Earlier quoted context omitted.
I would have written the same. I have no idea what Google understands by "inverting a binary tree", but to me it looks this. "Recursively swap left with right." Now just convert that to an inferior language, like java or python, so they can understand it.
If you are faced with a question like this in a Google interview, and you simply state the answer above right away, you are only solving part of the problem. A Google interviewer expects you to ask questions and clarify any simplifying assumptions you may have made. For eg: Are you assuming right at the beginning that the entire tree fits in memory? If so, Google interviewers expect you to clarify that at the beginni…
No, this is not what happened at my google interview.
Some poor HR guy, without any tech background read questions from his screen, and tried to match my answers with his answers. When I gave a too good answer on something he said "no wrong, next question". Ridiculous interviews. Twice.
That's why I can relate to Max Howell.