> Take an afternoon and skim Cracking the Coding Interview before applying. There's no reason a competent engineer shouldn't be able to solve questions like tha

> Take an afternoon and skim Cracking the Coding Interview before applying. There's no reason a competent engineer shouldn't be able to solve questions like that. You know exactly what's expected of you, show some initiative. I think the core issue here is whether the prospective employee should have to show some initiative. My initial reaction is that of course they should, but when you're fielding job offers from numerous companies, some of which don't require you to go out of your way to pick up new knowledge specifically and only so that you can pass an interview, why not just dump Google and go somewhere else? A few years ago Google was probably the most desirable place anyone could work, I really don't think that's true any more. Overall, it sounds like the system is working. Developers that don't much care for Google's methods won't go and work at Google. Those that are very passionate about working at Google for the sake of working at Google will jump through those hoops.