Examples of puzzles c interviews in Google and Microsoft
As you know, leading IT-corporations seek to get the best employees. The competition reaches several hundred people in place. How to select the best among them? After all, the average mark of the certificate and a good resume in fact can not accurately reflect the intellectual potential of the programmer. One of the options is to set up non-standard tasks, for example, how many golf balls fit into a school bus or how to measure the weight of a Boeing 747?
We have already cited examples of such problems (in the comments to that article, habrady people report that such tasks are set at interviews not only at Google and Microsoft, but also at many Russian IT companies). Now, thanks to Business 2.0 magazine and the headhunters interviewed by them, several more such tasks have become known. Here they are.
Microsoft EYCHAR favorite task - about the shape of the hatch. What should be the ideal shape of the hatch so that the lid does not fall inside? According to him, more often than not, candidates express the idea that the hatch cannot be square, because then the lid can fall inward diagonally. Others say that round caps are cheaper because they take less material. It is important for Eichar how exactly candidates argue their answer.
The fact is that erudite programmers for many questions know the answers in advance and tend to show their erudition. But at the interview Eichar is not necessary. He wants to ask such a question, to which the answer is not known, to check how the programmer performs the calculations, how he approaches the solution of the problem. That's why, for example, at an interview at Amazon.com, they ask how many gas stations there are in the US? or how much does it cost to wash all the windows in Seattle?
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Naturally, the candidate is required to respond as quickly as possible. He must reason and solve the problem right in front of the examiner.
There are purely creative tasks. Programming guru Bruce Eckel likes to suggest candidates describe chicken in a programming language . Surely, a simple coder such proposal plunges into a stupor. But a real programmer can solve absolutely any problem with mathematical methods.
Another problem from Ekkel. You have five pirates, ordered from 5 to 1 in descending order. The main pirate has the right to suggest how to distribute 100 gold coins among all. But the rest then vote for this plan, and if less than half of the pirates agree with him, then he is killed. How should a pirate distribute gold to maximize his share, but survive? (Hint: one pirate finishes the division with 98% gold).
Experts recognize that the ingenuity of the tasks no one can match with Google. There are puzzles erected in the absolute. Suffice it to recall how three years ago, Google placed one of the mathematical problems on a huge poster on the California highway. Everyone who solved that problem was invited to a special site — the URL in the problem was encrypted — on which an even more complicated puzzle was published. The smartest could safely submit a resume to Google.
But the adventures of the candidates did not end there, because at the interview with Google, a number of new puzzles were surely brought down on them. Here is one of the most popular. You have been reduced to the size of a coin and your weight is proportionally reduced, so that you retain the original density. Then they threw you into an empty glass blender. The blades will start moving after 60 seconds. What are you going to do?
Identifying the true social abilities of candidates is as difficult as their intelligence. For example, in aQuantive, in order to guarantee a good microclimate in a team, they invite candidates only if they have received the approval of all the people they met with before they received the invitation to work. As a joke, this process is compared with organ rejection (that is, the company guarantees that this will not happen).
Finally, here are a few problems with examples of solutions.
How many golf balls fit on a school bus?
Approximately 500,000, assuming that the height of the bus is 50 balls, the width is 50 balls, and the length is 200 balls.
You were reduced and thrown into a blender, which will turn on after 60 seconds. What are you going to do?
Several variants:
1. Use the measuring divisions to get out.
2. Try to unscrew the glass.
3. Risk to rise on the air stream.
How much does it cost to wash all the windows in Seattle?
If we estimate the number of quarters at 10,000 and 600 windows per quarter, five minutes per window at a known rate of $ 20 per hour, then it costs about $ 10 million.
We have already cited examples of such problems (in the comments to that article, habrady people report that such tasks are set at interviews not only at Google and Microsoft, but also at many Russian IT companies). Now, thanks to Business 2.0 magazine and the headhunters interviewed by them, several more such tasks have become known. Here they are.
Microsoft EYCHAR favorite task - about the shape of the hatch. What should be the ideal shape of the hatch so that the lid does not fall inside? According to him, more often than not, candidates express the idea that the hatch cannot be square, because then the lid can fall inward diagonally. Others say that round caps are cheaper because they take less material. It is important for Eichar how exactly candidates argue their answer.
The fact is that erudite programmers for many questions know the answers in advance and tend to show their erudition. But at the interview Eichar is not necessary. He wants to ask such a question, to which the answer is not known, to check how the programmer performs the calculations, how he approaches the solution of the problem. That's why, for example, at an interview at Amazon.com, they ask how many gas stations there are in the US? or how much does it cost to wash all the windows in Seattle?
')
Naturally, the candidate is required to respond as quickly as possible. He must reason and solve the problem right in front of the examiner.
There are purely creative tasks. Programming guru Bruce Eckel likes to suggest candidates describe chicken in a programming language . Surely, a simple coder such proposal plunges into a stupor. But a real programmer can solve absolutely any problem with mathematical methods.
Another problem from Ekkel. You have five pirates, ordered from 5 to 1 in descending order. The main pirate has the right to suggest how to distribute 100 gold coins among all. But the rest then vote for this plan, and if less than half of the pirates agree with him, then he is killed. How should a pirate distribute gold to maximize his share, but survive? (Hint: one pirate finishes the division with 98% gold).
Experts recognize that the ingenuity of the tasks no one can match with Google. There are puzzles erected in the absolute. Suffice it to recall how three years ago, Google placed one of the mathematical problems on a huge poster on the California highway. Everyone who solved that problem was invited to a special site — the URL in the problem was encrypted — on which an even more complicated puzzle was published. The smartest could safely submit a resume to Google.
But the adventures of the candidates did not end there, because at the interview with Google, a number of new puzzles were surely brought down on them. Here is one of the most popular. You have been reduced to the size of a coin and your weight is proportionally reduced, so that you retain the original density. Then they threw you into an empty glass blender. The blades will start moving after 60 seconds. What are you going to do?
Identifying the true social abilities of candidates is as difficult as their intelligence. For example, in aQuantive, in order to guarantee a good microclimate in a team, they invite candidates only if they have received the approval of all the people they met with before they received the invitation to work. As a joke, this process is compared with organ rejection (that is, the company guarantees that this will not happen).
Finally, here are a few problems with examples of solutions.
How many golf balls fit on a school bus?
Approximately 500,000, assuming that the height of the bus is 50 balls, the width is 50 balls, and the length is 200 balls.
You were reduced and thrown into a blender, which will turn on after 60 seconds. What are you going to do?
Several variants:
1. Use the measuring divisions to get out.
2. Try to unscrew the glass.
3. Risk to rise on the air stream.
How much does it cost to wash all the windows in Seattle?
If we estimate the number of quarters at 10,000 and 600 windows per quarter, five minutes per window at a known rate of $ 20 per hour, then it costs about $ 10 million.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/13795/
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