News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Google: 90% of our engineers use the software you wrote (Homebrew), but.... Parent comment

Re:Google: 90% of our engineers use the software you wrote (... by jlees on Thursday June 11, 2015 @05:05PM (#9702432)
I've definitely seen interviewers (both by reading other people's feedback, and in one rare case, being an interviewee) who expected a "correct" answer and wouldn't work with the candidate to get there if they didn't already know it.

See also: overused brainteasers. I remember being asked the 5 litre / 3 litre / get 4 litres problem for my Microsoft intern interview, and honestly told them that I already knew the answer, so I wouldn't be "solving" it, but here it is anyway...

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Google: 90% of our engineers use the software you wrote (... by rnovak on Friday June 12, 2015 @01:58AM (#9704294)
I've seen the same thing, but I tried to account for it in the 10-15% of cases where I haven't had success.

Once I notice that it's not really going well, I try to politely as possible suggest that maybe we adjourn, so as to not waste each others' time. That hasn't really ever backfired, and actually turned one rejection into an offer, but I find it's polite to respect everyones' time.

[ Parent | on HN ]