3 ms·

That road leads to "how many golfballs in a minibus" type of puzzlers and we already have data now that shows that those things don't work. http://www.deathand

That road leads to "how many golfballs in a minibus" type of puzzlers and we already have data now that shows that those things don't work. http://www.deathandtaxesmag.com/200732/google-admits-its-famous-job-interview-questions-were-a-complete-waste-of-time/ http://www.deathandtaxesmag.com/200732/google-admits-its-fam...

jacquesm 11y ago
That's not an 'actual' problem, that's a fake problem. I mean actual as in 'problem that you actually have and that needs solving'.
- tobltobs 11y ago
  It is difficult to find a problem which is solvable but still unsolved.
  - jacquesm 11y ago
    If that's true then you shouldn't be hiring people to begin with. After all, if you already know that your problems are too difficult then there is no hope whatsoever that your hire will be able to contribute. OTOH if you feel that the problems you are dealing with are solvable (and they had better be) then working together with your new prospective hire on some aspect of them will quickly give you insight into how they would go about this and whether or not they have something to contribute.
- vlasev 11y ago
  I have to humbly disagree with you here. Estimation problems are quite important in science. When dealing with computers and algorithms, a quick back-of-the-envelope calculation can illuminate a lot of things. Maybe your algorithm is running slowly but a quick calculation shows it needs to be orders of magnitude faster. Etc. It's by no means a super necessary skill to have though. And certainly it makes for a rather silly interview question. I would guess it takes no more than half an hour to an hour to train yourself to do estimation problems.
  - jacquesm 11y ago
    Of course they are important in science. But that's not the kind of problem that you're likely to be hiring this particular (presumably a programmer) for. And if it is then estimation problems are exactly what you should be doing but if they are not then it would be a lot better to pick something related to the work at hand.

jacquesm 11y ago

That's not an 'actual' problem, that's a fake problem. I mean actual as in 'problem that you actually have and that needs solving'.

tobltobs 11y ago
It is difficult to find a problem which is solvable but still unsolved.
- jacquesm 11y ago
  If that's true then you shouldn't be hiring people to begin with. After all, if you already know that your problems are too difficult then there is no hope whatsoever that your hire will be able to contribute. OTOH if you feel that the problems you are dealing with are solvable (and they had better be) then working together with your new prospective hire on some aspect of them will quickly give you insight into how they would go about this and whether or not they have something to contribute.
vlasev 11y ago
I have to humbly disagree with you here. Estimation problems are quite important in science. When dealing with computers and algorithms, a quick back-of-the-envelope calculation can illuminate a lot of things. Maybe your algorithm is running slowly but a quick calculation shows it needs to be orders of magnitude faster. Etc. It's by no means a super necessary skill to have though. And certainly it makes for a rather silly interview question. I would guess it takes no more than half an hour to an hour to train yourself to do estimation problems.
- jacquesm 11y ago
  Of course they are important in science. But that's not the kind of problem that you're likely to be hiring this particular (presumably a programmer) for. And if it is then estimation problems are exactly what you should be doing but if they are not then it would be a lot better to pick something related to the work at hand.