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> most coding rounds in interviews are rigorously timed

In the real world you will have to work against a deadline. As much as code gardening is fun and does produce better software, in the real world shipped software always wins over well designed software.

Can you get it done, is a more important question to answer than can you make it beautiful.



In the real world, you'll be spending more time on code design than typing it out. The race against a deadline mostly affects design choices. eg. Whether implementing a certain feature yourself with rigorous testing, or introducing a new technology which has been tested before. There are pros and cons of each. You go ahead based on the constraints involved (time, cost, expertise, etc.). I'm not talking about making the code beautiful. I'm talking about the /right/ way to do it.


I find that to a point (and let me emphasize this is to a point), every hour I spend on design saves me 10 hours of coding.

I also find I am a code gardener and a slow programmer but I get told I ship working code faster than most of the fast programmers out there.


While that may be true, timing your solution of an issue at a whiteboard isn't necessarily representative of your 'ability to ship on time.'




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