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That time when I failed the Microsoft interview

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Re: That time when I failed the Microsoft interview

#41

Post by lovich »

ThrowawayR2 wrote: post #35
mircerlancerous wrote: post #18

Sadly I've seen this kind of interviewing from lots of places; maybe it's a technique they teach in college or something. Interview questions like this are useless as they are not an accurate approximation of a real work scenario. I've frozen up at a whiteboard in an interview before, and then figured it out on the drive home. The best approach I've found is to do a send home quiz, and then ask them questions about t…

An accurate approximation of a real work scenario would be sitting in a conference room for two hours while trying not to fidget or visibly look bored as co-workers make a mountain out of a molehill.

And then after being 90% complete with the project having your manager or business liaison change the fundamental requirements at the last second and be mystified as to how that could possibly affect any sort of estimates or deadlines.

Re: That time when I failed the Microsoft interview

#43

Post by Aurornis »

shubhamjain wrote: post #23

As I have grown older, I have realized dead-honesty is a false ideal to live by, especially when it comes to being rewarded in the capitalistic world. I know someone who reached executive level position in a major company and all of his career progress can be traced back to lying on his resume about a NASA internship he never got, which he conveniently purged later from everywhere. I wouldn’t go that far, but I think…

> and all of his career progress can be traced back to lying on his resume about a NASA internship he never got, which he conveniently purged later from everywhere

I don't like when people get ahead by lying either, but nobody cares about your internship at the executive level. That one lie helped with the first job, but it doesn't explain all of the person's success.

> There’s no reason to feel guilty about it.

Even if we ignore guilt, there's a subtle problem that happens when you tell a lie to get a job: You have to forever hope that nobody checks it, that no contradictory evidence accidentally shows up, and that it never becomes a point of contention.

I've participated in a lot of interviews where candidates never expected us to check claims they made. It's interesting to see the entire hiring panel's view of a candidate change when someone discovers they lied about something. Everything else comes into question.

Re: That time when I failed the Microsoft interview

#44

Post by artisinal »

shubhamjain wrote: post #23

As I have grown older, I have realized dead-honesty is a false ideal to live by, especially when it comes to being rewarded in the capitalistic world. I know someone who reached executive level position in a major company and all of his career progress can be traced back to lying on his resume about a NASA internship he never got, which he conveniently purged later from everywhere. I wouldn’t go that far, but I think…

I learned that if you put

“2015 - 2020 / University X, Computer Science”

on your resume, nobody asks if you actually graduated.

Re: That time when I failed the Microsoft interview

#45

Post by waynesonfire »

jo-m wrote: post #37

Well, maybe you can use this to trick the interviewer into giving you a new problem if you don't know the first one they give you.

that seems very risky. it doesn't take much effort for the interviewer to spot a trickster, forfieting the interview. There is also no telling the second problem would be easier. I'd rather take my chances and hope i solve it or try to limp through with a hint.

Re: That time when I failed the Microsoft interview

#46

Post by noduerme »

userbinator wrote: post #40

I have not seen this problem before, but the answer seems blindingly obvious? A balance is trinary, not binary. You just need to explain the decision tree.

I hadn't seen it before either. I solved the branches in my head in a couple minutes, and my initial impulse was instinctively 4-4-4, but until you said trinary I didn't think of it in those terms.

Re: That time when I failed the Microsoft interview

#47

Post by flakes »

ThrowawayB7 wrote: post #38

Odd that they received a brain teaser at a MS interview in 2015. IIRC that's several years after internal interviewer training was updated to recommend that brain teasers not be used in interviews because they weren't useful.

I interviewed with Microsoft at the end of 2016 as a new grad and was given the same marble question over the phone. I then made it to the on site interview where I failed horribly haha.

Re: That time when I failed the Microsoft interview

#49

Post by ButlerianJihad »

artisinal wrote: post #44
shubhamjain wrote: post #23

As I have grown older, I have realized dead-honesty is a false ideal to live by, especially when it comes to being rewarded in the capitalistic world. I know someone who reached executive level position in a major company and all of his career progress can be traced back to lying on his resume about a NASA internship he never got, which he conveniently purged later from everywhere. I wouldn’t go that far, but I think…

I learned that if you put “2015 - 2020 / University X, Computer Science” on your resume, nobody asks if you actually graduated.

Because they know that if you had graduated, you would have, at every turn, mentioned the name and date of your degree, instead!

Re: That time when I failed the Microsoft interview

#50

Post by artisinal »

ButlerianJihad wrote: post #49
artisinal wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I learned that if you put “2015 - 2020 / University X, Computer Science” on your resume, nobody asks if you actually graduated.

Because they know that if you had graduated, you would have, at every turn, mentioned the name and date of your degree, instead!

In my country “Computer Science” would be your degree. Your graduation date also isn’t mentioned, just the year.
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