01:11:14,650 --> 01:11:18,398
A lot of PM interviews are
about critical thinking like,

1665
01:11:18,398 --> 01:11:21,190
pick an app on your phone and tell
me how you would make it better,

1666
01:11:21,190 --> 01:11:24,160
or here's some problem.

1667
01:11:24,160 --> 01:11:27,498
Maybe like, Uber is thinking
about expanding into jetpacks.

1668
01:11:27,498 --> 01:11:29,290
How would you think
about the go to market?

1669
01:11:29,290 --> 01:11:32,132
It's sort of like that type
of problem to think about,

1670
01:11:32,132 --> 01:11:35,090
which is more less about writing code
and more about critical thinking.

1671
01:11:35,090 --> 01:11:37,990
So there's lots of example problems
online for not just engineering

1672
01:11:37,990 --> 01:11:39,410
interviews, but other domains.

1673
01:11:39,410 --> 01:11:42,050
And so I go through this same
process of getting used to it,

1674
01:11:42,050 --> 01:11:44,430
building that toolbox, and
be getting comfortable.

1675
01:11:44,430 --> 01:11:48,930


1676
01:11:48,930 --> 01:11:49,560
Yeah.

1677
01:11:49,560 --> 01:11:51,560
AUDIENCE MEMBER 20: How
many companies would you

1678
01:11:51,560 --> 01:11:53,230
recommend applying for in one season?

1679
01:11:53,230 --> 01:11:53,650
TOMMY MACWILLIAM: Yeah.

1680
01:11:53,650 --> 01:11:56,317
How many companies would I recommend
applying for in one season?

1681
01:11:56,317 --> 01:11:57,980
It's a really good question.

1682
01:11:57,980 --> 01:11:59,020
It varies a bit.

1683
01:11:59,020 --> 01:12:02,830
I'd say that, especially early
on, interviews can be tough,

1684
01:12:02,830 --> 01:12:06,730
and as you're sort of building up that
muscle, you might have a higher number.

1685
01:12:06,730 --> 01:12:11,108
I'd say, a good number is
maybe in the like five to ten

1686
01:12:11,108 --> 01:12:12,400
ballpark on like, the high end.

1687
01:12:12,400 --> 01:12:15,150
Like if you find yourself applying
to like 20 different companies,

1688
01:12:15,150 --> 01:12:18,370
and you've got like three on sites a
day every day for two weeks, that's

1689
01:12:18,370 --> 01:12:19,290
probably too many.

1690
01:12:19,290 --> 01:12:21,040
But if you're only
applying to one or two,

1691
01:12:21,040 --> 01:12:24,250
it can be hard to get the
full breadth of experience.

1692
01:12:24,250 --> 01:12:27,657
And there's a reality thing
here that is at some point,

1693
01:12:27,657 --> 01:12:29,740
companies will sort of
fill up their intern class.

1694
01:12:29,740 --> 01:12:33,490
And so if you're sort of waiting until
January or February to start applying,

1695
01:12:33,490 --> 01:12:36,085
sometimes it could be
harder to get an internship.

1696
01:12:36,085 --> 01:12:38,710
So make sure you're not like,
spreading it out too much either.

1697
01:12:38,710 --> 01:12:42,560


1698
01:12:42,560 --> 01:12:43,060
Yeah.

1699
01:12:43,060 --> 01:12:44,393
Well, thanks so much for coming.

1700
01:12:44,393 --> 01:12:45,520
I'll hang up here--

1701
01:12:45,520 --> 01:12:47,812
Hanging up here to answer
any other questions you have.

1702
01:12:47,812 --> 01:12:51,500
But thanks so much for coming, and best
of luck on your technical interviews.

1703
01:12:51,500 --> 01:12:52,000