Ouch

Just went through it with Facebook. Did 100+ hours of prep. Tech problems at the start -- couldn't hear the interviewer at all. Got that sorted, but under interview pressure my wits and even my typing skills deserted me. :P Got a nice email from the recruiter telling me not to be discouraged, and I can apply again in a year. Hey, I'm 55 -- I was surprised when she messaged me on LinkedIn. Surely I'm too old for Facebook. Probably fulfilled a quota to show they don't discriminate based on age. :D I have to say it is discouraging to see the DS&A coding interview defended by people saying "it's to see if you're smart enough." Dude, I have a PhD in mathematics and 9 years of experience as a developer. Anyway, I have no real point to make except that I know I'm not the only one whose been through this, but it does feel kind of bad and I can't help doubting myself at least a little. And I actually love data structures and algorithms -- because it's all really mathematics!