I started writing software in 1984. Over the years I worked with many languages, technologies, and tools. I have been in leadership positions since the early 2000s, and in executive roles since 2014.
No, I don’t think you have to memorize exact syntax. At least not if you aim to work in companies that you really want to work for :) If your interviewers expect you to write syntactically accurate code on a whiteboard, then you probably don’t want to work for that company because they seem to focus on the wrong stuff. That said, make sure that correct syntax is what they are really expecting. Over the years I interviewed many people that got stuck on syntax issues even after mentioning several times that I could not care less about it.
I didn’t mean just the syntax, I meant also the function name and their parameters.
For example, the string helper functions in PHP and JavaScript seem pretty similar to me and thus, I get confused every time I use them. So instead of memorising them, I just google and look up the correct definition for respective language.
Now if the interviewer asks me this on a video-call-interview, obviously I will fail to answer it. What should I do to avoid this scenario?
I started writing software in 1984. Over the years I worked with many languages, technologies, and tools. I have been in leadership positions since the early 2000s, and in executive roles since 2014.
Same thing, really. I’d simply say “I can never remember the exact name of the function and parameters list, but it looks something like this...” and then tell them what you do remember. Show that you know the concepts, and make it clear that you don’t remember the exact syntax.
No, I don’t think you have to memorize exact syntax. At least not if you aim to work in companies that you really want to work for :) If your interviewers expect you to write syntactically accurate code on a whiteboard, then you probably don’t want to work for that company because they seem to focus on the wrong stuff. That said, make sure that correct syntax is what they are really expecting. Over the years I interviewed many people that got stuck on syntax issues even after mentioning several times that I could not care less about it.
I didn’t mean just the syntax, I meant also the function name and their parameters.
For example, the string helper functions in PHP and JavaScript seem pretty similar to me and thus, I get confused every time I use them. So instead of memorising them, I just google and look up the correct definition for respective language.
Now if the interviewer asks me this on a video-call-interview, obviously I will fail to answer it. What should I do to avoid this scenario?
Same thing, really. I’d simply say “I can never remember the exact name of the function and parameters list, but it looks something like this...” and then tell them what you do remember. Show that you know the concepts, and make it clear that you don’t remember the exact syntax.
Feels great to know that there's also someone in the same page. Thanks for the tip!