> 2. Are you smart (i.e a person who doesn't do any leetcode but knows the fundamentals and can sythesize past knowledge well enough to answer a new question)
I'm sorry but it's incredible hubris to think you'll come up with say Dijkstra's algorithm during the interview from the first principles. The only reason you can do it is you studied it before.
So someone coming up with the right answer and claiming they've seen it is useless.
Right answer and claiming they hadn't seen it is basically a guaranteed liar.
You can use it to filter out the liars I guess. But you'll also filter out your Claude Shannons as well.
Either way, it's a dumb test unless you're genuinely getting a steady stream of Princeton and Cambridge magna cum laudes waltzing through the door and can reliable bump the last two priors by a few decimal points.
I'm sorry but it's incredible hubris to think you'll come up with say Dijkstra's algorithm during the interview from the first principles. The only reason you can do it is you studied it before.