
Ask HN: Has anyone curated a list of hidden interview questions? - Neablis
For example
Uber in-app hacking challenge
https:&#x2F;&#x2F;danonrockstar.com&#x2F;uber-hacking-challenge-decf3276207a<p>Googles foo 
https:&#x2F;&#x2F;thehustle.co&#x2F;the-secret-google-interview-that-landed-me-a-job<p>I remember finding a really cool one all over network requests at one time but can&#x27;t remember the company. What are other great hidden interview processes?
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etaerc
Oh... I thought you talk about real hidden interview questions. Like the ones
they use to figure out how you got the recommendation letter to this job (i.e.
if it wasn't one of their faction who they must be careful about). Or when you
get a referral at a competitor and in the interview they try to get your
insider info without making you an offer (i.e. "tell me about the last
interesting project you worked on"). Or when they try to figure out in your
first tasks after hiring how far they can let you in to the actual decision
making process without shocking you. Or when in the interview there are
different factions present and each tries to see how much they can pull you to
their side.

~~~
xkcd-sucks
I'm really interested in this sort of thing. Can you point to any practical,
illusion-free resources for navigating and understanding corporate politics?
Bonus if it's tailored to, idk, a "startup" instead of "a big four"

~~~
walterbell
See this comment and parent thread on management, with link to Manager Tools
podcast episode on politics.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8881752](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8881752)

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grahamperich
The repl.it jobs page is literally just a shell, and you have to figure out
how to apply:

[https://repl.it/site/jobs](https://repl.it/site/jobs)

~~~
_shadi
I just did a fork bomb:

jobs@repl.it:~$ :(){ :|: & };: [1] 26 jobs@repl.it:~$ bash: fork: retry:
Resource temporarily unavailable

~~~
kleer001
this is why we can't have nice things

~~~
_shadi
I don't think it will have any effect, probably some container/vm will go down
and that's it.

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esonderegger
I feel like the pattern of "solve this puzzle, get an interview" has fallen
out of fashion in the past few years.

In 2012 I got an interview at facebook by solving a puzzle that involved
adding weights to a recursive arrangement of levers on top of levers. I
remember both having a lot of fun with the puzzle and knowing that I would
have never landed the interview any other way because I was coming from a non-
traditional background and still relatively junior.

I think Google's foobar came out a few years later. I had some fun with them
and got through the first rounds, but by that point I already had a job and
never got around to finishing it.

I also remember doing some fun puzzles on codeeval, hoping their business
model of linking people to companies would gain some steam, but the companies
they signed up never seemed to be very interesting.

Is leetcode essentially the new codeeval?

~~~
Neablis
Ya i remember doing them pretty often 5-6 years ago. When i went to remember
some of the fun ones for my friends who like puzzles, i couldnt find any of
them, so i posted this.

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swtrs
Bandcamp typically has a fun application process.

[https://bandcamp.com/jobs](https://bandcamp.com/jobs)

~~~
Neablis
Awesome, these are exactly what I mean! Even if I don't attend to apply, they
are usually really fun to do.

~~~
scarmig
I wonder how many people get to the end and then don't bother to apply, either
because they never intended to or because writing up with a resume is too time
consuming.

~~~
swtrs
I've gotten to the end of the fraud engineering application but am woefully
unqualified for the work. It took me two weeks.

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xyzzyz
[https://leetcode.com/](https://leetcode.com/) is pretty popular and has lots
of actual questions. However, Google actively bans any question that ends up
there.

~~~
fargo
google also actively recommends leetcode before their interviews

~~~
alkibiades
i also have plenty of friends who have been asked leetcode questions at google

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PopeDotNinja
I just signed up for
[https://dailycodingproblems.com](https://dailycodingproblems.com), a daily
email of company interview problems. I can't speak to the veracity of the
claims that the problems are from actual interviews, but I have no reason to
doubt their authenticity. The premium version shares the answers, too. I like
it so far.

~~~
tomatoman
You wrote the wrong link:
[https://www.dailycodingproblem.com/](https://www.dailycodingproblem.com/)

~~~
PopeDotNinja
Ah, thanks. My bad.

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emmanuel_1234
I tried to design one of those for my company. We've typically just hired
someone through my HN post about it recently, so I think it's working, but I'd
still really like to get some feedbacks on it. I am very concerned about
getting it right, having been through the shitty side of many interview
processes.

omnistream-dot-co/job-opportunities/

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laurentl
The Curbside challenge was pretty fun. It may be the one you’re thinking of,
lots of API calls to get the key.

[https://challenge.curbside.com/](https://challenge.curbside.com/)

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pavel_lishin
Many tech companies add a link to their careers page in browser consoles. I'm
not sure if that's "secret" or "cool" enough. (Facebook puts in a warning to
prevent "XSS" attacks.)

~~~
lukejduncan
AirBnB did this at least 3-4 years ago? If you watched the network traffic
their HTTP headers included the email address for an engineering manager
there. I stumbled on this while debugging something I wanted to file a bug
report for. I didn't end up interviewing, but I remember thinking it was
really cool at the time. I wonder how many applicants they got through that.

~~~
alkibiades
usually one person who finds it then posts it on a reddit and it loses value
as a filter

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kcon
Bandcamp has a fun puzzle on their jobs page:
[https://bandcamp.com/jobs](https://bandcamp.com/jobs)

“To apply, gather the crumbs (starting with your cookies).”

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alkibiades
i still remember SWIM googling for hours trying to force google foobar to pop
up. when it eventually did, most of the answers were on github and it got me
an interview.

~~~
rendall
Would you mind explaining this like I'm 5? I'm curious but have no idea what
SWIM or foobar is, and those aren't exactly googleable terms!

~~~
alkibiades
The other poster explained what SWIM is, basically just an acronym to give
onself plausible deniability when talking about an action they don’t
necessarily want to tie to themselves.

Foobar is google’s hidden coding challenge which can let people get a job
interview. see: [https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.geeksforgeeks.org/google-
fo...](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.geeksforgeeks.org/google-foo-bar-
challenge/amp/)

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dec0dedab0de
The uber one was pretty creepy. It was right after one of their scandals
broke, and I said to my driver that I guess they somehow know I write code.

~~~
slow_donkey
Maybe you just live in SF :)

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xendergrunge
Try Interviewbit.com It has an reward based approach which is hard to shake
off once the streaks build up.

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PenguinCoder
Red Balloon Security 'hidden interview' process was pretty interesting, and
fun! Too bad I wasn't good enough to go past a couple of stages, but to me it
was the epitome example of your question.

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shrikant
Citymapper has a cool Colossal Cave Adventure game that pops up in DevTools
console, and finishing it landed me an interview there.

