you don't bury survivors
(Overheard at a recent interview:)
So, Jeremy, tell me a little about yourself.
Because they'll roll and they can't fall down the hole. And because manholes are round.
Um, okay, how about your most recent project?
Turn on two switches, wait a while and turn one off. If the bulb is on, it's the one left on. If the bulb is off and warm, it was the one you switched off. Otherwise it's the one you didn't touch.
How big was the team you were on?
You don't bury survivors.
Uh, what was your contribution to the team?
Light both ends of fuse one and one end of fuse two. When fuse one burns out, light the other end of fuse two.
How would you deal with adding a feature to a late project?
A and B cross, A comes back, C and D cross, B comes back, A and B cross.
How would you handle a conflict between coworkers?
They're seven and a half degrees apart.
What programming languages are you most comfortable with?
Sometimes I'm too much of a perfectionist and I expect too much from my teammates.
You're hired.
20 comments:
niiiiiiice.
lb.
(secretgeek.net)
Is this for real?!
Hilarious! I got hit with these riddle questions once and it made me realize I never wanted to work for a company that used them.
Exactly! Nice deadpan!
very funny, I didnt know the 7.5 degrees though
I've been answering the one traditionally answered by "You don't bury survivors" with "Well it depends on when they die" and when they come back with the notion that you don't bury survivors, I say well even the survivors are going to die sometime, even if it's due to old age.
7.5 degrees is the angle between the hands of a clock at 3:15 (supposed to trap people into saying "zero degrees". Didn't know the fuse one though.
The only interview I've ever had with riddles: Microsoft. I'll let you draw your own conclusions.
I got the fuse one in an interview once. You have two fuses that burn at inconsistent rates, but they each burn completely in 30 seconds. How can you use the two fuses to count for 45 seconds.
Can you post the real riddle questions for those of us who are feeling stupid right now?
This is beautiful poetry. I want to see this performed on stage: imagine what a skilled voice artist could do with "you don't bury survivors"
I put the questions in a new post.
Thanks for all of the comments and kind words (well, except for that spammer guy I deleted).
I don't know what scarier. The fact that these answers are given in an interview or that I knew all the questions (and have had them in interviews) to the questions.
OH DAMN! I 'bout pee'd my pants! This was MUCH needed after the drivel I just endured over at CodingHorror. People just don't seem to understand that the guy who knows the low level bits of a language is probably great at embedded development, and yet he probably SUCKS at designing an SOA or similar large architecture. I can't tell you how many useless tidbits of trivia I've endured only to be met with a blank stare when design, scalability and maintainability discussions go into overdrive.
That's too funny. For those who are interviewing, here are my interview questions.
Angle between hands on 3:15 is zero degrees.
And it's a right answer. Because question did not specify which hands. So I can take any two of them.
I've had the manhole question a couple of times - if you say, 'Actually, where I come from, manholes are square.', it complete screws up the interviewer :)
alan
"Angle between hands on 3:15 is zero degrees.
And it's a right answer. Because question did not specify which hands. So I can take any two of them."
(Actually, I think it's because when the minute hand gets to the 3, the hour hand would have moved a quarter of the way to the next number. But I suppose you could answer with the distance between the second hand and one of the others)
>>Angle between hands on 3:15 is zero degrees.
>>And it's a right answer. Because question did not specify which hands. So I can take any two of them.
Which two DID you take?
Hour-minute: 7.5 degrees
Minute-second: 45 degrees
Hour-second: 52.5 degrees
Of course you could say 165 degrees - supposing the clock happened to be reading 12:30 even though the time was 3:15.
>>Minute-second: 45 degrees
>>Hour-second: 52.5 degrees
Whoops... Those were supposed to be 90 and 97.5 degrees respectively.
That's definitive proof of the hazards of sleep deprivation, right there.
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