
Google's top boss is stumped by one of his own firm's interview questions - woliveirajr
http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/38169022/googles-top-boss-is-stumped-by-one-of-his-own-firms-interview-questions
======
dbg31415
The way I answered that question...

Was told to assume all expenses, repairs, and supplies had been paid for...
and that there were no casualties to account for.

The first half of the gold... divide it evenly among the pirates. This way
everyone is guaranteed an equitable base cut of the booty.

The second half of the gold... have all the pirates line up in order of how
long they've been on the ship... each can then carve out as much gold as they
want from the pile when it's their turn to do so. If the crew agrees (51%+
vote) with the amount taken -- cool, that's what that person gets. If the crew
disagrees, then it's off to Davy Jone's Locker for the greedy pirate.

I didn't get the job.

~~~
aewens
Could be because during the second act the first person in line can take all
of it. That'd disappoint the entire crew. Your second act relies on the
pirates to solve the fairness issue for you, which is no desired in this
scenario.

~~~
AstralStorm
Indeed, the pirates could get an idea they can do away with you.

By the way, as stated, the solution is not the same as the pirate game,
because ordering is not stated.

------
cyberferret
Interesting. I wonder how many founders of companies would struggle to pass
the interview process they have for incoming employees?

I know I would struggle to pass the coding tests etc. that I have for my own
company these days (I never completed my CS degrees, but have been cutting
code for over 3 decades now) and I struggle to come up with other aptitude
questions that I deem to be fair and a good indicator of whether the applicant
would make a good employee.

I know the general idea is to hire people smarter than yourself, but I wonder
if that tends to feed the 'impostor syndrome' for most founders?

------
stuckagain
This style of question has been banned at Google for more than a decade.

~~~
cperciva
Questions which rely on the interviewee's understanding of recursion are
banned?

~~~
kafkaesq
It's the _style_ of the question (not the reference to recursion) which has
been banned.

~~~
pluglus
Arrrrr... Pirate kind of style questions are banned at Google?

------
cperciva
This is an old brain-teaser... when it's stated precisely enough, that is. And
it's one which every developer should be able to answer; but Eric Schmidt is
not a developer, so his inability to answer it -- especially off-the-cuff, as
opposed to working through it in an interview -- is irrelevant.

All told, I'm calling this one clickbait.

EDIT: Here's the puzzle, and solution:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate_game](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate_game)

~~~
mxschumacher
He has a Ph.D. in computer engineering, little absurd to say "he is not a
developer"

~~~
cperciva
90% of computer science professors aren't developers either. A degree and a
profession are not at all the same thing.

~~~
mxschumacher
doesn't matter look at his bio:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Schmidt#Career](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Schmidt#Career)

~~~
cperciva
I see nothing there which indicates that he has written even a single line of
code in the past 30 years.

------
mxschumacher
this strikes me as more of a psychology/risk management/leadership question,
not a logic/math test. Who says pirates are 100% homo oeconomicus conform ?

~~~
cperciva
The puzzle says that the pirates are perfectly logical, want to maximize their
loot, and break ties between options which yield equal loot by voting down a
proposal (because they're bloodthirsty).

------
kyled
They're pirates, and probably will kill you either way. Best to jump ship and
hit em with some ads.

------
philovivero
That's nothing. I would be stumped by half of my own interview questions.

~~~
kafkaesq
Then why do you ask them?

~~~
manquer
Not OP, but I ask them such Q because I want to hire people smarter than me.
Expecting that a founder hires people only up to his ability is stupid.the
founder's qualification is a combination of vision risk taking , leadership
and smartness.

~~~
kafkaesq
But if you're "stumped" by a question... how can you tell whether it's a good
filter, or not?

(Leaving the side of whether "filter questions" of any sort are actually any
good for identifying smart, productive people).

------
confounded
"I'd divide the money equally to deomstrate that I care about my crew, and
build trust"

 _Escorted by security from the building_

