3 ms·
OT: one of the stranger interview questions I've been asked was something along the lines of, "How would you tell what the weather is without going outside?" St
by jihadjihad 4y ago
OT: one of the stranger interview questions I've been asked was something along the lines of, "How would you tell what the weather is without going outside?" Still to this day (10+ years later) I have no idea what the interviewers wanted for an answer, or if any answers I gave were any good. I didn't get the job, so I guess it was me. But I still think about that question at random times when looking out the window!
- michaelmcdonald 4y agoI'm curious: what answers _did_ you give?
- sleton38234234 4y agoWith a question like that, it could've just as easily been them too. I've seen many more hiring failures on the hiring side of the table, than the other side.
- themanmaran 4y agoDo you have a window? Breath on the glass and examine the condensation. That'll get you a +/- on 98.6. You can measure how long until the condensation fades. No window? Listen for rain, wind, crickets, birds. If you're in a city, what sound do car tires make when they drive by? Sound like wet streets, or snow slush? Maybe you could get some info on how much condensation forms on a glass of cold water. But that might just be measuring the inside temp.
- stevekemp 4y agoPhone a friend and ask them to go outside!
- WalterBright 4y agoHaha, we found the practical fellow! Reminds me of the MIT question of how to find the height of a building with a barometer. The best answer was find the building superintendent and offer to trade the expensive barometer for the height of the building.
- themanmaran 4y agoI always liked "drop the barometer from the roof and see how long it takes to hit the ground".
- Someone 4y agoPro tip: many windows can be opened.
- adrianmonk 4y agoOr observe how often the AC (or heat) comes on and how long it runs each time. There's a strong correlation between that and outdoor temperature. You might even be able to come up with a numerical guesstimate. Theoretically, a properly designed AC system is sized to run 100% of the time during the hottest weather. And obviously 0% if it's cool enough outside. Or just look around the office and note how people are dressed, whether there are coats on people's chairs, how heavy those coats are, and whether you see any umbrellas lying around.
- aireo 4y agoI wonder if your last sentence was the answer. Or, at least, one reasonable answer.
- MichaelCollins 4y agoSurely the answer is "look out the window" and the intent of the question is to see whether you follow the KISS principle.
- the_only_law 4y agoToday, I’d just look at my phone if I wanted to know the weather. Probably would have been pretty similar in 2012. And nothing stated in the question excludes me from having electronics and internet in their hypothetical.
- wrycoder 4y agoQuick glance at my iWatch MyRadar complication. 68, partly cloudy.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- throwaway2203 4y ago
- ouid 4y ago"What the weather is" is far too general. To what radius? To what granularity? What questions do we care about? Temperature? Humidity? Wind speed? Wind direction? Cloud cover? Air quality? Pressure? Is it raining, snowing, sleeting, hailing? What are the features of the precipitation, if it exists? How long has it been raining? Are the rivers in danger of overflowing their banks? Is it flooding? If it is snowing, is the snow sticking? Are the conditions right for black ice? This is why, when I want to know what the weather is, I use the vast array of sensors that the US government has paid for, and the expertise of meteorologists. Just google it.
- 1970-01-01 4y agoListen to the radio. https://www.weather.gov/nwr/ https://www.weather.gov/nwr/
- dang 4y agoSorry for the offtopicness but could you please email hn@ycombinator.com? I want to send you a repost invite.
- 1970-01-01 4y agoIf you're asking for permission to repost anything on my behalf you're free to do it. Asking me to send you an email while we are already communicating seems a bit silly.
- dang 4y agoThe system we have set up for sending repost invites works by email, so it's easier to do that way. If you don't want to, that's fine!
- em-bee 4y ago"Got a window? Open it!"
- INTPenis 4y agoThis question is odd to me because 10 years ago we already had apps here in Sweden showing the weather, and current radar image of cloud density so I always found these a lot more informative than looking outside.
- CapitalistCartr 4y agoPlease, I have an app for that, and most any other question. Right now my weather app tells me I've got about 8-12 hours left.