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I had this question during a Google interview. The interviewer became annoyed when I suggested that an elevator that sometimes went backwards to pick ip someone

I had this question during a Google interview. The interviewer became annoyed when I suggested that an elevator that sometimes went backwards to pick ip someone on a just-missed floor could at least be interesting, if not perfectly efficient. They had a preconceived idea that they wanted a stateless system and didn’t like my stateful approach, even if it was potentially better for end users.

bombcar 5y ago
That’s an example of a thing that may work well but would piss users off - it apparently reversing would annoy.
- Thorrez 5y ago
  Not just annoy. Some users might think they accidentally got on the wrong elevator ("oops, I got on a down elevator instead of an up elevator") and leave the elevator at the next floor to ask for a new elevator.
adenozine 5y ago
Yeah, that's one reason I stopped doing like code-this-thing style of interviews. There's no point in contriving problems for someone, we could both be working on something useful. I think for me at least, the main attribute I look for in a candidate for a developer role is the ability-to-avoid-shitty-solutions-ness of someone. If they steer themselves from bad ideas well, the rest can be taught by presentation and practice with the rest of the team. I've had a similar idea around measuring how many riders make calls over say the past 100 rides, and then trying to calculate how efficient it might be to deviate a few floors either direction to grab someone close-by. It's an interesting hole to climb into. Did you get the gig at google?
- em-bee 5y ago
  the problem is having particular expectations at the outcome, which is wrong. even after hiring, if i have a particular expectation how problems are to be solved, then that will lead to disappointment, micromanagement and disempowerment of my developers. i did use elevatorsaga in interviews with good results. having someone making such an unusual suggestion in an interview would be a plus for me. this person is thinking out of the box. and it would lead to a discussion of the difference of optimizing solutions for overall performance vs user expectations.
- alasdair_ 5y ago
  I didn’t. I tried again later in my career but ended up taking up Facebook’s offer before the final Google round.
deleted 5y ago
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bombcar 5y ago

That’s an example of a thing that may work well but would piss users off - it apparently reversing would annoy.

Thorrez 5y ago
Not just annoy. Some users might think they accidentally got on the wrong elevator ("oops, I got on a down elevator instead of an up elevator") and leave the elevator at the next floor to ask for a new elevator.

adenozine 5y ago

Yeah, that's one reason I stopped doing like code-this-thing style of interviews. There's no point in contriving problems for someone, we could both be working on something useful. I think for me at least, the main attribute I look for in a candidate for a developer role is the ability-to-avoid-shitty-solutions-ness of someone. If they steer themselves from bad ideas well, the rest can be taught by presentation and practice with the rest of the team. I've had a similar idea around measuring how many riders make calls over say the past 100 rides, and then trying to calculate how efficient it might be to deviate a few floors either direction to grab someone close-by. It's an interesting hole to climb into. Did you get the gig at google?

em-bee 5y ago
the problem is having particular expectations at the outcome, which is wrong. even after hiring, if i have a particular expectation how problems are to be solved, then that will lead to disappointment, micromanagement and disempowerment of my developers. i did use elevatorsaga in interviews with good results. having someone making such an unusual suggestion in an interview would be a plus for me. this person is thinking out of the box. and it would lead to a discussion of the difference of optimizing solutions for overall performance vs user expectations.
alasdair_ 5y ago
I didn’t. I tried again later in my career but ended up taking up Facebook’s offer before the final Google round.

deleted 5y ago

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