<story><title>I cheated on my Microsoft interview (2019)</title><url>https://www.facet.net/posts/i-cheated-on-my-microsoft-interview</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>JoeAltmaier</author><text>On the flip side, we questioned a candidate the usual way with pertinent technical challenges and so on. Then when driving in a van to lunch (our habit was to do a social segment as well as technical) I asked some puzzle questions - add 6 feet to a rope around the world, stretch it out and how far off the ground would it be? and suchlike. He was charmed, we brainstormed some answers and had a fun lunch.&lt;p&gt;Years later, now a senior Engineer at our place, he admitted he had been going to give us a miss that day, until that conversation in the car.</text></item><item><author>lrvick</author><text>One time a company I interviewed with asked me obscure algorithm questions about playing card shuffling. As a former professional magician I knew the optimal answers instantly and could jot them down straight away. They had allocated an hour for answers I wrote in a few minutes. I could have told them I had a massively unfair advantage, but I did not bother.&lt;p&gt;They were visibly impressed and told me I was moving on to the final interview stage right away. I declined, as I hate companies that select for algorithm puzzle skill instead of real world problem solving experience.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>drewcoo</author><text>The rope question is more of a Fermi question[1]. Not that they aren&amp;#x27;t commonly called [2] puzzlers, but I think the distinction is useful. Fermis are about estimating, and that&amp;#x27;s an actual skill - innumeracy[3] is real.&lt;p&gt;What I would call puzzle problems usually involve some trick to getting the answer. If you can&amp;#x27;t figure out the trick, you&amp;#x27;re stumped. If you know the trick, you barely have to think to crank out the answer. Optimally solving the example in the article is one of those.&lt;p&gt;They weren&amp;#x27;t widely banned because  they were too novel and charming. They were banned because &amp;quot;time to aha!&amp;quot; in any given instance doesn&amp;#x27;t tell you much about how someone solves problems. Also, because the bulk of the work at most jobs doesn&amp;#x27;t really resemble seeking &amp;quot;aha moments,&amp;quot; these questions tend to select for people who thrive most on doing something other than the job at hand.&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Fermi_problem&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Fermi_problem&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[2] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;blog.codinghorror.com&amp;#x2F;the-hardest-interview-puzzle-question-ever&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;blog.codinghorror.com&amp;#x2F;the-hardest-interview-puzzle-q...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[3] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;innumeracy.net&amp;#x2F;category&amp;#x2F;estimation&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;innumeracy.net&amp;#x2F;category&amp;#x2F;estimation&amp;#x2F;&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>I cheated on my Microsoft interview (2019)</title><url>https://www.facet.net/posts/i-cheated-on-my-microsoft-interview</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>JoeAltmaier</author><text>On the flip side, we questioned a candidate the usual way with pertinent technical challenges and so on. Then when driving in a van to lunch (our habit was to do a social segment as well as technical) I asked some puzzle questions - add 6 feet to a rope around the world, stretch it out and how far off the ground would it be? and suchlike. He was charmed, we brainstormed some answers and had a fun lunch.&lt;p&gt;Years later, now a senior Engineer at our place, he admitted he had been going to give us a miss that day, until that conversation in the car.</text></item><item><author>lrvick</author><text>One time a company I interviewed with asked me obscure algorithm questions about playing card shuffling. As a former professional magician I knew the optimal answers instantly and could jot them down straight away. They had allocated an hour for answers I wrote in a few minutes. I could have told them I had a massively unfair advantage, but I did not bother.&lt;p&gt;They were visibly impressed and told me I was moving on to the final interview stage right away. I declined, as I hate companies that select for algorithm puzzle skill instead of real world problem solving experience.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>akhmatova</author><text>&lt;i&gt;I asked some puzzle questions - add 6 feet to a rope around the world, stretch it out and how far off the ground would it be?&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;I can only imagine being &amp;quot;charmed&amp;quot; by a question like if I was much younger in my career, eager to be seen as smart and in the company of like-minded folk.&lt;p&gt;Nowadays... my focus is on solving problems... as in real problems, not made-up ones.  Thankfully I haven&amp;#x27;t heard questions like this in years.  But when I do, I take it as a sign that they probably don&amp;#x27;t have actual, meaty problems to work on, that is, requiring higher-level cognitive skills (and actual experience).  Not to mention that this was supposed to be lunch, and here they are asking filter questions, but pretending it&amp;#x27;s just &amp;quot;casual conversation&amp;quot; when obviously it isn&amp;#x27;t.&lt;p&gt;And so would probably pause for a second, and think of a way to tactfully end the interview, and thank the interviewer for their time.</text></comment>