Grid search is the answer that signals you have never paid for compute. The efficient answer is random or Bayesian over a small set of parameters that actually move the metric, with Hyperband killing bad runs early, on a validation set you never let leak.
Updated Aug 2026 · Grounded in real Forward Deployed Engineer interview loops and written to a senior-engineer editorial bar.
Grid search is the answer that signals you have never paid for compute. The efficient answer is random or Bayesian over a small set of parameters that actually move the metric, with Hyperband killing bad runs early, on a validation set you never let leak.
Two things separate the senior answer. First, knowing that learning rate dominates and most other knobs barely move the metric, so you spend budget where it pays. Second, the discipline point: tuning is itself a form of overfitting to the validation set, so a held-out test set you touch once is non-negotiable. Candidates who reach for grid search over ten parameters are signaling they have never been compute-constrained.
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