Today, I had an interview where they sprung a Coderpad test on me out of the blue. It was for a Django position and because I spend most of my time in Django, I hardly ever use/practice a lot of the Python built-in (often string manipulation) functions.

So even though I am pretty experienced, I felt like a newbie just because the tasks (IMHO) are unrealistic, abstract tests that you'd rarely do in real life and hence, rarely practice. I mean, funnily enough, I have never had to find the longest list of zeros in a binary string in ANY of the >10 projects in my portfolio.

So for those of you who are a bit more practiced with Coderpad/Codility etc, what are some of the more useful functions?

For example, in my case I was lucky enough to quickly look up sorted() in the docs and see how it worked, how to reverse the ordering etc. I got away with and passed the interview but obviously it'd have been better to be familiar with it ahead of time. I suspect it's worth brushing up on list and dictionary comprehensions too.

I have a degree in ECE but I haven't written any code in about 4 years. I have an exam for an embedded systems role I applied for, but it doesn't have any rules listed.

Would I typically be allowed to google things during this test? That's pretty much how I've always coded because I always get syntax and functions mixed up between languages. I definitely couldn't answer the sample question without googling C documentation.

Hi all,

I have a coderpad interview coming up soon. Since it is for a java role, in the meeting link, the language to be coded in is mentioned as Java.

I'm from a Java background, however I do my leetcode in python usually - since it is mostly like pseudocode and I'm able to think relatively faster.

Coding in java during the interview could slow me down a bit. Would it be fine if I told the interviewer that I'd like to code the logic in Python first (for the flow) and then convert it to Java? I'm also worried about the time as the meeting is for 1 hr and I'd have to solve 2 questions.

A company I applied to made me do a CoderPad test. The whole thing was nothing but esoterica about various languages. Stuff actual engineers rarely deal with and when they do they look it up in the docs. Stuff like “What’s the second parameter to API function X?” “Which of call() or apply() take an array for parameters?”, “What’s it called when you mix asynchronous and synchronous functions”?, shit like that. It was an hour test of nothing but that for Java, Node, GoLang and C++. I totally failed even though I have well over 10 years of experience with each, building real stuff.

Anyway… I thought it was over. I got the results back and I failed hard on every part. I was pissed that I wasted my time on rote learning bullshit likely put together by some Indian engineer who’s used to that shit No! The company was “impressed” and wants to schedule panel interviews. WTF?

Clearly it’s some hazing thing and I told the company to fuck off…

Hi everyone, I have an interview scheduled tomorrow for a CoderPad (Python) round for the position of AWM/Wealth Management. I come from a DevOps/SRE background, but I’m a CSE graduate currently revising DS & Algorithm concepts.

I’m not feeling very confident, so I’d really appreciate it if you could share your experiences or any tips that might help me prepare better. Thanks in advance!

Role: Data Analytics / Business Intelligence, Transaction Banking, Data Platform. 0-2 years of experience

I've selected Python as my language. Do they go super hard with the Python Leetcode questions. I havent practiced a lot on DP/Trees/Graphs and being a data analyst my leetcode practice in general hasnt been too competitive.

What should I expect for an analyst role? I have one week to prepare, the resources I plan on using are LC GS last 3 month's questions, NeetCode 150.

I have a 60-minute CoderPad interview coming up with Apple for a cloud automation/devops-style engineering role. Wondering what kind of questions they typically ask.

Is it mostly Python/DSA-style coding, scripting/infra-focused problems, or a mix?
Any experience from folks who’ve done Apple CoderPad interviews would be really appreciated.

I just received an email from the recruiter that I made it to the final round and it involves a coderpad challenge to capture and analyze data using python. I have never used coderpad but I am familiar with Python (not an expert). I made it clear in the interview that I am not a python expert but I can write code by researching and understand what a code does.

Any ideas what I should be expecting in the challenge?

Once the interviewer pastes the question in the Coderpad or whatever, you should know how to code up the solution immediately. Even if you know what the correct approach might be (e.g. backtracking), but don't know exactly how to implement it, you're on the way to failure. Solving the problem in real time (what the coding interview is actually supposed to be or what many people think it is) will inevitably be filled with awkward pauses and corrections, which is natural for any problem solving but throws off your interviewer.

And the only way to prepare for this is to code up solutions to a wide variety of problems beforehand. The best use of your time would be to go to each problem on Leetcode, not try to solve it yourself (unless you know how to already) and read the solution directly. Do your best to understand it (and even here, don't spend too much time - this time would be more valuable for looking at other problems) and memorize the solution.

The coding interviews are posed as "solve this equation" exam problems but they are more of "prove this theorem" exam problems. You either know the proof or you don't. You can't do it flawlessly in the allocated time, no matter how good you are at problem solving.

P.S. This is more relevant for FAANGs and T1 companies. Many of other companies don't even have coding interviews anymore, and for the good reason.

This is 1st round, interviewer said it will be in python, I am based in UK. What level/type of questions and how many questions can I expect? Leetcode medium/hard? What data structure/algorithm they focus more on - dp/arrays/graphs/strings?

I have 3.5 YOE and my coding skills are above average, although I am much better at C++ than in python.

Thanks in advance