When I interview others, I use a couple of basic whiteboard show-me pseudocode questions (how would you reverse a string, how does a linked list work, give me a

When I interview others, I use a couple of basic whiteboard show-me pseudocode questions (how would you reverse a string, how does a linked list work, give me an example of a callback). It seems to me that if they know their stuff, they can answer those. If someone can't get through any of them, or at least have a valient stab at it, chances are they don't have the background I want. By the same token, I've been interviewed myself where I've been given weird shit questions like others have mentioned; not the blender one, but shit along that line. That's nothing I personally do without some serious contemplation, not to be achieved in 5 minutes in an interview. Anyone who does so likely knew the answer ahead of time or is extremely puzzle-oriented. I think the real test is to examine the puzzle-solving processes of the candidate, but as a rule I don't think much of those kinds of questions.