

Microsoft Hiring Puzzle - rokhayakebe
http://www.techflash.com/microsoft/Can_you_solve_this_Microsoft_puzzle34153059.html

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jhickner
Has the systemic use of these puzzles in the hiring process backfired horribly
for MS?

I ask because, rather than filtering for smart people in general, these
puzzles seem to filter for a specific subset of puzzle-oriented smart people.

There seem to be definite blind spots in MS software when it comes to design,
usability, and what you might call developer-to-user empathy. I've wondered
for a while whether they might be unintentionally weeding out the employees
that could help them with those issues.

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holygoat
In my experience, MS does not seem filled with puzzle-oriented smart people.

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zack
Have you had much experience with Microsoft employees?

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holygoat
Yes... getting dangerously close to two years' worth.

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aswanson
If I pass it do I get my choice of joining the Excel Macro or Visual Studio
maintainence team? Because I do have a clear preference.

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bprater
I absolutely hate puzzles and I absolutely love programming.

When I look at a puzzle like the (non-programming) one posted on the page, I
have no idea where to start. When I'm given a programming challenge, I have a
huge bag of experience and tools I can draw from and I can immediately start
banging away at the problem.

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yesimahuman
These are so lame. I would filter people based on what they have made in the
past, not how good they are at school or solving stupid puzzles.

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vecter
You wouldn't filter people based on how good they are at school? I'd
definitely weigh that when interviewing a candidate. I agree about the puzzles
though. If they're relevant to the job, then sure, it makes sense to ask them.
Otherwise, drop them.

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huhtenberg
The answer has very little to do with both programming skills _and_ abstract
thinking:

<quote>

 _To solve this puzzle, you need to rearrange the stock symbols in an order
that when read down, yields a useful phrase. There is no indication at how to
order them, but through trial and error (there are only 120 possible
orderings) you can arrive at this:

    
    
      HCRE
      UATN
      RNHA
      REEC
      IOME
    

Reading this down the columns gives the phrase "Hurricane or the Menace." The
word that goes with both "Hurricane" and "The Menace" is DENNIS._

</quote>

Good luck with making a hiring decision based on the ability to solve this
puzzle.

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utx00
too difficult

