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If the person's job is going to be taking well defined problems like "find the expected value of x" and solving them, I'd rather buy software. I would actually
by bloaf 11y ago
If the person's job is going to be taking well defined problems like "find the expected value of x" and solving them, I'd rather buy software. I would actually want an interview to weed out people who were unable to re-parse confusing real world input, like that problem. I would want employees who could, as a matter of course, take a somewhat ambiguous situation, choose relevant tools (e.g. expected value,) and render a judgment.
- nilkn 11y agoSure, that's fair, but lordnacho has not specified exactly what he means when he says that the candidates failed. Did they just sit there blank, completely stunned? Did they ask any questions at all? We also do not know his interviewing style. Some interviewers are very averse to clarifying the problem, which will backfire big time with a question like this.
- ryandrake 11y agoAsking an imprecisely worded question is sometimes a good way of weeding out people who expect every little requirement defined up front before they work on a problem. Any idiot can say, "ERROR. Your question was worded ambiguously, please re-state with more detail." Often the better candidate is willing to ask clarifying questions and/or make (and state) reasonable assumptions and move on.