PSA: That 'quick fix' job interview question cost me 3 hours

Went in for a tech job last Tuesday. They asked a simple coding problem. Should have taken 20 minutes tops. Three hours later I was still stuck on a dumb syntax error. Finally asked for help. The fix was one missing semicolon. Has anyone else spent way too long on a simple interview question?

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joseph_baker2mo ago

Ha, you didn't mention the worst part... was this in person on a whiteboard or on a laptop? Different kind of hell depending on the setup.

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oscarmurray2mo ago

Hold on, I actually see this a little DIFFERENT. Spending 3 hours on a missing semicolon sounds frustrating but I bet you learned more from that struggle than if someone handed you the fix in 20 minutes. The real issue is how job interviews make us feel rushed and stupid, not the time itself.

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