3 ms·
The goal isn’t to see how close you can get to the correct answer, it’s to see the extent to which you’re able to break down a complex problem you haven’t seen
by cowthulhu 4y ago
The goal isn’t to see how close you can get to the correct answer, it’s to see the extent to which you’re able to break down a complex problem you haven’t seen before into steps you can take to solve it.
- tgv 4y agoAnd are you sure the person on the other side of the table can assess your problem solving skills correctly? That would make them an expert on Fermi-like problems. OTOH, perhaps HR really knows how many civilizations are out there in the universe.
- cowthulhu 4y agoThere are no guarantees the other person knows anything, but they don’t need to be an expert to confirm you can break down a problem
- tgv 4y agoCorrectly? I could be bullshitting the heck out of it. I think I could teach anyone to pass such questions, if not vetted. It seems to boil down to: initial estimate, then multiply by a fraction for each narrowing specification in the question (how many red-haired, left-handed, gay piano tuners are there in New York), dependence between factors be damned, if it doesn't matter if the outcome is 1 or 500.