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If Richard Feynman applied for a job at Microsoft (2002)

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Re: If Richard Feynman applied for a job at Microsoft (2002)

#21
post #17

This comes up every now and then on social websites and every time I completely disagree that it reads like Feynman or that Feynman would react that way.

He basically said those things in an interview once. So while he might not react that way when looking for a job it really just depends on how much he wanted the job.

What things? The manhole stuff? Do you have a link?

Re: If Richard Feynman applied for a job at Microsoft (2002)

#23
post #6

If you rename this 'If Sheldon Cooper applied for a job at Microsoft' this works beautifully :)

Or Paul Dirac. He had a very literal mind.

(I just read Graham Farmelo's bio of Dirac, and I highly recommend it for those who are fascinated by genius physicists like I am)

Re: If Richard Feynman applied for a job at Microsoft (2002)

#24
post #7
post #5

I'm not sure Feynman would respond this way, but he's one of my personal heroes. If you haven't read "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman" please do yourself a favor and pick up a copy immediately.

The follow up "What Do You Care What Other People Think?" is also a great read and incredibly heartbreaking.

And the next logical step is to read the book that has his compiled letters. Great stuff.

Re: If Richard Feynman applied for a job at Microsoft (2002)

#25
post #16

To be fair, MS hasn't used this sort of "puzzle based" interviewing system for years.

Uhh. I had one such question asked by the MSFT interviewer 2 weeks or so ago...

That's very surprising. I was pretty sure we had stopped asking those questions a long time.

Re: If Richard Feynman applied for a job at Microsoft (2002)

#26
post #14
post #2

I liked the surprise ending.

Me too. But on second thought, he didn't come across as a marketing type. Not to me, at least. More like a R&D guru.

I read it as "Microsoft is too incompetent to put him in the right department", but maybe that wasn't the intent.

Re: If Richard Feynman applied for a job at Microsoft (2002)

#27

Feynman or not, it's entertaining to anyone who has waded through several hours of contrived interview questions that supposedly relate to programming ability, and that always have a "right" answer.

I had a four hour long interview for a systems programming/administration position where plebeian admins were allowed to grill me for about 25% of the time, asking me to whiteboard viable algorithms for cute little problems they concocted. All of my solutions would have functioned flawlessly and would have met all of the stated requirements, but they didn't involve the same thought processes that the interviewers had used. I "failed" but in the end, I won. I would not have fit in there anyway.

Re: If Richard Feynman applied for a job at Microsoft (2002)

#28
post #17

This comes up every now and then on social websites and every time I completely disagree that it reads like Feynman or that Feynman would react that way.

He basically said those things in an interview once. So while he might not react that way when looking for a job it really just depends on how much he wanted the job.

Oh? Do you have a source?

Re: If Richard Feynman applied for a job at Microsoft (2002)

#29

This comes up every now and then on social websites and every time I completely disagree that it reads like Feynman or that Feynman would react that way.

Really? Have you read the piece (I believe it's in Surely You're Joking...) where Feynman gets evaluated by an Army psychologist? It reads very similarly to this.

Re: If Richard Feynman applied for a job at Microsoft (2002)

#30
post #16

To be fair, MS hasn't used this sort of "puzzle based" interviewing system for years.

Uhh. I had one such question asked by the MSFT interviewer 2 weeks or so ago...

Anyone can still ask you whatever questions they want during an interview, but as a matter of policy and culture MS moved away from puzzles years ago. Notwithstanding there may still be hold outs.
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