This article does make Google's interview process more bearable. I always found the Google interview "horror stories" were a deterrent. Perhaps that is a good thing for Google since it already filters out certain people. But I always avoided even considering applying for Google because I didn't want to waste a whole day getting grilled with brain teasers and academic CS concepts that I learned 10 years ago.
Debunking the Google Interview Myth
91–94 of 94 posts
Re: Debunking the Google Interview Myth
#92Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'd like to believe this story (haven't found an authoritative source yet) that I heard once from a professional speaker of the FedEx main processing facility in Memphis. One day it completely stopped dead - usually it is controlled mayhem with the packages and machines running - the silence was deafening - thousands of dollars lost every minute. They brought in the best expert they could find. He investigated and we…
I actually know one that is true. The Air Force back in the 60's brought some old piston engine transports back into service. The mechanics could not get the engines to deliver the power to spec, they read the manuals, and did everything they could think of, no dice. Finally, the AF hired some old mechanics out of retirement who used to work on them, and they promptly had them running to spec. Turns out there's a lot…
Thanks, That's a great story. I will have to quote it (in context and if relevant) next time instead of the silly apocryphal parable above.
Re: Debunking the Google Interview Myth
#93Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'd like to believe this story (haven't found an authoritative source yet) that I heard once from a professional speaker of the FedEx main processing facility in Memphis. One day it completely stopped dead - usually it is controlled mayhem with the packages and machines running - the silence was deafening - thousands of dollars lost every minute. They brought in the best expert they could find. He investigated and we…
One of the nicest variations on this urban legend that I'm aware of: A woman walks in to the studio of Yves St. Laurent: "Oh Yves, you must help me, I have to go to a ball and I need a hat that's both original and chique..." Yves sets the lady down on a stool and proceeds to drape ribbons around her head. After about 20 minutes of this he pronounces the result done. The woman asks for the bill and is presented with a…
The fashion version may date back to Nancy Mitford's _The Pursuit of Love_ or _Love in a Cold Climate_, but a) with reference to Schiaparelli, and with the valuation mentioned by a disinterested bystander.
Re: Debunking the Google Interview Myth
#94Earlier quoted context omitted.
> It is neither a necessary nor sufficient pre-condition for knowledge of memory debugging techniques and it probably has about as much correlation with them as asking whether they have read The Lord of the Rings. It's a hexadecimal number, that should be quite obvious. It's a noteable and easy to notice one. Others may have used a different one (I used 0x12341234 for the task as others have used 0xdeadbeef) but it s…
When shorn of hexadecimal connotation as in the original question what value is there to it? If I ask someone verbally "what is the significance of dead beef" should I put any value in their either having already learned about 0xDEADBEEF or in their ability to appreciate that it could be a 32-bit word aligned hex value? If someone were to change the question to "what is the significance of bad food?" would it be cons…
O is not a hexadecimal number
- even if it was "BAD F00D" it still wouldn't be a full 32-bit word
- it's also not use by existing libraries (libgmalloc)
cafe babe, dada dada would just as well as dead beef
In short, either you are familiar with magic numbers or you're not. If you're not, you're certainly not qualified to work on anything really low-level and may not be qualified to do C/C++ development in userland either (without strong evidence to the contrary).