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Wu Riddles: Hardcore tech-interview style riddles and mathematical puzzles

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Re: Wu Riddles: Hardcore tech-interview style riddles and mathematical puzzles

#5

Post by lbrandy »

jfarmer wrote: post #2

Am I the only one who hate, hate, hates this style of interviewing?

I always urge caution when internets fill with the trendy ire at "puzzle" questions in interviews. Yes, some questions are stupid. Yes, some interviews value the wrong things. Yes actual "brain teasers" and "gotcha" questions as an intelligence test are asinine. Yes, yes, and yes.

But... there are questions that sound very similar to such questions that are perfectly legitimate analogies to various computer science topics. Yes, you might say, "so ask me in computer science terms, not knights and dragons". And my response would be "Why? Do you have trouble with abstractions?". When I mention knights and dragons I'm making it very clear that the answer doesn't require some nuance of the C standard library or some knowledge of the JVM. I'm emphasizing the -abstract- part of the problem, for a reason.

Not to push my own blog but I wrote about this exact topic at length: http://lbrandy.com/blog/2008/09/here-be-the-code-monkeys/

Re: Wu Riddles: Hardcore tech-interview style riddles and mathematical puzzles

#6

Post by jfarmer »

lbrandy wrote: post #5
jfarmer wrote: post #2

Am I the only one who hate, hate, hates this style of interviewing?

I always urge caution when internets fill with the trendy ire at "puzzle" questions in interviews. Yes, some questions are stupid. Yes, some interviews value the wrong things. Yes actual "brain teasers" and "gotcha" questions as an intelligence test are asinine. Yes, yes, and yes. But... there are questions that sound very similar to such questions that are perfectly legitimate analogies to various computer science t…

Why give interviewees toy problems? Give them real problems. There are plenty at all levels of abstraction.

Re: Wu Riddles: Hardcore tech-interview style riddles and mathematical puzzles

#7

Post by jfarmer »

dgabriel wrote: post #3
jfarmer wrote: post #2

Am I the only one who hate, hate, hates this style of interviewing?

I hate them, too, but the puzzles can be fun to do if you're not being faced down by a sweaty middle manager.

I think puzzles are fun. I mean, my background is in math, the whole art of which is basically one big ladder of puzzles.

What I don't think puzzles can tell you is whether the person you're talking with can ship quality software that solves real problems.

Re: Wu Riddles: Hardcore tech-interview style riddles and mathematical puzzles

#8

Post by amichail »

Isn't it illegal in the US to use IQ testing when interviewing candidates?

If so, then I think these puzzles are just a way to get around this law.

The job may not involve much puzzle-like thinking, but it never hurts to have high IQ employees.

Re: Wu Riddles: Hardcore tech-interview style riddles and mathematical puzzles

#9

Post by emmett »

amichail wrote: post #8

Isn't it illegal in the US to use IQ testing when interviewing candidates? If so, then I think these puzzles are just a way to get around this law. The job may not involve much puzzle-like thinking, but it never hurts to have high IQ employees.

It's illegal in the United States to discriminate on a basis that has nothing to do with the job. So if your job doesn't require people with sharp analytical skills (trucking, for example), it would be illegal to use an IQ test. In programming, I doubt it would be illegal.

The reason for this is that people who wanted to exclude black people or women from their workforce would pick some irrelevant trait that the disadvantaged group would score lower on, and use that as the reason not to hire.

Re: Wu Riddles: Hardcore tech-interview style riddles and mathematical puzzles

#10

Post by moxy »

amichail wrote: post #8

Isn't it illegal in the US to use IQ testing when interviewing candidates? If so, then I think these puzzles are just a way to get around this law. The job may not involve much puzzle-like thinking, but it never hurts to have high IQ employees.

These puzzles aren't necessarily used in interviews, and I'm sure that employers who are looking for intelligent employees have several ways of attaining them.
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