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I cheated on my Microsoft interview (2019)

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Re: I cheated on my Microsoft interview (2019)

#421

Post by AshamedCaptain »

throwaway09223 wrote: post #412
AshamedCaptain wrote: post #392

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are criticizing the "quiz or challenge" style interviews, but you are basically describing a quiz interview. I don't think that most people just expect you to know the answer (like they may in other industries or even government). They expect you to don't know the answer, and then they will try to lead you to it and see your thought process. At least this is my style too.

It's not a quiz. There's no questions. You could call it a free-form interactive essay interview. Pick any subject and converse on it however you like. If it's not going well, pick any other subject.

Is there that much difference between a series of questions and a series of subjects ? I am assuming it's not really "pick any subject you like" , because most subjects are going to be absolutely useless to ranking the candidate -- it's going to be "pick a subject from a list of these subjects".

And there is a reason most _interviewee_ guides tell you to always be honest and say "I don't know". That's to kickstart the discussion/next question as soon as possible rather than unnecessarily get stuck in the "bullshitting" phase that helps no one. It's rather common to encourage this, not a rare thing.

Re: I cheated on my Microsoft interview (2019)

#422

Post by drran »

edflsafoiewq wrote: post #277
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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. Years later,…

Is that a puzzle? Isn't it just 2πr + d = 2π(r + d/2π)?

When stretched, the length of the rope will be two straight lines plus part of the circle. The length of the segment can be calculated using a formula for horizon. Then we can create an equation: (s arc distance to horizon for h)*2 + delta = (d straight Distance to horizon for h)*2, or d-s-delta/2=0.

d=sqrt(h(2R+h)) km/m (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horizon#Approximation )

s=R*arccos(R/(R+h)) (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horizon#Arc_distance )

sqrt(h(2R+h))-R*arccos(R/(R+h))-delta = 0

6 foots is about 2 meters.

sqrt(h(2*6371000+h))-6371000*arccos(6371000/(6371000+h))-2 = 0

h=306m

Re: I cheated on my Microsoft interview (2019)

#423

Post by texaslonghorn5 »

drran wrote: post #422
edflsafoiewq wrote: post #277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is that a puzzle? Isn't it just 2πr + d = 2π(r + d/2π)?

When stretched, the length of the rope will be two straight lines plus part of the circle. The length of the segment can be calculated using a formula for horizon. Then we can create an equation: (s arc distance to horizon for h)*2 + delta = (d straight Distance to horizon for h)*2, or d-s-delta/2=0. d=sqrt(h(2R+h)) km/m (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horizon#Approximation ) s=R*arccos(R/(R+h)) (see https://en.wi…

I believe this is overcomplicating the problem, the answer is just r' = (2pi*r + 6ft)/2pi - r = 6ft/2pi ≈ just under 1ft

Re: I cheated on my Microsoft interview (2019)

#424

Post by someweirdperson »

codesnik wrote: post #165
samatman wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you mean by hand, with a pen? The least I would do is politely decline such an interview. I would be sorely tempted to give them the choice between letting me use a keyboard or hearing from an ADA lawyer.

wow. Does ADA lawyer thing work with whiteboard interviews? I'm only half-sarcastic, I hate my handwriting and this makes whiteboard interviews double hard for me.

I wanted to add a smart remark saying that once upon a time, in better times long gone, a long time before leetcode was invented, handwriting itself was used as a criterion to hire.

Then the first hit on google was a paper from 2018 about how to hire based on handwriting.

Re: I cheated on my Microsoft interview (2019)

#425

Post by cntainer »

the__alchemist wrote: post #395
cntainer wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

add 6 feet to a rope around the world, stretch it out and how far off the ground would it be is this a technical puzzle/question? to me it reads like a middle school geometry question. it would be fun to discuss it with friends/colleagues but I wouldn't expect it during a software engineering interview

I think that's perhaps a naive interpretation. At the core of this question are a number of assumptions, and concepts to think about: - What is the rope made of? How stretchy is it? How strong is it to tensile stresses? - What model of the earth are we using? A sphere (circular cross-section?) ellipsoid? Which axis of the ellipsoid? Does it take terrain into effect, or just gravitation? How does the rope avoid hittin…

It does sound like overthinking to me, but context is king. Without context/requirements we're just guessing.

Maybe the job interview is for Space X and they're working on some new system of mini-satellites-on-a-rope called Hyper-rope, or maybe google is trying to pivot their failed Loon project into some kind of air-born connectivity solution, and the rope is actually a very long fiber-optic cable.

Or the interview could be for an online eCommerce platform and the person being interviewed will most likely have to work in a huge heterogeneous codebase with all the important technical decisions already made.

otherwise the question doesn't make sense Well that is my point. I love these types of subjects, but when I'm having a beer with friends and we find a puzzle like this one and we try to take it as far as possible without going into fiction/bullshit territory.

So it could be useful to check/signal for culture fit, and in OP's case it actually worked like that OP: "We value people that love to get into this type of discussions/arguments" Interviewee: "Gosh, you guys bored me to death during the technical interview but it seems like we have similar tastes when it comes to theoretical puzzles so I'll give you another chance"

Nothing wrong with this though. It just proves that interviewing is a complex process and actual merit and success are highly subjective.

Re: I cheated on my Microsoft interview (2019)

#426

Post by oarabbus_ »

Isamu wrote: post #408
travisgriggs wrote: post #323

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So instead of working hard at your tasks, you worked hard at playing your manager. Seems like a “law of conservation of working hard” to me; you just needed the right kind of working hard.

>worked hard at playing your manager No. Instead of working until my head exploded (and my manager telling me I wasn’t showing “a sense of urgency”) I focused on doing the right thing, and part of that is helping your manager succeed.

I'd once heard a piece of advice that was along the lines of "regardless of what it may say the duties are on paper your actual job is to make your manager look smart for having you on the team"

Re: I cheated on my Microsoft interview (2019)

#427

Post by blep_ »

Nvorzula wrote: post #387
indrora wrote: post #341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These sorts of screener questions are at the level of "can you write a simple function and can you answer basic questions about it" A surprising number of candidates I've seen interviewed cannot do the following, my code screener question: "Write a function that, given a set of integers, determines the amplitude (difference between biggest and smallest) of the set." This is literally max(set) - min(set) in more words…

> "where might I use this function?" I'm not so sure about this one. Software development is quite usually "build functionality to serve a given use case" whereas this line of inquiry is more along the lines of "find a use case for the given functionality". Perhaps if you intend for the conversation to head into a chat about charting and data science?

> Software development is quite usually [not] "find a use case for the given functionality".

If only :)

Re: I cheated on my Microsoft interview (2019)

#428

Post by confidantlake »

ryandrake wrote: post #334
grog454 wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The vast majority of your coworkers will have gone through a similar if not identical interview process. Do you prefer to work with people that pretend they've never seen a question before when they have? Then do that. Do you prefer to work with people that admit they have seen the question before but are not directly penalized for it? Then do that. If you somehow are penalized for it... you dodged a bullet.

As an interviewer, I would prefer (in this order): 1. The candidate has actual domain experience matching the question and can rattle off the answer in their sleep. We can use the remaining time to go deeper into the question and probe the boundaries of candidate's knowledge. [maybe 1 out of 200 candidates actually deliver this] 2. The candidate came prepared, studied the question ahead of time, can rattle off the an…

Why give hints and breadcrumbs if you aren't going to pass them with hints?

Re: I cheated on my Microsoft interview (2019)

#429

Post by [deleted] »

drran wrote: post #422
edflsafoiewq wrote: post #277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is that a puzzle? Isn't it just 2πr + d = 2π(r + d/2π)?

When stretched, the length of the rope will be two straight lines plus part of the circle. The length of the segment can be calculated using a formula for horizon. Then we can create an equation: (s arc distance to horizon for h)*2 + delta = (d straight Distance to horizon for h)*2, or d-s-delta/2=0. d=sqrt(h(2R+h)) km/m (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horizon#Approximation ) s=R*arccos(R/(R+h)) (see https://en.wi…

[deleted]

Re: I cheated on my Microsoft interview (2019)

#430

Post by teddyh »

mjochim wrote: post #390
boxed wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So... the answer is "impossible to know"? There's no data on how many seats there are, their distance, or whatever. There could theoretically be literally just the seat you're sitting on in the entire system. Then the answer is zero.

Let's neglect the horizontal distance the chair(s) travel at the bottom and at the top of the lift. Then the answer is "all of them," which holds true in your one-chair scenario. The question reminds me of "how many groves are there on a vinyl record?"

That depends: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Monty_Python_Matching_Tie_...
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