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Discussion on: Unpopular opinion? I don't do puzzle coding tests.

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joelbonetr profile image
JoelBonetR 🥇

Tell me how to memorize algorithms will make you a better developer please.
You became a better developer when you know a single language and framework very well as you can translate it to every programming language in seconds, for example i know that PHP explode function is split in Java and in javaScript, but if i have to work with C# i could visit google and ask "explode C#" or "split C#" and I'll get rid on it in less than a minute.
You become a better developer when you have to deal with complex business logic so you need to figure out the most simple way to reach the specs and ending with a dynamic, changes-aware and maintainable piece of code.
In my experience algorithms doesn't fit on this, and will rarely fit on a real life project, at least for the major working places. It could be different if you attempt to work on Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, IBM or similar, but there are tones of companies with IT department that will never use complex algorithms to deal with predefined tasks.

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jeremycmorgan profile image
Jeremy Morgan

You use algorithms every single day, whether you know it or not. Understanding them and practicing problem solving makes you better. Just like going to the batting cages makes you a better batter, even though it's is a human pitcher at a baseball field.

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msk61 profile image
Mohammed El-Afifi

Knowing the principles of algorithms and how different algorithms for the same problem compare to each other is one thing, and expecting you to fully flesh out the details of an algorithm on a whiteboard or a piece of paper under a timed exercise is a completely different thing.

Some apparently very simple algorithms may prove tricky to implement.(Have you ever tried implementing binary search? :)) Another point is that we can't expect someone who's seeing a problem for the first time to easily map it to commonly known problem that has one or more specific algorithms to solve it. We as developers all know that even in our daily job sometimes it might take us several hours(sometimes even when we think as teams and not only individuals) to come up with a solution for a certain problem; this's happening even with problems and domains that we're very accustomed to during our daily work. We shouldn't expect better with problems unknown to interviewees.