Try and model the interview around what they will actually do on the job. Write algorithms Build an API (Flask, SQLAlchemy, FastAPI, SQL) / tests Integrate AI into an existing API Deploy web apps / Containerisation All of it (Take home test?) Then design your questions around that to be more representative. If someone is not going to be writing high-performance algorithms it's less fruitful to ask them to answer such questions in the interview. That said, basic knowledge of Python data structures and when to use Lists, Maps, Sets, Dicts, etc, should be tested along with good practices like Type Hinting, Logging, OOP, Unit Testing, SOLID principles etc. More on reddit.com

I appreciate the effort made in collecting these, and they do serve as a great prompt to try solve some problems. However, having looked at a few examples, these should definitely not be used as best practice solutions! More on reddit.com

I'm trying to come up with a good coding problem to ask interview candidates to solve with Python. They'll have an hour to work on the problem, with an IDE and access to documentation (we don't care More on stackoverflow.com

The goal of interviews isn't to see if you get the right answer. It is to see what level of experience and proficiency is. It is to see how you approach problem solving. It is to see how you respond when you encounter a problem you don't know how to do off the top of your head. Cramming a bunch of solutions and hoping the handful you pick match up with the ones the interviewers ask is not an effective strategy. Pre-interview exercises help by exposing you to a range of problems and strategies so that you can tackle problems you haven't seen before. So find a site with lots of problems (ie leetcode, hackerrank) and do a variety of problems. Pay attention to what strategies you are using to solve problems. Talk through the problem as you work on it as interviewers want to see that you can communicate effectively and explain how you approach problems. If you need to pause for a minute or two to think about a problem, say what you are thinking about, and as you think through it say what it is you are thinking. It feels unnatural to say half-baked thoughts, but that is what interviewers are looking for...how do you work through a problem. It's often better to discuss how you arrived at an incomplete solution than silently regurgitate a known solution. The former lets them see what they want to know, the later gives the impression you "got lucky" and happened to know the solution and didn't have to work through it. The later offers them no insight into what they are trying to assess. If you do know the solution because you did the exercise the day before, it might be a good idea to tell them. Say that you did this exercise as part of your preparation and know the answer and can work through it to show understanding and considerations and concerns with the solution you provide, or if they have a different problem they prefer. This shows that you understand what they are looking for and want to give them that...even if it might make it harder for you. I've had several candidates do this and they always did well and were credited for being open, honest, and willing to be challenged. One candidate I had was given the same question by two interviewers (oops). They aced it both times. We didn't offer the job because they didn't say "I was asked that question in the last interview by Bob...do you want to have me solve a different problem". They would have gotten the job otherwise. More on reddit.com