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Google Hasn’t Changed Their Interview Questions

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Re: Google Hasn’t Changed Their Interview Questions

#31

Post by Pwnguinz »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #12
gaylemcd wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Asking "how would you estimate the number of cars sold in a year?" is not a brainteaser. It's an estimation / market sizing question. You can deduce a reasonable estimate from the population size and other assumptions. A brainteaser is something like "A man pushed his car to a hotel and lost his fortune. What happened?" That's a brainteaser -- and nothing Google would ask.

I got asked the cars sold in a year in California question. I answered by saying I would look for a car that was new two years ago, and one that was new this year, and then difference the license plate numbers and divide by 2. Took the interviewer a while but they finally figured it out.

What do you mean by 'difference the license plate numbers'?

Re: Google Hasn’t Changed Their Interview Questions

#32

Post by morpher »

johnobrien1010 wrote: post #29

I don't know about Google in particular but I've always been bothered by the market sizing question. In part, it's because it seems to have come out of consulting, where a common task seems to be to size a market for which there is no commonly available data. So, understanding how someone might go about doing that seems reasonable on its surface. But in fact, I've met too many consultants who seem inclined to build "…

I would argue that if one is unable to do the back of the envelope estimate, then they would have a difficult time doing the rigorous calculation / determination. The main difference between the two is the quality of the numbers that go into them, right?

I agree though, that overconfidence in one's ballpark estimate is not to be desired. But, that's more useful information gained from the question, not less.

Re: Google Hasn’t Changed Their Interview Questions

#33

Post by autarch »

Personally, I'd find these questions a lot more palatable if they'd change the format a little. Instead of asking "how many gas stations are there in Manhattan" why not ask "what steps would you take to estimate how many gas stations there are in Manhattan"?

The latter makes it clear that this isn't some sort of brain-teaser, it's question about process. You could also phrase it as "what information would you need to estimate how many gas stations there are in Manhattan?" This in particular would be a good question for people who will doing a lot of work that involves some speculation, such as long-term product roadmaps, long-term expansion planning, looking at new markets, etc.

BTW, I've been to Manhattan and noticed that there are remarkably few gas stations there for a city of its size, so whatever estimate you come up with will probably be very, very wrong.

Re: Google Hasn’t Changed Their Interview Questions

#34

Post by spankalee »

ubercore wrote: post #5

My phone interview with Google had something I would probably describe as a brain teaser (which is probably why I didn't get a follow up interview). It was something along the lines of explaining how an insect in a bottle could jump out if the bottle was frictionless. Something like that. Anyway, I don't remember specifics well enough to make a strong statement, but I would argue that this isn't an absolute in either…

You actually got asked that question? That shouldn't have happened, I'm sorry.

Re: Google Hasn’t Changed Their Interview Questions

#36

Post by ubercore »

sharkweek wrote: post #6
ubercore wrote: post #5

My phone interview with Google had something I would probably describe as a brain teaser (which is probably why I didn't get a follow up interview). It was something along the lines of explaining how an insect in a bottle could jump out if the bottle was frictionless. Something like that. Anyway, I don't remember specifics well enough to make a strong statement, but I would argue that this isn't an absolute in either…

How did you answer that question? -- I honestly don't understand what possibly could be drawn from asking that. Deductive reasoning? Logical thought pattern? Creative thinking? Seems like there are a lot of better ways to find out if someone is capable of such things

I fully admit there might have been a detail I'm neglecting that made it more clearly useful, but I do know for a fact it didn't fall in the "market estimation" bin, either. At least not fully or obviously.

Re: Google Hasn’t Changed Their Interview Questions

#37

Post by pisarzp »

morpher wrote: post #28
asnyder wrote: post #18

Sounds like she's still perpetuating the problem: Software Engineering interviews will focus on your standard coding, algorithm, and system design questions... Why are algorithm questions still being asked in a high-pressure environment? Very few people actually work on algorithms once hired and never in my experience has it actually been a good indicator of actual development competency. As DHH states: http://37sign…

How do you account for the Dunning-Kruger[1] effect when asking your "How do you rate yourself?" question? I would guess that answers in the range "6 or 7" could span a really wide range of actual knowledge. Does that agree with your experience? [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect

I understand that he just asks real question on that level to calibrate your answer. It's just faster to start from some reference point.

Re: Google Hasn’t Changed Their Interview Questions

#38

Post by ubercore »

gaylemcd wrote: post #10
ubercore wrote: post #5

My phone interview with Google had something I would probably describe as a brain teaser (which is probably why I didn't get a follow up interview). It was something along the lines of explaining how an insect in a bottle could jump out if the bottle was frictionless. Something like that. Anyway, I don't remember specifics well enough to make a strong statement, but I would argue that this isn't an absolute in either…

I would agree with you that that's a brainteaser -- or at least a stupid question that shouldn't be asked. However, brainteasers are indeed banned and they always have been. The problem is that what you and I call a brainteaser isn't what everyone else calls one. Thus, a brainteaser could still be asked, despite the ban.

Agreed, and that's fine. I think this is a clearer statement of what I was trying to express with my initial post :)

Re: Google Hasn’t Changed Their Interview Questions

#39

Post by gohrt »

Pwnguinz wrote: post #31
ChuckMcM wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got asked the cars sold in a year in California question. I answered by saying I would look for a car that was new two years ago, and one that was new this year, and then difference the license plate numbers and divide by 2. Took the interviewer a while but they finally figured it out.

What do you mean by 'difference the license plate numbers'?

Chuck is assuming (reasonably) that license plate numbers are assigned in sequential order to all new cars.

So if 1000 cars are sold in a year, maybe he'll see plate #267 from Year 0, and plate #1796 from Year 2. 1800 - 300 / 2 = 750 cars per year, close enough.

Re: Google Hasn’t Changed Their Interview Questions

#40

Post by gohrt »

proksoup wrote: post #11
gaylemcd wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Asking "how would you estimate the number of cars sold in a year?" is not a brainteaser. It's an estimation / market sizing question. You can deduce a reasonable estimate from the population size and other assumptions. A brainteaser is something like "A man pushed his car to a hotel and lost his fortune. What happened?" That's a brainteaser -- and nothing Google would ask.

"How would you estimate the number of cars sold in a year?" This boggles my mind. Where? For what purpose? Is the expectation that the candidate googles that question? I would google lots of different things until I found some answers (car manufacturers sales reports from car magazines, news articles that may have the answer, literally for the phrase "number of cars sold in a year" etc, etc). If you want me to talk t…

Consider the Google engineer who implemented the OneBox feature that answers "how many cars are sold in a year?"

How did he do it?

Consider the Wolfram Alpha engieer who implemented the same feature.

How did she do it?

(It becomes an interesting question, eh?)

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