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If I gave a real answer to that question, I'd get thrown out of the room ;-). I remember reading about someone wanting to hire a mechanical engineer. Candidat

If I gave a real answer to that question, I'd get thrown out of the room ;-). I remember reading about someone wanting to hire a mechanical engineer. Candidate came in, was given a blank sheet of paper and a pen, and 60 seconds to draw a picture of a working bicycle. Candidate drew a good picture, was hired on the spot, has been with the company or project or whatever it was ever since, 20+ years now. Maybe someone else here remembers who or where that was. I came across the story fairly recently and the interview question was the part that stayed with me.

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eesmith 5y ago
"S" = seat. "I" = pedals and crank. "=" for the chain and that part of the frame. "O" for the crank and rear wheel sprockets. "o" for the front axle. "X" for the stem for steering, in this case with upright handlebars. Standard diamond frame, and of course, two tires. _ S____\ .-./ \ /X.-. / /\ \I/ /\ \ ( O==)==O ( o ) \ / I \ / `-’ `-’ Anyone want to offer me a job? :)
- I_complete_me 5y ago
  A basciicle!
  - eesmith 5y ago
    Not quite ASCII. I cheated and used "’" ('RIGHT SINGLE QUOTATION MARK' (U+2019)) because the ASCII "'" shows a vertical quotation mark, and I wanted a more curved one to make the wheel look right ... err, not as wrong. :)
pfranz 5y ago
That reminds me of a Wired article from 5 or 6 years ago: https://www.wired.com/2016/04/can-draw-bikes-memory-definitely-cant/ https://www.wired.com/2016/04/can-draw-bikes-memory-definite...
todd8 5y ago
Nice question, but it reminds me of a flawed question that appeared on one of my kid's high school science quizzes. It should have been easy, here it is" True or False, turning off the radio in the car gives you better gas mileage. Obviously, the energy for the radio comes from somewhere so True. However, my daughter who didn't drive at the time thought that car batteries where like ordinary batteries around the house and where simply replaced when the big things ran down. When I grew up, cars were far from reliable and it was pretty common to carry jumper cables so even kids just kind of knew that auto batteries where rechargeable and that the car contained a generator (alternator). Drawing a bike would be easy for me. I've owned numerous bikes and even taken them down to bare frames to maintain them, but I'm not educated to be a mechanical engineer at all.
- mindvirus 5y ago
  Ah, but what if the radio makes you a calmer driver since you're less bored on your commute, and so the change in behavior it leads to gives you better milage? You are part of this machine too.

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eesmith 5y ago

"S" = seat. "I" = pedals and crank. "=" for the chain and that part of the frame. "O" for the crank and rear wheel sprockets. "o" for the front axle. "X" for the stem for steering, in this case with upright handlebars. Standard diamond frame, and of course, two tires. _ S____\ .-./ \ /X.-. / /\ \I/ /\ \ ( O==)==O ( o ) \ / I \ / `-’ `-’ Anyone want to offer me a job? :)

I_complete_me 5y ago
A basciicle!
- eesmith 5y ago
  Not quite ASCII. I cheated and used "’" ('RIGHT SINGLE QUOTATION MARK' (U+2019)) because the ASCII "'" shows a vertical quotation mark, and I wanted a more curved one to make the wheel look right ... err, not as wrong. :)

pfranz 5y ago

That reminds me of a Wired article from 5 or 6 years ago: https://www.wired.com/2016/04/can-draw-bikes-memory-definitely-cant/ https://www.wired.com/2016/04/can-draw-bikes-memory-definite...

todd8 5y ago

Nice question, but it reminds me of a flawed question that appeared on one of my kid's high school science quizzes. It should have been easy, here it is" True or False, turning off the radio in the car gives you better gas mileage. Obviously, the energy for the radio comes from somewhere so True. However, my daughter who didn't drive at the time thought that car batteries where like ordinary batteries around the house and where simply replaced when the big things ran down. When I grew up, cars were far from reliable and it was pretty common to carry jumper cables so even kids just kind of knew that auto batteries where rechargeable and that the car contained a generator (alternator). Drawing a bike would be easy for me. I've owned numerous bikes and even taken them down to bare frames to maintain them, but I'm not educated to be a mechanical engineer at all.

mindvirus 5y ago
Ah, but what if the radio makes you a calmer driver since you're less bored on your commute, and so the change in behavior it leads to gives you better milage? You are part of this machine too.