6 ms·

I once got this question on an interview, and they didn’t know I’d heard it before. So I pretended to figure it out during the interview. I gave him a correct a

I once got this question on an interview, and they didn’t know I’d heard it before. So I pretended to figure it out during the interview. I gave him a correct answer after just a few minutes, and they cut the interview short and had me directly proceed to the HR office to proceed with onboarding. Two years later I told them how I already knew the question. I’ve been with the company for 6 years now.

jvm_ 6y ago
Hadn't coded much in the 9 months I'd been off. Googled Java interview questions, practiced on the first few results. Interview question was the first result... 7 years later.
- ComodoHacker 6y ago
  Your interviewer: hadn't coded much in the 7 years, googled Java interview questions...
lalaland1125 6y ago
Isn't that quite unethical? You are knowingly misleading a potential employer when you play games like that.
- yesenadam 6y ago
  I've been sitting here for 5 minutes feeling horrified and sad that your comment is downvoted to near unreadability for suggesting that lying like that in an interview may be unethical, while a sociopathic-sounding child comment extolling the virtues of lying/misleading – they "can actually help things flow smoothly and justly", without lying "the interview might have gone badly" and lecturing you on "radical honesty" being a sign of problems/mild autism like you're a naive idiot who just doesn't understand the world – isn't downvoted at all. I wouldn't call it "radical honesty" not to lie in a situation like this! Sounds like "radical honesty" has a new meaning "not lying in any situation you could gain an advantage by doing so". This reminds me of another time on HN someone told a story about how they'd cheated in a hi-tech way in an exam and a dozen comments supported them, not one person suggesting it might be wrong...until me, then I got virulently attacked for doing so. At least there their comment got [dead]ed. I just wanted to say - you're not alone, that also seems very dodgy to me. Moments like this HN is very disappointing.
  - orestarod 6y ago
    If you want to change things, the first step is to recognize the problem lies to those with power, like your manager, who lied their way to the top, not to a fellow employee trying to get a job. Being honest to liars and manipulators to earn enough of their pity to hire you did not suddenly become the peak of morality. The bottom of society is responsible for their unhappiness because they have not risen to end it, not because they have not licked enough boots.
  - unishark 6y ago
    I thought "radical honesty" sounded silly. And turning the argument into an attack on the speaker wasn't kosher either. But I also thought "quite unethical" was a bit silly (though I didn't downvote anyone). Perhaps people didn't like the tone. Also there could be a language issue with the degree implied by the word "quite". In stark black and white terms, it is unethical, yes, as a lie of omission. If there are shades of gray, it is not on the extreme to get lucky and have heard a question before. I have also noticed there is a contingent of commenters who seem to view stories in terms of the victimized workers versus the evil corporations, and punish people who appear to take the wrong side. Probably a similar bunch shows up when the argument is about students versus teachers. Not necessarily a universal lack of ethics.
- sparkie 6y ago
  If you are fit for the job role, then no. The employer is misleading themselves by thinking that a silly interview question is a good measure of a person's ability to fill a role. GP is in fact, doing the employer a favour by bypassing this silly charade and letting them have access to his real talents.
  - heavenlyblue 6y ago
    I am not entirely certain I owe my potential future employer a favour which is probably going to turn against me immediately.
- FrankSansC 6y ago
  Knowing an answer is one thing, being able to explain it is another one. You can easily spot people who "cheat" by rote learning.
- ghusbands 6y ago
  Lying (misleading) is a complicated subject. Though some use it to excuse too much, lying and misleading can actually help things flow smoothly and justly. In this case, if the interviewee had been radically honest and interviewer had not had a backup question, the interview might have gone badly, even though the interviewee apparently was a good employ. In fact, radical/extreme honesty is often seen as a sign of childhood problems or mild autism by mental health practitioners, as people normally learn to white lie at young age.
  - thomasahle 6y ago
    > If the ... interviewer had not had a backup question, the interview might have gone badly That seems like a wild assumption to make. Interviewers will usually tell you straight up to inform them if you already know the question.
    - heavenlyblue 6y ago
      What would happen if you didn’t?
      - whatshisface 6y ago
        You'd be joining the ranks of pod people who real people work day and night to eliminate from among them.
- gitgud 6y ago
  Well interview's typically have a trick question... Perhaps this was a trick answer
- gottareply2020 6y ago
  I once interviewed fresh out of college for a tech job at a big shop. When the interviewer got to the puzzle questions, they prefaced with ‘And be honest if you’ve heard it before. We want to get one you haven’t heard.’ Seven puzzles later of me saying, “yes, I’ve heard that one” and giving an short description indicating that I understood the solution, the interviewer became visibly upset/annoyed. And so when they asked the 8th question I suddenly ‘didn’t know this one.’ The interviewer was delighted. Of course I did know it already but pretended to work my way through it. Got the offer, didn’t take it because that interviewer would’ve been my boss’ boss.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - VeniVidiVici42 6y ago
    Similar story: I had an interview for an internship at a trading firm, in which they asked me several questions that I wrote (for a math competition at my school). I took the honest route and explained that I had authored all these problems, leading to the interviewer getting so annoyed that they just cut the interview early. Unsurprisingly, did not get an offer.
    - rasz 6y ago
      How about being interviewed using your own book, but the interviewer didnt notice authors name on the cover, doesnt understand the questions and butchers the problems? ;-) Happened to Elecia White (of https://embedded.fm/ https://embedded.fm/)
- TrackerFF 6y ago
  As long as you can actually walk them through your thought process on how you came up with the answer, I think you're good. But a good interviewer should also follow up on questions that can lead to trivia-type answers. For example, if some interviewer ask you "What is the sum of integers from 1 to 100", a valid answer from you could be "Well we learned in school that Gauss figured out this problem at early age, and came up with the answer 5050 - so the answer is 5050" In which case the interviewer has the options of A) Conclude the question, and move onto something else B) Try to get you to expand on this theory - and how Gauss came up with that If he then goes with B, and you start explaining that (1 + 100) + (2 + 99) + ... + (50 + 51) equals 5050, he could ask you to come up with a more general form of this answer - i.e the sum of some arbitrary arithmetic sequence. And if you then go to expand on this, and arrive at the answer that the sum of the original sequence is sum = s(s+1)/2, then that is IMO very good for both parts. The key here is that you actually walk them through the steps, and interact with the interviewer. Maybe they introduce constraints, or new rules. One can take "easy" questions that you've seen thousands of times, and make them into interesting ones, where you spend some time communicating, and showcasing how you solve problems. The point is not to arrive at "the sum is 5050", but rather to monitor how you think, and solve problems, with people around you.
- orestarod 6y ago
  Employers mislead employees all the time. You could say the hiring process was unethical as it rewarded having googled questions instead of actual competence, thus robbing a worthy engineer of their job.
neals 6y ago
Reminds of how I dev-tooled my way through a JS test with a nice 666% score and with NaN time left.
- EForEndeavour 6y ago
  "We are pleased to inform you of your top standing on our developer test, with a score of 420/69."
  - taneq 6y ago
    You just gotta Kobayashi Maru your way in.
TheCapn 6y ago
A friend of mine had two job interviews lined up back to back for two game studios. On the first interview he bombed pretty poorly, but the interviewers were great guys who explained every solution and helped him work through the problems. On the second interview they asked the exact same questions and he got the job offer. He's now got his name credited to several AAA games and moved in with an indie studio to publish his personal project under them.
- StavrosK 6y ago
  > He's now got his name credited to several AAA games and moved in with an indie studio to publish his personal project under them. See? Interview puzzles work!
  - NeutronStar 6y ago
    n=1 studies truly are the pinnacle of science!
epx 6y ago
Similar story. Got a life-changing job because I figured out the Monty Hall problem. Hadn't heard about it before. Lucky day!
- tzs 6y ago
  I'm not sure if it was the MH problem--all I can remember for sure was that it was a probability problem that was simple to state and the immediately obvious answer was wrong--but I have a similar story. Except I blew the problem and didn't get the job. It was 1982. A small company from the Pacific Northwest called Microsoft sent some engineers down to recruit at Caltech. I was a senior that year, and interviewed with them. They asked me their probability problem, I got it wrong, and did not receive an offer. I've occasionally wondered how different things would have been had I got it right, and so maybe got an offer, and accepted [1]. I think pretty much every engineer that started at Microsoft around that time and stuck with it (which I almost certainly would have done) ended up quite well off. I've also wondered if any of the engineers that interviewed me are people whose names I would now recognize. [1] It was not at all certain I would have accepted. I was more interested in bigger machines than the microprocessors MS was focused on, and also had a strong preference for staying in the Los Angeles area.
  - zoomablemind 6y ago
    ...in the alt reality you readily passed the interview and accepted the offer. MS tanked, DIGITAL pivoted into PC market and dominated it. At some point alt-you made this post on alt-HN. We just hope to be certain about the present moment.
mihaaly 6y ago
I really love the short QA style interviews, they are so accurate and comprehensive and not at all circumstantial.
pkaye 6y ago
I got the "manhole cover is round" problem at a interview. I'd already heard it before and admitted so and proceeded to give a number of reasons why it was round. They were still impressed.
- Mirioron 6y ago
  I had this one too. When I told them I already knew it and explained the reasoning I got a new problem instead.
- amelius 6y ago
  That question seems backward. Instead they should have asked: design a manhole such that these constraints are satisfied.
- Reelin 6y ago
  > a number of reasons why it was round Except that question in particular is a fairly silly one. A satirical rendition exists that illustrates why, and happens to have been discussed long ago on HN (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=569897 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=569897) but apparently the original article has moved (https://sellsbrothers.com/12395 https://sellsbrothers.com/12395).
  - balnaphone 6y ago
    See archived copy: https://web.archive.org/web/20070810204407/http://www.sellsbrothers.com:80/fun/msiview#Feynman https://web.archive.org/web/20070810204407/http://www.sellsb...
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
TwoBit 6y ago
Well you deserved some credit for having the curiosity and energy to read about these things. Weak candidates know nothing more than what was fed to them in their last class.

jvm_ 6y ago

Hadn't coded much in the 9 months I'd been off. Googled Java interview questions, practiced on the first few results. Interview question was the first result... 7 years later.

ComodoHacker 6y ago
Your interviewer: hadn't coded much in the 7 years, googled Java interview questions...

lalaland1125 6y ago

Isn't that quite unethical? You are knowingly misleading a potential employer when you play games like that.

yesenadam 6y ago
I've been sitting here for 5 minutes feeling horrified and sad that your comment is downvoted to near unreadability for suggesting that lying like that in an interview may be unethical, while a sociopathic-sounding child comment extolling the virtues of lying/misleading – they "can actually help things flow smoothly and justly", without lying "the interview might have gone badly" and lecturing you on "radical honesty" being a sign of problems/mild autism like you're a naive idiot who just doesn't understand the world – isn't downvoted at all. I wouldn't call it "radical honesty" not to lie in a situation like this! Sounds like "radical honesty" has a new meaning "not lying in any situation you could gain an advantage by doing so". This reminds me of another time on HN someone told a story about how they'd cheated in a hi-tech way in an exam and a dozen comments supported them, not one person suggesting it might be wrong...until me, then I got virulently attacked for doing so. At least there their comment got [dead]ed. I just wanted to say - you're not alone, that also seems very dodgy to me. Moments like this HN is very disappointing.
- orestarod 6y ago
  If you want to change things, the first step is to recognize the problem lies to those with power, like your manager, who lied their way to the top, not to a fellow employee trying to get a job. Being honest to liars and manipulators to earn enough of their pity to hire you did not suddenly become the peak of morality. The bottom of society is responsible for their unhappiness because they have not risen to end it, not because they have not licked enough boots.
- unishark 6y ago
  I thought "radical honesty" sounded silly. And turning the argument into an attack on the speaker wasn't kosher either. But I also thought "quite unethical" was a bit silly (though I didn't downvote anyone). Perhaps people didn't like the tone. Also there could be a language issue with the degree implied by the word "quite". In stark black and white terms, it is unethical, yes, as a lie of omission. If there are shades of gray, it is not on the extreme to get lucky and have heard a question before. I have also noticed there is a contingent of commenters who seem to view stories in terms of the victimized workers versus the evil corporations, and punish people who appear to take the wrong side. Probably a similar bunch shows up when the argument is about students versus teachers. Not necessarily a universal lack of ethics.
sparkie 6y ago
If you are fit for the job role, then no. The employer is misleading themselves by thinking that a silly interview question is a good measure of a person's ability to fill a role. GP is in fact, doing the employer a favour by bypassing this silly charade and letting them have access to his real talents.
- heavenlyblue 6y ago
  I am not entirely certain I owe my potential future employer a favour which is probably going to turn against me immediately.
FrankSansC 6y ago
Knowing an answer is one thing, being able to explain it is another one. You can easily spot people who "cheat" by rote learning.
ghusbands 6y ago
Lying (misleading) is a complicated subject. Though some use it to excuse too much, lying and misleading can actually help things flow smoothly and justly. In this case, if the interviewee had been radically honest and interviewer had not had a backup question, the interview might have gone badly, even though the interviewee apparently was a good employ. In fact, radical/extreme honesty is often seen as a sign of childhood problems or mild autism by mental health practitioners, as people normally learn to white lie at young age.
- thomasahle 6y ago
  > If the ... interviewer had not had a backup question, the interview might have gone badly That seems like a wild assumption to make. Interviewers will usually tell you straight up to inform them if you already know the question.
  - heavenlyblue 6y ago
    What would happen if you didn’t?
    - whatshisface 6y ago
      You'd be joining the ranks of pod people who real people work day and night to eliminate from among them.
gitgud 6y ago
Well interview's typically have a trick question... Perhaps this was a trick answer
gottareply2020 6y ago
I once interviewed fresh out of college for a tech job at a big shop. When the interviewer got to the puzzle questions, they prefaced with ‘And be honest if you’ve heard it before. We want to get one you haven’t heard.’ Seven puzzles later of me saying, “yes, I’ve heard that one” and giving an short description indicating that I understood the solution, the interviewer became visibly upset/annoyed. And so when they asked the 8th question I suddenly ‘didn’t know this one.’ The interviewer was delighted. Of course I did know it already but pretended to work my way through it. Got the offer, didn’t take it because that interviewer would’ve been my boss’ boss.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- VeniVidiVici42 6y ago
  Similar story: I had an interview for an internship at a trading firm, in which they asked me several questions that I wrote (for a math competition at my school). I took the honest route and explained that I had authored all these problems, leading to the interviewer getting so annoyed that they just cut the interview early. Unsurprisingly, did not get an offer.
  - rasz 6y ago
    How about being interviewed using your own book, but the interviewer didnt notice authors name on the cover, doesnt understand the questions and butchers the problems? ;-) Happened to Elecia White (of https://embedded.fm/ https://embedded.fm/)
TrackerFF 6y ago
As long as you can actually walk them through your thought process on how you came up with the answer, I think you're good. But a good interviewer should also follow up on questions that can lead to trivia-type answers. For example, if some interviewer ask you "What is the sum of integers from 1 to 100", a valid answer from you could be "Well we learned in school that Gauss figured out this problem at early age, and came up with the answer 5050 - so the answer is 5050" In which case the interviewer has the options of A) Conclude the question, and move onto something else B) Try to get you to expand on this theory - and how Gauss came up with that If he then goes with B, and you start explaining that (1 + 100) + (2 + 99) + ... + (50 + 51) equals 5050, he could ask you to come up with a more general form of this answer - i.e the sum of some arbitrary arithmetic sequence. And if you then go to expand on this, and arrive at the answer that the sum of the original sequence is sum = s(s+1)/2, then that is IMO very good for both parts. The key here is that you actually walk them through the steps, and interact with the interviewer. Maybe they introduce constraints, or new rules. One can take "easy" questions that you've seen thousands of times, and make them into interesting ones, where you spend some time communicating, and showcasing how you solve problems. The point is not to arrive at "the sum is 5050", but rather to monitor how you think, and solve problems, with people around you.
orestarod 6y ago
Employers mislead employees all the time. You could say the hiring process was unethical as it rewarded having googled questions instead of actual competence, thus robbing a worthy engineer of their job.

neals 6y ago

Reminds of how I dev-tooled my way through a JS test with a nice 666% score and with NaN time left.

EForEndeavour 6y ago
"We are pleased to inform you of your top standing on our developer test, with a score of 420/69."
- taneq 6y ago
  You just gotta Kobayashi Maru your way in.

TheCapn 6y ago

A friend of mine had two job interviews lined up back to back for two game studios. On the first interview he bombed pretty poorly, but the interviewers were great guys who explained every solution and helped him work through the problems. On the second interview they asked the exact same questions and he got the job offer. He's now got his name credited to several AAA games and moved in with an indie studio to publish his personal project under them.

StavrosK 6y ago
> He's now got his name credited to several AAA games and moved in with an indie studio to publish his personal project under them. See? Interview puzzles work!
- NeutronStar 6y ago
  n=1 studies truly are the pinnacle of science!

epx 6y ago

Similar story. Got a life-changing job because I figured out the Monty Hall problem. Hadn't heard about it before. Lucky day!

tzs 6y ago
I'm not sure if it was the MH problem--all I can remember for sure was that it was a probability problem that was simple to state and the immediately obvious answer was wrong--but I have a similar story. Except I blew the problem and didn't get the job. It was 1982. A small company from the Pacific Northwest called Microsoft sent some engineers down to recruit at Caltech. I was a senior that year, and interviewed with them. They asked me their probability problem, I got it wrong, and did not receive an offer. I've occasionally wondered how different things would have been had I got it right, and so maybe got an offer, and accepted [1]. I think pretty much every engineer that started at Microsoft around that time and stuck with it (which I almost certainly would have done) ended up quite well off. I've also wondered if any of the engineers that interviewed me are people whose names I would now recognize. [1] It was not at all certain I would have accepted. I was more interested in bigger machines than the microprocessors MS was focused on, and also had a strong preference for staying in the Los Angeles area.
- zoomablemind 6y ago
  ...in the alt reality you readily passed the interview and accepted the offer. MS tanked, DIGITAL pivoted into PC market and dominated it. At some point alt-you made this post on alt-HN. We just hope to be certain about the present moment.

mihaaly 6y ago

I really love the short QA style interviews, they are so accurate and comprehensive and not at all circumstantial.

pkaye 6y ago

I got the "manhole cover is round" problem at a interview. I'd already heard it before and admitted so and proceeded to give a number of reasons why it was round. They were still impressed.

Mirioron 6y ago
I had this one too. When I told them I already knew it and explained the reasoning I got a new problem instead.
amelius 6y ago
That question seems backward. Instead they should have asked: design a manhole such that these constraints are satisfied.
Reelin 6y ago
> a number of reasons why it was round Except that question in particular is a fairly silly one. A satirical rendition exists that illustrates why, and happens to have been discussed long ago on HN (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=569897 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=569897) but apparently the original article has moved (https://sellsbrothers.com/12395 https://sellsbrothers.com/12395).
- balnaphone 6y ago
  See archived copy: https://web.archive.org/web/20070810204407/http://www.sellsbrothers.com:80/fun/msiview#Feynman https://web.archive.org/web/20070810204407/http://www.sellsb...

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

TwoBit 6y ago

Well you deserved some credit for having the curiosity and energy to read about these things. Weak candidates know nothing more than what was fed to them in their last class.