3 ms·

These are fun brain candy and a reminder of the value of lateral thinking, but I hope no one actually uses these as employment screening.

seanmcdirmid 7y ago
Aren’t these really just the same thing as the brain teasers that have already been disavowed by most companies? Anyways, even many Leetcode questions involve “tricks” that we just have to deal with.
techslave 7y ago
why not? they are trivial. not “trick” in the sense of poor questions which are easy enough once you’ve studied the problem for 20 years and know some trivia that is rare knowledge, but are otherwise insanely difficult. i think these are good. TELL the candidate they are trick questions. again, they are trivial. i was actually disappointed.
- barrkel 7y ago
  Better questions are those that more closely simulate a work sample, being aware that an interview is high stress and time boxed and thus not actually like work. I like an hour or more pair programming in a language the candidate is comfortable with on a simplified problem with some relevance to work. For more senior candidates, you definitely wouldn't want to waste everyone's time with brain teasers because if the high risk of a hasty rejection - a deeper probing into systems they've built and and designed in the past, with an angle on relevant problems for the business, along with the pair programming.
- weego 7y ago
  So what insight do you think this is actually giving into someone interviewing? Surprise trivia / trick questions do not select for anything meaningful in respect to the day to day practices of any developer
remmargorp64 7y ago
I'm of the opinion that the only valid type of coding question in an interview is one that tests the candidate's ability to perform the actual type of work they are being hired to do. If you were trying to hire a mechanic, would you first give them a sudoku puzzle to measure his "cleverness" (and then use that as a predictor of their car repair abilities)?

seanmcdirmid 7y ago

Aren’t these really just the same thing as the brain teasers that have already been disavowed by most companies? Anyways, even many Leetcode questions involve “tricks” that we just have to deal with.

techslave 7y ago

why not? they are trivial. not “trick” in the sense of poor questions which are easy enough once you’ve studied the problem for 20 years and know some trivia that is rare knowledge, but are otherwise insanely difficult. i think these are good. TELL the candidate they are trick questions. again, they are trivial. i was actually disappointed.

barrkel 7y ago
Better questions are those that more closely simulate a work sample, being aware that an interview is high stress and time boxed and thus not actually like work. I like an hour or more pair programming in a language the candidate is comfortable with on a simplified problem with some relevance to work. For more senior candidates, you definitely wouldn't want to waste everyone's time with brain teasers because if the high risk of a hasty rejection - a deeper probing into systems they've built and and designed in the past, with an angle on relevant problems for the business, along with the pair programming.
weego 7y ago
So what insight do you think this is actually giving into someone interviewing? Surprise trivia / trick questions do not select for anything meaningful in respect to the day to day practices of any developer

remmargorp64 7y ago

I'm of the opinion that the only valid type of coding question in an interview is one that tests the candidate's ability to perform the actual type of work they are being hired to do. If you were trying to hire a mechanic, would you first give them a sudoku puzzle to measure his "cleverness" (and then use that as a predictor of their car repair abilities)?