
Ask HN: Facebook interview question - shreyassaxena
Facebook has a great interview question:
&quot;On your very best day at work — the day you come home and think you have the best job in the world — what did you do that day?&quot; 
I am curious how would HN members respond?
Source: Oliver Emberton
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codeonfire
I went to work and didn't have to deal with any weasles. No one tried to
bullshit my manager or his manager at my expense. I didn't have to deal with
stupid people trying to make themselves look smarter than they are, try to
take credit for other people's work, or try to fake some stupid shit to get
credit for something that execs have tuned into that will be immediately
thrown away. You know what? All those goddamn people got fired. For once,
executives were smart, kind, and logical. I just made something that is
immensely valuable that makes me a lot of money so I can take care of my
family and all you shitty people I dealt with over the last couple decades
fuck right off for a day.

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zhte415
I thought about this a bit, and didn't answer. And today asked a colleague
that had the exact same response as me.

There's no one day that stands out as a highlight that trumps all other days.
That things went OK, nice and smooth, I got some satisfaction, perhaps some
personal goal was reached or something got recognised, but there's no one day
that I came home thinking I had the best job in the world. There are certainly
days this doesn't happen, so to minimize these days is rewarding. A meaningful
job, a satisfying job, these are all good days to go home to, but the best job
in the world; I don't know what that is, and I think I'd be deceiving myself
if I said I thought I had it, because every day brings new challenges and
hopefully new cases for achieving a sense of feeling I had a worthwhile role
and was contributing value to company, clients, and colleagues.

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kvcrawford
I hit a challenge that had me stumped, and I had to ask a coworker for help.
It turned out to be legitimately difficult. Now we were both stumped.

We got some coffee, doubled down, and paired for a while. Eventually, a moment
of brilliance was struck from our combined brainpower. Commits were made,
tests passed, QA signed off, and a deployment pushed. High fives and Ice
Cube's "It Was a Good Day" ensued.

------
ag_47
I solved a problem that was right up my alley; using tools I'm very familiar
with; a challenge that wasn't too easy and wasn't too hard/complex. It was
just right. Everything happened in a "state of flow", it felt completely
effortless. I feel euphoric on my way home.. the solution is almost perfect,
everything fell right into place.

------
yarou
I solved a problem. Probably not in the most elegant way, not using the latest
and greatest buzzworthy tool or library, but I solved it.

~~~
S4M
It's obvious that on your best day you solved a problem. The question is:
which problem did you solve?

~~~
yarou
Not necessarily. For some people, the best day is one where they don't have to
do any work whatsoever.

~~~
S4M
True but you don't want to answer that in an interview.

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afarrell
Someone asked me for help with figuring out something out and they and I
talked through the problem and they came away with a much better understanding
than they had before. Possibly I did as well, possibly I was actually just
teaching.

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Rainymood
Probably something alone the lines of: finished a huge project we've spent the
last X months on ahead of time and took the whole team out drinking and gave
them a day off for delivering such great work.

------
hanniabu
I worked on a mechatronocs problem.

Unfortunately, I'll probably never have this day because any positions for
this type of job require 8+ years of experience on top of a Masters, but more
preferably a PhD.

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yunyeng
I solved a problem with the information I recently learned, and it fit right
into it perfectly. I understood how things work, and started learning deeply
into subject.

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eecks
That's not a great interview question. But to answer it:

"I got a massive bonus"

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DrNuke
I was extraordinarily paid not less than my employer is doing on me.

