I'm not smart, and it's my dream to work at a prestigious company. I know I'm not smart through a variety of ways (iq test, grades in school, friends going to Google when I failed on the first round) and it depresses me. I asked a few times whether an average person can make it and 90% of the answers were trolling but out of the 10% genuine answers some people said yes. So I'd like to try and improve myself by practicing these problems. The issue is that when I see a coding question, I have trouble thinking of a solution (sometimes even brute force soln) and I get super irritated at myself and unable to move forward. I can't self study because a lot of that time is spent cursing myself for being so stupid. How can I get this?
Hi - thanks for the comment - the people that make it in this life are people that have someone older and more powerful take interest in them. Intelligence matters some but networking matters more. If you want to work at google - every day message 3 googlers and ask for informational interviews. Get to know them. I guarantee in 6 months, you should have met someone that’s willing to take you under their wing. So just do that. Most of the success i have had in life, my intelligence is only a portion of the reason but I’ve had incredible mentors that have helped me and accelerated my career even when they don’t have to. Go forth. Once more into the breeches.
But can't I do it myself?
Why is networking not doing it yourself - in this life, you need others to help you do shit. Always. This only rely on yourself mentality is meaningless and won’t get you anywhere. You got a job because your boss likes you. You put the hard work in - go meet 180 google directors.
Try working on a single topic until it clicks. For example, I worked on dp for a week before it clicked. Try to understand the why. Try really hard to come up with a solution on your own, even if it takes 2-3 hrs. Once you see the solution, try to retrospect and think about what you missed. Eventually, you will figure out your own way of thinking about it. In the case of dp, I tend to think of it as state transition diagram and what values need to be maintained in a state. I believe everyone has their own internal representation of the problem that makes it easy for them. Another example of this is bayes rule. The tree diagrams make it super easy. Try to figure out your own internal representation for a family of problems. Once you’ve done this, move on to a new topic. I don’t find random problem solving very useful.
Damn a week? It would take me like a month to be able to solve dp problems.
Not solve everything. Just try to get the gist of it. After cycling through a couple of topics revisit the first topic again and it will seem a lot easier. I found it easier to learn if I kept revisiting the topic after a while as opposed to badgering though it. We learn best in small bursts.
I just want to say the concept of intelligence is nebulous. People are not always as amazing as you think they are - certainly not at everything. I also think that people should work on what they actually want to be doing not because it’s prestigious or a big name.
You need practice. Not just practice solving interview problems but practice writing code. Start with introduction-to-coding textbooks and work through the exercises, if that's where you need to start. Or write an app of some sort. It doesn't need to be something that sells a million copies, in fact you don't even need to list it in the store... You just need to write code. You need to struggle to implement solutions to whatever problems come up, it doesn't really matter whether you think up the algorithm or API calls yourself or if you have to find that via web searches. Just practice turning ideas into code. Repeat until confident.
Does anyone know of any online tutor or mentor? I’d gladly pay someone each week 1-2 hours to work through and help advance my skills. I get to some of these problems eyes just glaze over in boredom but know I need to get through them.
Same
May I ask, how did you get into Amazon?
The questions were easy. The hiring bar for Amazon lowered significantly.
You again lol
>I'm not smart, and it's my dream to work at a prestigious company. Come to illumina. There are tons of people just like you in leadership positions.
I want to work as an sde
Bro. Get a therapist. I’m not joking around. It seems like you’re incredibly unhappy, and no one on blind would say that this is a generally happy, positive, supportive group of people who are engaged in helping you grow. Plus, the things that bother you, e.g. “The issue is that...I get super irritated at myself and unable to move forward. I can't self study because a lot of that time is spent cursing myself for being so stupid,” are exactly the things that a therapist can help you manage so that you CAN study because you aren’t constantly having to pause to tear your hair out in frustration.
You need mentorship, find a good friend who can do this for you. After all it's just 500 questions that you need to understand. 2 questions a day and you are ready by next year. Some people make it because they are smart, but of most of us others we work hard.
How do I learn though? When I see a problem and don't know where to begin, how long until I give up?
a good tutor can help