My solution has always been pretty simple -- I do poorly in exam interviews, and usually I don't get the job. Regurgitating Algorithms 301 -- nope, not for me.

My solution has always been pretty simple -- I do poorly in exam interviews, and usually I don't get the job. Regurgitating Algorithms 301 -- nope, not for me. They'll end up with someone who's great at regurgitating. They're happy and I'm happy. I can explain very clearly how I would go about solving a problem, maybe whiteboard it, flesh out a design, ask them some key questions to show I'm a thinker and not just a follower. That kind of interview usually goes well for me. As a result, I usually end up with jobs where I have a lot of creative latitude, where I can think up new product ideas and prototype them out, where I can solve problems my own way. I wish I could pass those Google tests, though. It would be nice to have it all. But some of us just have limitations, I guess. Luckily, it hasn't held me back from having an enjoyable and relatively well compensated career. Probably today the thing is to have a couple of apps on the Android or Apple appstore, a Github page with some interesting toys and experiments, some open source contributions, and of course the old-fashioned networking that is how many of us still get our best jobs and most successful business relationships.