Comments on: My Least Favorite Interview Question

By: Notional Slurry » links for 2009-02-24

Notional Slurry » links for 2009-02-24 — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 06:19:42 +0000

[...] My Least Favorite Interview Question » Absolutely No Machete Juggling "I have no idea what the interviewer’s expectations are, so I have to guess. I have, essentially, a 50/50 shot at guessing correctly. To make matters worse, my answer will likely go through a number of different interviewers, and I have a 50/50 shot at having guessed correctly with each of them. Assuming that a single “no” from one of the interviewers means I don’t get a job offer, having 2 interviewers gives me a 25% chance of success. Three interviewers gives me a 12.5% chance. A team of 6 or 7 interviewers (extremely common in up-and-coming companies) gives me virtually no chance at all." (tags: Nudge programming interview hiring specification assumptions project-management business-culture) [...]

By: cm

cm — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 21:41:10 +0000

I had this sort of question asked me in an interview last year. The core of the question was to write a maze solving program. I immediately assumed they wanted to know if I was conversant with the sorts of data structures and recursion techniques needed. You know, stuff from your college algorithms 101 class. Wrong answer, and I knew rather quickly, based on their reaction, I wasn’t going to pass their team interview. In retrospect, I should have said something along the lines of not being the right candidate for them and left immediately, not wasting any more of my time.

In this case, I think I was doomed regardless of how I started answering, based on the number of people interviewing and the 50/50 rule.

By: Brad Bellomo

Brad Bellomo — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 20:01:26 +0000

This is a good question to get. Give the 10 line, lightweight answer. If they don’t hire you because the answer wasn’t “object oriented” enough, the question just saved you 6 months of wasted life.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 11:53:40 +0000

This is where they test whether you are a true engineer.

There are two possible solutions:
1. 50% chance AND easy
2. 50% chance AND hard

Any sane engineer will do the easy question, then use the spare time for real programming at home.

-Andrew

By: bushman

bushman — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 23:17:58 +0000

u r thinking too much. the person who reads it is not even going to go line by line and figure out if your algorithm is working, nor are they going to run it.

The question is meant to be essay question for programmers. To answer the above (moon phase question) do the following steps in no more than two lines except the coding
—-
Start by describing your programming methodology, then go on to
Requirements: Reiterate the questions goals. Shows your understanding
Design: your implementation plan (include that you will fit your code with unit tests here)
Code: psuedo or your fave programming language
Test: a one or two liner about the testing phase.

shows u r truly a corporate hacker in a nut shell.

Please refrain from mentioning cutting edge tools and approaches, your God like programming skills etc

By: Rod

Rod — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 21:55:57 +0000

Jonathan:

You unwittingly made an excellent case for why it’s such a bad question.

Your comment assumes implicitly that this question tests if “production code means something radically different for you and the company interviewing you”.

That assumption simply is not accurate. Production code may mean precisely the same thing to both the candidate and the company, but because of the nature and format of an interview, it is exceedingly difficult to illustrate that there is a match there.

Once again, avoid this question. It’s the devil.

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 20:24:01 +0000

it’s a trick question! there are many times where you have to just fudge something ASAP b/c someone else broke it or because of some managerial last-minute decision(s). therefore the “production code” becomes:
try { ..simple code.. } catch { email myself }

By: Jonathan Allen

Jonathan Allen — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 19:44:44 +0000

I think this is a great interview question for just that reason.

If “production code” means something radically different for you and the company interviewing you, chances are one or both of you won’t be happy. It is better to get that out in the open early rather than after you are hired.

By: Rod

Rod — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 18:15:18 +0000

Calvin,

I agree that the best way to handle the situation, if given it, is to ask for clarification.

My point in this post isn’t really to suggest to candidates how to handle the question if they are asked it. My point is to try and illustrate that it’s a fundamentally flawed question and suggest alternatives for companies that like asking it.

By: Calvin Rodo

Calvin Rodo — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 18:05:13 +0000

What about asking the interviewers what they are expecting from this question and then give them what they want, I imagine that would probably be the best response to a question of this type.