Basic knowledge is solid-but the interview cannot be done. What should I do?

Http://www.newsmth.net/bbstcon.php? Board = Microsoft and gid = 48785

Someone asked:After reading a lot of interview questions, I feel that although my basic data structure and algorithm knowledge is solid, I still cannot do it, so please kindly advise.

 

This question seems confusing. In fact, the person who asked the question confused two things: "the basic knowledge of data structure and algorithm is solid": knowledge; "solving problems in actual interviews": ability.Knowledge and ability are two different things.

 

Example 1 of knowledge and ability:

Know the circumference rate Pi: 20 or even 100 digits after the decimal point: Knowledge

When we see an irregular cylinder, we can estimate its volume: capacity. At this time, we can solve the problem with Pi equal to or equal to 3.

 

Example 2 of knowledge and ability:

Some students in the school have the ambition of Peng, and they all feel that they are not satisfied with their talents. Once they have escaped from the cage, they are sure to show their talents. Sometimes, we all know that you have some knowledge and have become a well-known fact-common knowledge.

 

 

But do you have the ability to break out of jail, make a living independently from outside prison, and realize your dreams?

 

Example 3 of knowledge and ability:

Which three represent? knowledge?

Three representatives on how to grasp corrupt officials, flat price, and establish the legal system: ability. Why can't they do it? Neither can nor.

 

Far away, far away...

 

What are we talking about?

Basic knowledge is solid-but the interview cannot be done. What should I do?

There is a reliable answer on BBS:

Hello, I used to think that my algorithm is good. I have carefully studied the data structure and read the algorithm book. But I was not able to get started when I was preparing for a job interview, I encountered two problems, but I don't know if it is the same as you.
One problem is that some knowledge is understood in my own feelings, but I cannot use it when I encounter practical problems that require in-depth details. For example, the array of n elements, taking the first m of the elements, this question has the idea of using the idea of fast sorting. Each partition divides the array into two categories: greater than the partition element, smaller than the partition element, and then perform partition recursively based on the relationship between the number of elements in the two classes and m in a certain type (of course, this is just a way of thinking ), we will arrange algorithms quickly, but if we do not really understand the idea, we will not give this idea. Therefore, when learning algorithms, we recommend that you do not stream on the surface, but recognize the essence of algorithms. Here, of course, we recommend that you read the English version of the introduction to algorithms. For example, after reading the four questions in dynamic planning, you can refer to the introduction here to get some regular things and get a lot of results. There is also "the beauty of programming" Edited by Yan Xin. The solution ideas in this article are very detailed and give us a lot of inspiration.
Another problem is that some questions will be done, but there is an obstacle when writing a code. I am not used to writing code on paper and rely heavily on IDE. This problem can only be overcome by writing more and practicing more. Here I recommend topcoder. This site has the same online question Making System as Peking University Online judge. You can write code in a way similar to notepad without IDE, at the same time, there are different levels of questions in it. You can start to do some simple questions of div1 in SRM. The slow exercises make the code written and compiled at a time, and then start to do the difficult questions. Of course, I also want to write it on the White Paper and black text. I wrote a 16-paper code with five or six centimeters thick. Finally, I can write it smoothly during the test interview...
The above is my experience in preparing for the test interview, and I finally got the ideal offer. I hope it will help you. Thank you ~

 

The following is the background of the interview from the book Beauty of programming.

Every year from July September, the recruitment information on the advertisement bar and BBs on the campus has gradually increased. Xiaofei is a recent computer graduate from an ordinary university. He is diligent and eager to learn. He enjoys a wide range of interests in his achievements. I can see that all of my colleagues are preparing exquisite resumes and attending various job fairs, written examinations, and interviews. He saw all kinds of "face Sutra" on the BBS, and also crowded the crowd at the job fair. He sighed: "The road is hard, the road is hard, the work is good, and the work is safe today ?"

Xiaofei learned various terms about recruitment from the Internet and sorted out a list:

Term	Explanation
Surface Sutra	Interview experience.
Reject	I submitted my resume and conducted an interview. However, the company never sent any messages and did not answer any questions.
Offer	The company sends an induction invitation to students.
Group	Generally, a group of people participate in the interview together, usually in many-to-many forms at the same time. In the end, there will always be people who are unfortunately eliminated. This process is called "group competition ".
Listener Ba	All in-school recruitment lectures will be attended.
Investment Overlord	All recruiters in the company submit their resumes.
Pen Ba	Anyone who submits a resume will be entitled to a written test.
Dashboard	All trainees who participate in the written examination shall receive an interview notice.
Big Mac	When the recruitment process is rejected and there are no opportunities at all, Jianghu calls it "great "!
Overlord	"Overlord" means the person who is not eligible for an interview but takes the initiative to contact the employer and asks for an interview. The reason is the "Overlord meal", that is, "no chance to face, opportunities should also be created ".

Xiaofei received an internship at the Microsoft Asia Research Institute and met a R & D manager with rich recruitment experience. He had an informal interview with the manager, hoping to get the first-hand "Inside Story. Below is the Q & A compiled by Xiaofei. Xiao Fei's question is marked by Q, and the manager's answer is marked by.

Typical interview

Note: In this article, the applicant (candidate, interviewee) refers to the student or other social personnel applying for the position of the company; the interviewer (interviewer) it refers to the recruitment and interview personnel in the company.

Q: Hello, manager. Let's get started. Can you tell me the story of your first interview?

A: Well, after I graduated from college, I entered the "Industry Office" Company of the school. One day, an American company (we call it Company H) came to recruit people. This was my first interview. The representative of that company handed me a question after greeting me. The question is "Write a function and return the result of division of all elements in an array by the first element ". I also asked some questions to ensure that they are correct. The so-called clarification is also true. The interviewee gave me a brief explanation and then knocked on the computer and ignored me. I think this is not difficult. How can I show my skills? So I wrote the loop backwards for (I = N; I> = 0; I --), because I saw this in a Unix book.

The code is like this:

Void divarray (int * parray, int size)

{

For (INT I = size-1; I> = 0; I --)

{

Parray [I]/= parray [0];

}

}

After writing it, he looked at it and asked me, why do you want to write a loop like this? If not, can I? I said, you can. He asked twice what would happen if he was writing a loop. I think, what's the problem? Write the loop. Oh, the original trap is here! Do you know what this trap is?

Q: Let me think about it. Now, if the loop starts from the first element of the array and no other variables are needed, in the first step of the loop, the first element becomes 1, then divide it by other elements, which does not meet the requirements of the question.

A: Yes, there is another trap at the same time -- check whether the Division is zero, check the parameters, and so on.

Q: Isn't that easy? It will be finished soon.

A: Most interview questions are not difficult. However, by observing the actual process of the applicant's program writing, the interviewer can see the candidate's thinking, analysis, and programming skills. Usually there will be a few other candidates. For example, if you want to test the function you just wrote, how many test cases do you have? Or can I change some conditions?

Q: many people say that the interview is unfair because of information asymmetry. For example, the interviewer knows the answer to the question, but the applicant does not. The interviewer knows that the company wants to recruit several people this year, but the applicant does not.

A: However, the applicant has several offers at hand, and the interviewer does not know. The applicant does not know whether he or she prefers the positions and salaries provided by the company. On the one hand, the applicant is "Seeking", and on the other hand, the interviewer is also "Seeking. The interview is also an effective way to enhance mutual understanding between the two parties.

Even though it was "information asymmetry", I told another story about my situation. When Company H came to our school for an interview, my understanding of Company H is limited to a somewhat outdated Minicomputer System donated by Company H to our computer system. I think there are some new things in Company H? At that time, there was no Internet, so I just borrowed several original byte magazines. It was a very thick magazine with a lot of advertisements. After reading it for a long time, the small advertisement in the magazine fell to the ground. I only saw the magazine's comment on a new desktop management software "newwave" developed by Company H. After a long time, I thought about what this is and what competitors are there in the market, and so on.

After two days, the interview started. The other party sat down on the sofa and asked, "What do you know about company H ?" I first talked about H's Minicomputer System, and then said, "By the way, I also learned about newwave ". So I repeat what I saw. I did not expect the other party to sit down and say that this newwave is a project he once led. Then I asked according to the description on the log, "what do you think of a certain competing product ?" He was excited to talk to me about how newwave was ahead, and so on. Later, we talked about a lot of related things.

After the end of the interview, our leaders said that I think I am very prominent in the US and know a lot about newwave, which is a good oral English. The leaders asked me to introduce newwave to everyone, so I had to repeat what I saw. Soon, another manager from Company H came to the interview and said to our leaders, "Why do you so many people know about newwave ?"

Not long ago, during the interview, I asked a classmate, "What do you know about Microsoft Asia Research Institute ?" He said, "I don't know. I called me for an interview yesterday and I came ......" For such a student, the information is indeed very asymmetric, and it is inevitable that he suffer losses. Another person who played very badly during the interview told me that he did not make any preparations because he wanted to display his "raw talent "......

Q: Are there some typical questions about the test job?

A: Wow, a typical question is like giving you a pen to show you how to test it. It is said that you need to test 12 items; another example is to determine the characteristics of a triangle (right angle, blunt angle, acute angle, and waist)-it is said that there are more than 20 test cases, this is to examine the overall degree of thinking and logic analysis capabilities (for test cases, see section 4.8 "Triangle test cases ").

Q: Some of the most popular online problems are spread from large companies. Is it true?

A: Yes, there are some common questions, such as "why is the manhole cover of the sewer Circular". Another question was once very popular. It is said that the early application of PM (Program Manager program manager) most of the job applicants have encountered this question:

There are three lights in the room, and three switches outside the room control the three lights respectively. Only when you enter the room can you see which one is on. How can I specify which switch controls the lamp only once when I enter the room?

It is said that at night, the lights in some Microsoft conference rooms were suddenly and suddenly destroyed, and some colleagues who had not yet understood them were studying on the ground.

Q: I have probably learned about the typical interview questions of Dev, PM, and test jobs. I know all the answers to these questions. How can I interview them?

A: Yes, there will be a lot of questions circulating, which is no harm. However, some people start to recite the answer after they know the answer, or use it to interview candidates without any difficulty, forgetting the relationship between "knowing the answer" and "being a good employee. Can you become a good developer, Project Manager, or sales manager once you know the answer to the question? In an extreme situation, everyone in the company knows which lamp is controlled by which switch, such as how to test the triangle category, but can this company develop better software?

One sentence: the key lies not in the answer, but in the way of thinking about the problem. This is why we do not have a question bank.

 

Competitive interview

After a written examination and a telephone interview, many of you received an invitation from Microsoft to come to the company for a face-to-face inspection.

Q: Since Microsoft attaches so much importance to practical abilities, each person will go through several rounds of interviews. Is the academic performance not important at school?

A: Not necessarily. Similarly, the key lies not in static scores, but in understanding the process of achievement and the characteristics of a person. An interviewer once inquired in detail about the various forms of a candidate in the school, and finally wrote in the interview report: "I asked her in detail about the university and graduate students she learned from, she did not have a single subject in school, and she did not have any bad grades. She has never done anything out of the box, such as skipping classes, writing programs, and working. I don't see her pursuit of excellence or her thoughts on realizing her own value ...... So I don't think the company should hire her ."

Q: although I have no idea, I think Microsoft is so famous that I don't have to think about it too much. I just want to enter such a company. You can call me anything!

A: We don't really need people who don't have any ideas. This may have something to do with corporate culture. In some corporate cultures in China, leaders usually arrange for you to do what you do. At Microsoft, we think that everyone is an independent individual. We hope that employees can "find their jobs in their places" and consider their development after year 35, it is also the company's culture that we can develop our own plans to achieve our career goals.

Q: What clothes should I wear during the interview?

A: wear clothes that you feel comfortable with without special regulations. We can see that many candidates will be interviewed in an obviously uncomfortable suit, so that they will not be given extra points or even lower points. However, if you are too uncomfortable, it will affect your performance.

Q: It doesn't matter if your company feels comfortable.

A: as we have just said, what Microsoft cares about is whether "you" feels comfortable, what "you" wants to do, and what creative ideas "you" have.

Q: Did you cheat in the interview?

A: Actually. One day, I had dinner at a Chinese restaurant outside Microsoft. This restaurant was very small and crowded, so I had to hear the High talk next to it. It turns out that a student who has just interviewed Microsoft is having dinner with a few students. He is very excited about the interview experience on the day --

"Did he ask the question about path retrieval in the linked list ?"

"Ask, I pretended to think for a moment, tried some other solutions, and then explained the solution you mentioned ......"

For such a person, we call it "Poser" internally-the person who positions the person. If you are asked a question that knows the answer during the interview, you can ask the interviewer. If you place your posture, it will be embarrassing to be stabbed. Since you have spent time understanding the solution, you may wish to discuss it with the subject in depth.

Q: Why can't the company check the experience posted on BBS?

A: Some employees of the Company are reading this article. Once, HR saw a very detailed article on a BBS, which was vivid. This article was written from the moment he saw hr jj, he made a detailed record of what he did, how he did it, what he said, and how he finally got out of the company's door. From the description, we can easily tell which candidate is this. He seems to have done a good job, but unfortunately he forgot what hr jj told him when he started the interview. He also signed his own secret agreement. We can only give up with regret.

Q: during the entire interview, I felt that I had answered very well. I could answer most of the questions that the interviewer pointed out. Why did I still fail?

A: One reason is that there are more candidates than you, and the other reason is that, candidates and interviewers have different definitions of "good" (see answers to written questions ).

For students at school, I think the program I wrote can be altered and modified. The logic is probably enough. The interviewer can answer some questions. But for future employees, we need to examine: What is the idea of program design? What is the programming style? Are the details taken into account? Does the program have memory leakage? Is the optimal algorithm used? Can programs be modified to meet changing needs? Is it possible to tell the opposite?

In addition to professional skills, we will also examine the candidate's career skills (professional skills, also known as soft skills) during the interview ). What are the communication and cooperation abilities of this person and their comments and expectations? Can we make full use of the pressure? Are you pursuing excellence? These "non-technical" factors are important.

Q: many famous enterprise interviews only require a talk. Why must Microsoft Write code?

A: most of our work comes from code. A major part of the problem is caused by code. Therefore, we have to pay attention to writing code. Of course there are a lot of other jobs that do not need to write code, but this is not within our scope of discussion.

One time I met a colleague in the aisle and accompanied a candidate out of the building. The candidate spoke as he walked. Later, I asked this colleague for details. He said, "This gentleman has good expression ability, but when I ask him to write a small program, he will not do anything. He said that in previous work, if you want to write code, just copy some from msdn. I had to say that if you don't write it, we have nothing to talk about. Therefore, there is no need for subsequent interviews. I directly sent him out of the door ."

Once I received an email from the General Manager of development, which stressed that the applicant must write the code during the interview. At this time, a colleague from the other side said embarrassingly, he met a friend of his friends today. The two chatted for a long time. Later, he was embarrassed to ask him to write code, and the time was not enough. So he wrote some feedback, saying that the person seemed okay. I did not expect the General Manager of development to be pointed out.

In addition, we should have done quite a "demystified" job for Microsoft technical interviews during this conversation. I would also like to remind my students to "become fans"-do not pursue stars like the best fans. If stars cannot meet their own requirements (or other requirements), they will feel overwhelmed. If you still haven't entered Microsoft after your efforts, you are not useless and the sky will not collapse. Microsoft is only one of many software companies. It is looking for "suitable" employees. This company is not suitable for you. There is another one, or you can create one by yourself.

Q: Do you have any special skills in technical interviews?

A: Dr. Shen Xiangyang, the world's senior vice president and former President of the Asian Research Institute, often speaks of "nothing replaces hard work". Now that students know that technical interviews are almost all about these types of questions, then you can do it yourself. If you can't do it, you can learn the beauty of programming or explain it in detail in other books.

Q: It's too slow for me to answer my own questions. Can I back the solution in the beautiful programming book? Is that a shortcut?

A: Sometimes you need to be careful with this "shortcut ". I think of one thing I used to take an exam in college. At that time, there was a very thick English standardization test simulation question, and many people bought it. Another student got a book from the senior student. When we were doing the question, he said, "I don't have to do it. I already have an answer, I usually look at the answer, the same." As a result, he did not take a good test in English during the college entrance examination.

Therefore, if you think that you have bought a book titled the beauty of programming, or other typical books, you will be able to get a shortcut. I would like to remind you: Be careful with such shortcuts! On the paper, you may have to learn more about it.

Summary of Xiaofei

After several conversations with the R & D Manager, Xiao Fei was deeply pondered. He found that the interview is not necessarily a problem or partial question. Both the written examination and interview are all about his comprehensive abilities in programming, solving problems, and cooperating with others. Luck and a good answer cannot help him solve all the problems. Microsoft spent a lot of manpower and material resources to find the right talent 1. How can we present our capabilities to Bole? He made the following summary.

1. Know Yourself And know yourself. You need to know your abilities, interests, and career development directions, and know your culture, strategic direction, and Talent Selection criteria.

2. The written examination is the foundation. The readers can conquer the readers with a solid understanding and complete answers.

3. The interview is about winning the respect of future colleagues with meticulous code and rigorous analysis. The method of thinking about a problem is more important than the result. The interviewer cares more about the process of solving the problem.

4. Your job is the best interview. Don't spend your time searching for shortcuts or reciting answers. You need to reflect your skills through actual work and products.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. To stand out from the competition, you have to work hard and require yourself to use professional standards at ordinary times. He believes that as long as he has made enough effort, there will be gains-"sometimes, the sky will go straight ".

To learn more about Microsoft, especially Microsoft's Asia Research Institute, visit the website of the Institute:Www.msra.cnAnd blog websites:Http://blog.sina.com.cn/msra

Additional reading:

1. Bop Douban home page: http://book.douban.com/subject/3004255/

2. Internet purchase link: http://www.china-pub.com/38070

3. "Beauty of programming", mandatory for IT job interview "link:
Http://www.google.com.hk/search? Complete = 1 & HL = ZH-CN & newwindow = 1 & Q = beauty of programming +-+ Microsoft technical interview experiences + Yan Xin & meta = & AQ = F & OQ =