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I think you've hit on a great strategy to coast through these interviews: "Gee whiz, that's an amazing question. I've never thought of that before. It's proba

I think you've hit on a great strategy to coast through these interviews: "Gee whiz, that's an amazing question. I've never thought of that before. It's probably beyond my reach but let me try to stumble through it. Will you help me out if I get lost? You're so amazing, how could this company get by without your brilliance?"

bostik 10y ago
You have to be very careful with that attitude. When I interview candidates, I state up-front that I care less about the solutions than the steps taken to reach one. It's okay to ask for help or hints when confronted with a previously unfamiliar problem. But if I need to provide too much help, teach the use of basic tools (whether they are logical patterns or universal utilities), and even then getting to A solution requires excessive hand-holding, I will hold that against you. Also, I will happily invert a question if needed. Showing one way to solve a given problem, I would expect a qualified candidate to be able to point out where it could be done differently.