
Job Interview 2.0 - danw
http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/Riddle-Me-An-Interview.aspx
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fallentimes
"Despite the complete absurdity of the design request, and the complete
practicality of his answer, the job will go to a candidate who manages to
answer the question by designing an extremely overcomplicated solution for a
completely non-existent problem. And that candidate will be the same person
who designs their software."

Why am I not surprised that Microsoft is credited with coming up with this
type of interview?

~~~
nkohari
To be fair, I hear Google asks similar questions, and I don't think anyone
would argue that Google's software is too complex (at least from a user-
interface perspective).

~~~
tokipin
these sorts of questions are common all over the place. at bare minimum it's
for the interviewer's entertainment

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paul
'm not a big fan of "brain teaser" questions, but the logic of this rant isn't
very solid. It's a little like complaining that the Olympics are completely
stupid and irrelevant because in reality I never need to pole-vault or
whatever. Difficult but arbitrary challenges can often be a reasonable gauge
of strength and ability.

~~~
gruseom
_It's a little like complaining that the Olympics are completely stupid and
irrelevant because in reality I never need to pole-vault_

I don't see that at all. It's more like complaining that pole-vaulting would
be a stupid and irrelevant way to screen, say, firefighters. Which indeed it
would. And that has nothing to do with calling the Olympics themselves
irrelevant.

~~~
paul
Actually, Olympic pole-vaulters would probably make much better fireman than
the average person -- think of the strength and determination required to
become an Olympic pole-vaulter. Plus they could just pole-vault in and out of
burning buildings :)

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aneesh
Sure, there's a lot of noise in using brainteasers as a predictor of problem-
solving ability; but IMO they do offer some predictive value. It's an
opportunity for them to see how you think. They're hiring you to solve
problems - and the easiest way for them to gauge problem solving ability is to
ask you to solve problems.

"Would you want to work with the guy who builds a water-displacement
scale/barge, taxis a 747 to the docks, and then weights the jumbo jet using
that, instead of simply calling Boeing in the first place?"

Umm, just because you CAN solve these brainteasers doesn't mean you don't know
how to call Boeing! Knowing more than one way to solve a problem is almost
never a weakness.

And as for the blind bike example, the candidate was not being practical, just
being a pain in the &*%. Just answer the question without being a smart alec.

~~~
freax
Except brainteasers are vulnerable to prior exposure. Once you've heard enough
of them you have a bunch of tools at the ready for any others that use the
same kinds of intuitive leaps -- and you may not even need to do that if you
get asked ones you already know.

Just pretend you're really trying hard and voila, eventually spout the correct
answer you appeared to have thought up on the spot.

~~~
angstrom
I hear these little brain teasers and can't help but think of Monty Python's
Holy Grail: "What is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?"

Yeah, I'm the guy who would ask "747-300 or 747-400?". Granted it could
probably be figured out by taking the vector of the thrust to lift ratio of
the engines and wings at take off, but something tells me you'd go through a
lot of planes that way rather than designing it with that in mind.

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Maven911
I am happy Microsoft has stopped doing that, talking to friends who got
internships and jobs there, they mainly stick to programming brianteasers (how
would you traverse a node while doing blah blah), and at most design questions
(how would you design a red button).

