Job Interview wants to ask me "Brain Teasers"

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: mjuszczak
My attitude is that I don't want to work for a company that is going to make me answer questions like "Why is a manhole round?" and "You have 16 socks in a drawer. You pull 4 out in the dark. How many are white if there were 6 of this and that and the other thing?"

I did a phone conversation today. I'm smart with what I do. My references would be amazing, and most of my bosses have really liked the work I've done.

So part of me wants to say "No thank you" to an interview where they want to ask me. I don't mind being grilled on my technical knowledge (every single company I've ever worked for has grilled me on technical knowledge, put me in situations challenging my technical knowledge (how would you handle this, where would you look, what would you do, etc).

But common. Why are man holes round? For an IT job?

So debating on canceling the interview.

Discuss.

It's COME ON! COME ON! COME ON! COME ON!

The idiot who started saying common for come on needs to be shot.
Saying common for come on is very common here - come on, guys!

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: panipoori
Try to answer the question, even if you dont get it right I'm sure they care more about the way you went through it rather then if you got it right or wrong.

but what if you have no idea how to try to even answer them?

if someone asked me the 2 questions in the OP i wouldn't have a damn clue.

 

[SpunkyJones]

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: mjuszczak
My attitude is that I don't want to work for a company that is going to make me answer questions like "Why is a manhole round?" and "You have 16 socks in a drawer. You pull 4 out in the dark. How many are white if there were 6 of this and that and the other thing?"

I did a phone conversation today. I'm smart with what I do. My references would be amazing, and most of my bosses have really liked the work I've done.

So part of me wants to say "No thank you" to an interview where they want to ask me. I don't mind being grilled on my technical knowledge (every single company I've ever worked for has grilled me on technical knowledge, put me in situations challenging my technical knowledge (how would you handle this, where would you look, what would you do, etc).

But common. Why are man holes round? For an IT job?

So debating on canceling the interview.

Discuss.

It's COME ON! COME ON! COME ON! COME ON!

The idiot who started saying common for come on needs to be shot.
Saying common for come on is very common here - come on, guys!

😀

 

[Nitemare]

Originally posted by: mjuszczak

Originally posted by: Mo0o
Jobs that require a lot of creativity and out-of-the-box thinking (god i hate that term but it fits) ask a lot of those questions.

I understand that.

And previous jobs have asked me to think on my feet.

If they ask me:

"Its 2:00 AM, a database box goes down, you're in this situation, and this is .... yada yada yada, how would you respond?"

I'd give a good answer.

If they ask me the sock question I probably won't do well. I don't think like that.

So should I go through the interview and just be honest and say "I don't know" during those questions?

They want someone who can think outside of the box. Go to the interview without pants and when they ask, say a 24 y/o guy goes to an inter view at x time on x day without pants, why does he do it?

They will appreciate your thinking and give you a job right there.

 

[Nitemare]

Originally posted by: MagnusTheBrewer

Originally posted by: mjuszczak

Originally posted by: panipoori
Try to answer the question, even if you dont get it right I'm sure they care more about the way you went through it rather then if you got it right or wrong.

OK.. This makes sense. I can definitely come up with answers to them. That isn't a problem at all. It's just a matter of finding the right one.

For instance, one of the questions I know they are going to ask me is "How many airplanes are there in Chicago?"

How am I supposed to know?

There aren't any airplanes in Chicago, only letters. 🙂

Wrong the answer is 42

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: mjuszczak
My attitude is that I don't want to work for a company that is going to make me answer questions like "Why is a manhole round?" and "You have 16 socks in a drawer. You pull 4 out in the dark. How many are white if there were 6 of this and that and the other thing?"

I did a phone conversation today. I'm smart with what I do. My references would be amazing, and most of my bosses have really liked the work I've done.

So part of me wants to say "No thank you" to an interview where they want to ask me. I don't mind being grilled on my technical knowledge (every single company I've ever worked for has grilled me on technical knowledge, put me in situations challenging my technical knowledge (how would you handle this, where would you look, what would you do, etc).

But common. Why are man holes round? For an IT job?

So debating on canceling the interview.

Discuss.

It's COME ON! COME ON! COME ON! COME ON!

The idiot who started saying common for come on needs to be shot.
Saying common for come on is very common here - come on, guys!

Careful, with all yore ranting, ewe might hurt you're self.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have to post something for sell, though I'm fairly sure that noone will buy it. I would of posted it sooner, but didn't have time.

 

[Mark R]

Originally posted by: DrPizza
seems to me that those "brain teasers" will actually give the company some indication of intelligence and problem solving ability. Anyone can get an A in college classes. I've known way too many people who are "book smart" but can't apply that knowledge.

QFT.

The problem with standardized qualifications, is that they may not discriminate adequately. It may be possible to rote learn your way into a qualification, but that doesn't make you good at your job.

There's more to working than just having the core knowledge of the subject at hand. The employer is looking for ability to think and tackle problems that haven't been considered before; an ability to spot obvious errors in logic; creativity and imagination and social capability. Most higher end jobs need some degree of imagination and social interaction.

Also remember than every company wants the best employees, it wants to select the best, leaving the dregs for its competitors, so it needs to have a selection method that will do what needs to be done.

So this is why you get questions like the man-hole one. It matters less that you get the answer right, but that you can show some sort of logical thought process:

E.g. Circles have a number of interesting properties. The circle is the shape with the highest area/perimeter ratio. This makes round manhole covers stronger than other shapes.
or
The circle has the best surface area/diameter ratio. This means that the circle is the smallest shape that would allow a piece of equipment with a certain diameter to pass.

These may not be the main reason, they may not even be right - but they show a clear method of reasoning, from a basic starting point - and that is more important that just coming out with an answer that you remember from browsing a forum.

There are lots of similar questions - I recently saw one '"You are suddenly shrunk to 1:50 scale, keeping your proportions preserved, and placed in a blender which starts in 60 seconds. What do you do?"

The answer is simple: you jump. But I would want to hear some sort of reasoning - be it mathematical:
The energy expended by a muscle is proportional to its volume (which in this case is reduced by 1:50^3), the mass is also reduced proportionally to 1:50^3. Since the height you can jump h = E /mg - if you reduce E and M proportionally, the shrinking doesn't change the height you can jump (so unless the blender is 3 feet high, you'd have no problem jumping out).
or be it observationally:
I can jump about 50% my height. A bigger creature like an elephent can jump maybe 5%. A cat can jump 500% its height, and a flea 5000% its height. This suggests the height a creature can jump decreases much more slowly than its size - so a 50x reduction in size, may only reduce jump height by a factor of 5x - which would give a good chance of clearing the blender.

 

[sao123]

sounds like someone has turned into a cranky IT interviewee who expects to be a lifelong information regurgitator...

those who cannot think critically and make an educated guess about a subject in which you have zero expertise are doomed to be a paper or plastic guy forever.

 

[RFtesla]

I had a whole slew of these brain teasers when I was interviewing for an IT position at my university.