How many golf balls can fit on a school bus? How to pass an interview: tricky questions and tasks when hiring in large companies and their solutions.
Those who would like to work at Google should know that:
- Google Prefers Ivy League People
- They are interested in your grades (at the institute), even if you are already over 30
- They are looking for people who want to change the world
Even worse, if you meet all of these criteria, you still have to interview.
Here are 15 Google interview questions that might make you feel stupid.
Position: Project manager
Answer
This is one of the questions Google asks to see how a job seeker is looking to solve a problem.
Reader Matt Beauchamp found a good answer:
I envisioned a standard school bus that was 8 feet wide, 6 feet high, and 20 feet long—I know this from thousands of hours spent on the bus in traffic jams.
That means 960 cubic feet, 1728 cubic inches per cubic foot, which means about 1.6 million cubic inches.
I calculated that the volume of the golf ball is about 2.5 cubic inches (4/3 * pi * .85), since the radius of the ball is .85 inches.
Dividing 1.6 million by 2.5 cubic inches gives us 660,000 balls. However, since there are also seats and other nonsense taking up space, and the spherical shape of the ball means that there will be quite a lot of empty space between them. I reduced the value to 500,000 balls.
Sounds funny. I think I could place no more than 100 thousand, but I believe in my mathematical abilities.
Of course, if we were talking about the bus that George W. Bush took to school, that would be half... or 250,000 balls.
Position: Project manager
Answer
...every family continues to have children until a boy appears. If they have a girl, they have another child. If they have a boy, they stop. What is the ratio of boys to girls in such a country?
Position: Project manager
Answer
The answer to this question was controversial, but we came to the following solution:
- Imagine that there are 10 families with 10 children. 5 would be girls, 5 would be boys (10 in total)
- 5 couples who have girls will give birth to five more. Half (2.5) will be girls. Half (2.5) will be boys. We add 2.5 boys to the existing 5 and 2.5 girls to the remaining 5. (total children: 15, of which 7.5 are boys and 7.5 are girls)
- Now 2.5 couples need to give birth to 2.5 children. Half (1.25) will be boys and half (1.25) will be girls. We add 1.25 boy to the already existing 7.5 and 1.25 girl to those 7.5. (Total children: 17.5, of which 8.75 boys and 8.75 girls)
- And so on, adhering to the 50/50 principle
Position: Project manager
Answer
We would answer like this: “Depending on the quantity. If a piano needs to be tuned once a week and it takes one hour, and the tuner works 8 hours a day for 5 days a week, that would mean 40 pianos need tuning every week. Our answer: one for 40 pianos"
Position: Software Developer
Answer
So that she does not fall inside the hatch.
Position: Product Manager
Answer
Position: Product Manager
Answer
22 times. From WikiAnswers:
00:00
1:05
2:11
3:16
4:22
5:27
6:33
7:38
8:44
9:49
10:55
12:00
13:05
14:11
15:16
16:22
17:27
18:33
19:38
20:44
21:49
22:55
Explain the meaning of the expression “dead beef”
Position: Software Developer
Answer
Our (incorrect) answer: A piece of meat (beef) is no longer alive. But this is wrong for the developer.
Correct answer from the reader:
DEADBEEF is a hexadecimal value that was used for debugging in the days of large mainframes because the token was very easy to find in hex dumps. Most people with computer education should have seen this at least in assembly language classes, which is why Google expects the Software Developer to know about it.
“0xDEADBEAF” (“dead beef”) was used on an IBM RS/6000 system, Mac OS on a 32-bit PowerPC processor and a Commodore Amiga as the magic value for debugging. On Sun Microsystem's Solaris, this value indicated free kernel memory. On OpenVMS running on Alpha processors, DEAD_BEEF can be seen by pressing CTRL-T.
The man drove his car towards the hotel but failed. Why?
Position: Software Developer
Answer
He got stuck on the curb. (Unpleasant, right?)
You need to check if Bob has your phone number listed correctly...
But you can't ask him about it directly. You need to write a question on a piece of paper and give it to Eve, who will take it to Bob and bring back an answer from him. What should you write on a piece of paper, other than a direct question, so that Bob can understand the message and Eve cannot find out your phone number?
Position: Software Developer
Answer
Since you're just "testing," ask him to call at a certain time. If he doesn't do this, it means he doesn't have your number.
Too easy? Response from reader: “In this case, you need to use a checksum. Have Bob add up all the numbers in your number and write the result on a piece of paper, then give it back to you.”
You are the captain of a pirate ship...
...and your team is going to vote on how to split up the stolen gold. If less than half of the pirates agree with you, you will die. How will you divide the gold so that you get a good share of the spoils, but still stay alive?
Position: Technical manager
Answer
It is necessary to divide the spoils evenly among 51% of the entire team.
...7 of them are the same weight, and one weighs a little more than the rest. find the ball that is heavier than the others using balance and only two weighings?
Position: Product Manager
Answer
Take 6 of the 8 balls and place 3 on each side of the scale. If the heavy ball is in this group of balls, you have 2 more to put on the scale and solve the problem. If the heavy ball is in the first group of 6 balls, take the 3 that are heavier. Of these three, put two on the scale. If one outweighs, then you have found it. If they weigh the same, then your ball is the one you set aside.
...and you have access to a 100-story building. Eggs can be either very strong or very fragile, which means that they can break if thrown from the first floor, or not break even if thrown from the 100th floor. Both eggs are absolutely identical. You need to find out the highest floor of a 100-story building from which eggs can be thrown without breaking. The question is how many attempts you need to make. You can only break two eggs.
Position: Product Manager
Answer
Largest quantity attempts - 14 times.
Instead of breaking down floors 10 at a time, start at floor 14, then go up 13 floors, then 12, then 11, then 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4 until you reach you'll get to 99. If the egg broke on the 100th floor, there would be 12 attempts (or 11 if you assume the egg breaks on the 100th floor).
Suppose, for example, that we found out that the 49th is the top floor where the egg did not break, then our attempts: 14th, 27th, 39th, 50th (the egg broke on the 50th floor ), plus 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46. 47, 48 and 49 floors, 14 attempts in total.
Explain what a Database is in three sentences, just like your 8 year old nephew would do.
Position: Product Manager
Answer
The main goal here is to evaluate the applicant's ability to translate a complex idea into simple language. Here's our attempt: "A database is a machine that remembers a large number of information about different things. People use it to remember this information. Let's go play football."
...and your mass was proportionally reduced according to your density. Now you've been thrown into an empty blender jar. The knives will start moving after 60 seconds. What to do?
Position: Product Manager
The author of the article is John Zap. He was a newspaper reporter and editor until he got the idea to start his first website in 1994. Not being a recruiter, he created job sites and sold advertising services to recruiters and employers. His income from this activity alone reached $2.5 million.
You might suspect that those fancy interview puzzles made famous by Google, Microsoft, and other companies that make Glassdoor's annual Top 25 list are essentially a waste of time.
You're right. And even none other than Laszlo Bock himself says so. He is senior vice president of human resources at Google and in his interview with New York Times he bluntly called it "a waste of time." "They're not predicting anything," he told the newspaper. “They serve primarily to make the interviewer feel smart.”
That's why the Google question that made Glassdoor's list this year was "How many cows are there in Canada?" - will not serve as evidence in determining whether the person being interviewed can do the job. Other frank confession The problem is that university grades and test scores have almost no relationship with academic performance. future work. Google no longer asks for transcripts, except for newly graduated students. For everyone else, according to Bock newspaper The Times: “We found that they didn’t predict anything.”
A haven for PhDs, Google is now accepting employees who have no college degrees at all.
What happened to change Google's hiring practices? And this change was driven by the analysis of a large database of employees, based on their productivity and the criteria used in the selection of personnel. A study comparing tens of thousands of interview scores to the performance of selected candidates found a null correlation. But the behavioral interview, as Bok reports, has a relationship.
“What works well is a structured behavioral interview that has a strong rubric on how you evaluate people,” he said, explaining.
“What's interesting about behavioral interviewing is that when you ask someone to talk about their experience and you dive into it, you get two types of information. First, you understand how people actually behave in a real situation, and second, valuable “meta” information is what candidates find difficult.”
This is not the first time Bok has spoken about Google's leadership selection process. A few months ago, at The Economist's Ideas Economy innovation forum, he said that the key parameter in selecting candidates was "workability and ability to learn."
“We would actually rather accept smart, curious people than people who are experts in one field or another,” he told the forum audience. Why? Because experts tend to make decisions that duplicate their knowledge, rather than taking new, potentially better directions.
Plus, he said that Google is in no hurry in choosing candidates, all such decisions are made jointly. “We do not allow the manager who selects the employee to make this decision alone.”John Zappe, Ere.net
Did you think that after receiving your diploma you would no longer have to solve problems? Not so! Employers love to ask different tasks and puzzles. So don't relax! The question of hiring is the most important question after receiving a diploma. Of course, everyone strives to find a job they like. Are you getting ready to decide on a job? Let's take a look at what challenges candidates may face when interviewing at top large companies. And at the same time we will practice logical thinking.
In case you are about to have an interview soon: read our article about how to behave when talking with HR.
What tasks might you be asked during an interview?
Logical tasks at an interview. Such tasks are often encountered in interviews and can be offered either in text format or as a test. Employers often select different tasks depending on the specialty for which the employee is hired. Very often, IT and sales specialists are faced with logical problems when hiring.
Math problems for interviews. Typically, such problems require basic knowledge of mathematics. Most math interview problems do not require you to take the triple integral or solve differential equation in partial derivatives. Although there are rare exceptions.
By the way, about how to solve systems linear equations read our separate article.
Analytical tasks. These problems are a kind of synthesis of mathematical and logical problems. The subject is asked to consider the case, evaluate all the circumstances, identify strong and weak sides, and then make a decision regarding the described situation.
Non-standard tasks and questions. Such tasks require logical thinking, but not only! To solve them, you will have to take a non-standard approach and look at the situation from different angles.
Interview tasks
And now for your attention 5 logical tasks that require a non-standard approach and logical thinking. Try to solve them yourself, and then look at the answers.
Google interview task
Google likes to test your ability to think outside the box. Here is one of the tasks that was asked when applying for a job at Google.
There are scales and 8 balls of the same type and size. One of them is heavier than the others. Find the ball that is heavier. Weighing can only be carried out 2 times.
Answer: First you need to divide all the balls into three groups. In two groups - each 3 ball, and in one - 2 . First, we place three balls on one pan of the scales, and three on the other. The group with the heavy ball will outweigh. Then we weigh any two balls from this group. If the balls weigh the same, then the heavy one is the one that remains.
If the groups 3 balls weighed the same, then you need to weigh the remaining two balls and find the heavy one.
Adobe interview task
To get a job at Adobe, show the ability to think logically.
Sheldon Cooper stands in front of two doors. One door leads to treasure, and the second to a labyrinth in which he, Sheldon, will definitely get lost and disappear. There is a guard at every door. Each guard knows where his door leads, but one of them always tells the truth, and the second always lies. What should Sheldon ask the guards to find out which door leads to the treasure? You can only ask one question to one guard.
Answer: Sheldon can ask any guard: which door, in the other’s opinion, is the right one, that is, leading to the treasure? If you ask a truthful guard, he will point to the right door. Another guard will lie about the door that the truthful guard points to, thereby also pointing to the right door.
By the way! For our readers there is now a 10% discount on
Microsoft interview task
Imagine: there is an unlimited supply of water and two buckets 5 And 3 liters How to measure using them 4 liter?
Answer: Boyce Willis was given the same task in Die Hard 3 . Only life was at stake there, not hiring.
Take and fill a five liter bucket. We fill a three-liter bucket from it. Remains in a big bucket 2 liters Then we empty the small bucket and pour two liters from the large one into it. Fill the large bucket again. We fill a small bucket from it, adding one liter. Remains in a big bucket 4 liters
Just a challenge of ingenuity
Popular interview question:Why is the sewer manhole round?
Answer: Everything is very simple. The lids are made round so that they do not fall into the hatch when it is opened. By the way, a circle is the most common shape of a manhole cover, but there are also triangular covers.
An example of a non-standard task from Google
Here's another Google interview task:
How many golf balls can fit on a school bus?
Answer: There is no clear answer to this problem. It is the course of decision and thought that is important. For our realities, we can reformulate the condition and ask: how many samovars will fit in a Lada. The essence will remain the same.
You need to roughly imagine the dimensions of the bus, knowing the radius of the golf ball, calculate its volume, take into account the error when calculating the volume of the bus and give an approximate answer.
Math problems for interviews
Here's a popular math problem that you might encounter when applying for a job:
B 0 0.00 hours it's raining. Is there a possibility that after 72 Will it be sunny?
Answer: With the help of simple mathematical operations you can understand that No. 72 hours - exactly three days. This means that after this time it will be midnight again and there simply cannot be any sunny weather.
We wish you out-of-the-box thinking and powerful work both hemispheres of the brain, which will help you correctly answer all non-standard interview questions. And if you suddenly need help in solving problems, contact them, who are always in full combat readiness.
This article tells how one developer studied for 8 months to be as prepared as possible for a Google interview.
My whiteboard covered with Dijkstra's algorithm for finding the shortest path.
That's right, I spent hundreds of hours writing code, reading books, and watching video lectures on data analysis, all in order to prepare for an interview at Google for a software developer position.
If you would also like to prepare for your Google interview, then here is my study plan.
How did I come to this
I started programming in high school, but when it came time to go to college, I decided to get a degree in economics. I was driven by the feeling that there would be too many programmers, job seekers, by the time I finish studying. Believe me, I was wrong.
A little later, I joined the army to become a programmer, but the recruiter persuaded me to join the ranks military intelligence, so I spent the next two years learning Korean. After that I served for two years in South Korea.
Before leaving the army, I tried to get back into programming and was amazed at how difficult it turned out to be. I learned BASIC in high school and continued programming in it in college, but then I started learning C++ and realized what a big gap in my knowledge there was.
I liked making websites, but I used services to create them rather than building them from scratch.
After the army, I decided to stay in Korea for another year and teach English there. I spent my evenings and weekends learning web programming using Perl, HTML, CSS (which, by the way, had just come out by then), JavaScript, and SQL. After a year of intensive study, I took a job in the Seattle area.
I work on the balcony overlooking beautiful Bellevue.
I was a web developer for 15 years. I've founded three companies, two of which are still in existence today and are making good profits, worked in both large and small companies, helped launch and promote startups, hired and managed entire teams, I've been a product manager, CEO, designer and a marketer.
I've had a successful career and learned a lot, but I'm not done yet!Looking for change
Remember when I didn't get my computer science degree? This played a huge role.
A couple of years ago I thought that any company would gladly hire me. Of course, it seemed to me that I was a hot thing: an experienced full-stack developer, and with such and such experience! But throughout my job search in 2013, I realized that my skills were not enough. I got so caught up in chasing money by launching startups in free time, which allowed my skills to simply atrophy. I didn't keep up with new trends and technologies.For years I studied and learned a lot, I had a lot of knowledge and skills, but I was not an expert in any field.
Don't get me wrong, I could still get hired, but not in the areas I wanted to work in. I could only go to work where they used an outdated technology stack, because that was all I knew. There is still a lot of money in such places, but I did not see any interesting prospects there.
Awareness of the problem peaked last year at a job fair. I was interested in working for one of the local companies, which was a startup launched by a venture capital firm. However, the fact that I did not have scientific degree in the field of computer science, and therefore the skills that I would receive there, meant that I did not stand a chance.At the beginning of 2016, I decided that it was time to retrain from a web developer to a software developer. I had to study hard and practice my skills a lot in order to learn everything they teach at university in a couple of months. But I knew that once I did that, I could start a new career.
How it all started
You may not realize that web development and software development are two different things. Yes, of course, both developments involve programming, but software development also requires knowledge of data structures, algorithms, compiled programming languages, understanding of how memory works, and so on. Large companies that hire software developers expect candidates to have this knowledge.
I met a man who works at Google and asked about his impressions of the company. I read “How Google Works” and was already quite familiar with the organization of work in this company.
From another friend, I received a copy of the Google practice notes that are provided for interviewing candidates. This became the basis of my curriculum. Google is a great employer, but even before I knew it, working there was my goal.
Why Google?
Google has a very high bar when hiring employees, they only want to hire the best, so if I want to reach the top (work at Google, for example), then I will be a very sought-after developer, even if I fail to get an interview at this company.
The more I learned about Google, the more I wanted to work there.
In short, Google is a company that hires smart, creative people and pays them handsomely. Google rewards good qualities, supports big ideas and gives employees the freedom to make decisions that benefit users.
It's been a long time since people ask puzzles at interviews. Today, candidates are selected based on their ability to write code, technical knowledge, and Google-ness. This word means a lot of things, believe me.
On my way to achieving my dream in 2015, I visited the Googleplex in Mountain View, California. This trip planted thoughts in my head.
Google's hiring people have learned what will work over time; they use data and employee feedback to improve selection, hiring, incentives, compensation, and so on. Read the Work Rules! to find out more.
Remember those practice notes that someone I know gave me telling me what I should learn? The list seemed doable even though I didn’t know anything that was on the list. I wrote down all the topics from the notes into the curriculum and began to supplement it with a list YouTube video and lectures from MIT and UC Berkeley. The list began to grow.
I published my list on GitHub because I needed to make a portfolio. Initially, I called this project “Project 9894”. Google launched on September 4, 1998. Hence, in fact, the name. A little later, I renamed it “Preparing for an interview at Google.”
After some time, I added a couple more topics that were interesting to me and turned out to be useful on my path.
My summer reading list and more.
I was stunned that I had accomplished so much in my career without even knowing how a processor processed a program, how memory worked, and so on. I just “knew enough to do my job.”
My little GitHub project was included in the daily GitHub trends list. He was #1 on this list for several days.
A lot of good people thanked me and encouraged me. It turned out that thousands of people not only want to work at Google, but specifically as a software developer, and my list turned out to be exactly what they had been looking for for so long.
There are currently over 21,000 ratings.
I still can't believe it.What if I don't get the job?
It won't be the end of the world.
I put a lot of effort and time into getting hired as a developer at Google, but if I don't get an interview with that company, I'll still have the skills and knowledge to work in my desired role at any other company. companies. I'm not afraid to make mistakes, I understand perfectly well that I will. I also want to learn everything I can and be a great addition to any team.Don't study as much as me
Yes, it only took me 8 months. But I could shorten the process even further. As with everything we start doing, with big plans and goals, I made mistakes and wasted time. There are many things I would do differently if I had the chance!
I studied topics that were unnecessary to me. Sometimes because I thought they would be useful to me in an interview, sometimes because I just wanted to know more when I got to work. I didn't want to be ballast for the team I would be working for. It simply turned into over-preparing.
I spent three weeks reading a book on C++. I don't remember any of the 1000 pages, but now I know a little about this language. It so happened that during the interview I used Python, not C++. I thought I needed to know C++, C or Java, but I was wrong. You need to ask, not assume.
I've read a lot more books than I needed. I only needed knowledge from three or four books. I had a catalog of hundreds of algorithms to learn, most of which I didn't even expect to try during the interview. Don't do what you don't need!
A set of algorithms printed for viewing.
I watched hundreds of hours of YouTube videos when I could have done much less, and covered far more topics than I should have.
Distributed repetition is the key to memorization.
When you have learned something, repeat it a little later, and then again, a little later. With each repetition you strengthen your knowledge. Spending dozens of hours at a time mastering one thing will not make you an expert. You will become one only after repetition after some time. If you try, you will see for yourself how you will come to the point that over time you will no longer forget even the details.
To make it easier to remember, I made 1,792 electronic cards, which had a variety of questions on many topics. I watched them on my phone or tablet every time I had a free minute. Card repetition and distributed repetition go hand in hand. If I answered a question on a card correctly, I still don’t mark it as “learned.” I leave it as is and only when I answer it correctly many times, then I mark it accordingly.
My fear (“What if they ask me about red-black trees?”) led me to learn far more than I needed to.
But I didn't just want to prepare for interviews, I wanted to prepare for a career at Google by truly deciding big problems. This means that I must know algorithms that will use computing resources economically.I may never need the Ford-Fulkerson algorithm (solves the problem of finding the maximum flow in a transport network - translator's note), but it's nice to know that I have this knowledge in case I need it.
Conclusion
From the very beginning, I, of course, wanted to skip all the training and just run to the interview and be accepted, so that I could immediately learn the languages and master the tools needed by the team I would be on. But during these eight months I realized how important the knowledge I received was. And even though I can't use all the skills I've learned every day, I'm still glad I made the effort to learn it all. I have a new understanding of how a computer works, achievements in mastering this knowledge, in mastering data structures and algorithms. I now know how they complement each other and how a computer works at a low level. I passed long haul- almost a year.
I have an amazing future ahead of me.
Thank you for taking the time to read my story!Translation: Roman Mirzoyan
As can be seen from the above note, personnel service Google has a fair sense of humor - and shows it in interview questions when selecting candidates for “highly intelligent” positions. The answers to them are ambiguous and may vary, without necessarily repeating the opinion of the editors of Vesti.Ekonomika. The demand for originality, productivity and speed of thinking is understandable if we're talking about about innovative developments and the planetary scale of their use.
Meanwhile, these questions are addressed mainly to such abilities as Calculations and Abstract Logic (to use the terminology of our laboratory’s intelligent diagnostic methods). The real business environment places demands, among other things, on the development of Memory, Erudition, Vocabulary, Information Processing and Spatial Thinking - of course, in varying degrees, however, in our Business IQ test they can be analyzed within one respondent profile, and its tasks echo the Google methodology, being a reflection of modern organizational reality.
Editorial website
If in Russia the majority of job seekers would like to work at Gazprom, then in the world for several years Google has been leading such a rating. The selection of new employees for an innovative company is quite strict; They prepare for the interview several months in advance, as if it were a very difficult exam.
Here are some facts. Google prefers to recruit employees from graduates of eight private American universities (Ivy League): Brown University, Harvard, Princeton, University of Pennsylvania, Dartmouth College, Yale University, Columbia University, Cornell University.
Company representatives do not hide the fact that the grades received during training are important to them, even if the applicant is already over thirty. And one last thing: Google is looking for people who want to change the world.
Below are 15 questions you might be asked if you were interviewed at Google's office.
1. How many golf balls can fit on a school bus?
This is one of the questions that companies ask to see how the applicant is looking for a solution to a problem. One applicant had a good answer: "I pictured a standard school bus that is 8 feet wide, 6 feet high, and 20 feet long: these are approximate dimensions based on my observations while stuck in traffic for long periods behind a school bus. That means 960 cubic feet, 1,728 cubic inches to a cubic foot, which means about 1.6 million cubic inches. I calculated that the volume of the golf ball is about 2.5 cubic inches (4/3 * pi * 0.85), since the radius of the ball is 0.85 inches Dividing 1.6 million by 2.5 cubic inches equals 660,000 golf balls. However, with bus seats and other things taking up space, and the spherical shape of the ball, I assumed there would be quite a lot in between. free space. And I rounded the value to 500 thousand balls."
2. How much money would it cost you to clean all the windows in Seattle?
Position: Product Manager
This is one of those questions where you need to call on your ingenuity to help and give the simplest answer. We would answer: “$10 per window.”
3. In a country where people only want boy children, every family continues to have children until a boy is born. If they have a girl, they have another child. If it's a boy, they stop. What is the ratio of boys to girls in such a country?
Position: Product Manager
The answer to this question caused lively discussions, as a result we came to the following solution. Imagine that there are 10 families with 10 children: 5 girls, 5 boys (10 in total). Next, 5 couples who have girls will give birth to five more children. Half (2.5) will be girls, half (2.5) will be boys. We add 2.5 boys to the 5 already born and 2.5 girls to the existing 5 (a total of 15 children, of which 7.5 are boys and 7.5 are girls). Now 2.5 couples with girls need to give birth to 2.5 children. Half (1.25) will be boys and half (1.25) will be girls. We add 1.25 boys to the already existing 7.5 and 1.25 girls to those 7.5. (There are 17.5 children in total, of which 8.75 are boys and 8.75 are girls.) And so on, adhering to the 50/50 principle.
4. How many piano tuners are there in the world?
Position: Product Manager
We would answer: "As many as the market requires. Let's say a piano needs to be tuned once a week and it takes one hour, and the tuner works 8 hours a day for 5 days a week. That would mean 40 pianos require weekly tuning. Our answer: one for every 40 pianos."
5. Why is the manhole cover round?
Position: software developer
Answer. So that it cannot fall inside the hatch when installing or dismantling it (the rectangular cover easily fits into the hatch body diagonally).
6. Develop an evacuation plan for San Francisco.
Position: Product Manager
Answer. Again, they look at how the applicant approaches solving the problem. We would begin our answer with the question: “What disaster is planned for today?”
7. How many times a day do the clock hands coincide in the same position?
Position: Product Manager
Answer. 22 times. From WikiAnswers: 00:00, 1:05, 2:11, 3:16, 4:22, 5:27, 6:33, 7:38, 8:44, 9:49, 10:55, 12:00 , 13:05, 14:11, 15:16, 16:22, 17:27, 18:33,19:38, 20:44, 21:49, 22:55
8. Explain the meaning of the expression Dead beef (literally: dead meat)
Position: software developer
Answer. DEADBEEF is a hexadecimal value that was used for debugging in the days of large mainframes because this marker was very easy to find in hexadecimal dumps. Most people with a computer background should have seen this at least in assembly language classes, which is why Google expects a software developer to know about it. 0xDEADBEAF (dead beef) was used by IBM RS/6000, Mac OS on 32-bit PowerPC and Commodore Amiga systems as a magic value for debugging. On Sun Microsystem's Solaris, this meant free kernel memory. On OpenVMS running on Alpha processors, DEAD_BEEF can be seen by pressing CTRL-T.
9. The man drove his car towards the hotel, but failed. What's happened?
Position: software developer
Answer. He got stuck on the curb. (Unpleasant, right?)
10. You need to check whether your friend Bob has your phone number recorded correctly or not. But you can't ask him about it directly. You need to write a question on a piece of paper and give it to Eve, who will take it to Bob, and then bring back his answer. What should you write on a piece of paper (no direct question) so that Bob can understand the message and Eve cannot find out your phone number?
Position: software developer
Answer. Since you're just testing, ask him to call at a certain time. If he doesn't do this, it means he doesn't have your number. Too easy? Another possible answer: “In this case, you need to use a checksum. Have Bob add up all the numbers in your number and write the result on the sheet, then give it back to you.”
11. You are the captain of a pirate ship, and your crew is going to vote on how to divide the stolen gold. If less than half of the pirates agree with you, you will die. How do you divide the gold so that you get a good share of the loot, but still stay alive?
Position: technical manager
Answer. It is necessary to divide the loot equally among 51% of the entire team.
12. You have 8 balls of the same size. 7 of them are the same weight, and one weighs a little more than the rest. Find the ball that is heavier than the others using a balance scale and only two weighings?
Position: Product Manager
Answer. Take 6 of the 8 balls and place 3 on each side of the scale. If the heavy ball is not in this group of balls, you have 2 more to put on the scale and solve the problem. If the heavy ball is in the first group of 6 balls, take the 3 that were outweighed during the first weigh-in. Of these three, put two on the scales. If one outweighs, then you have found it. If they weigh the same, then your ball is the one you put aside.
13. You have 2 eggs and access to a 100-story building. Eggs can be either very strong or very fragile, which means that they can break if dropped from the first floor, or not break even if they are thrown from the 100th floor. Both eggs are exactly the same. You need to find out which floor of this building will be the highest in order to preserve the integrity of the eggs when falling from it. Question: How many attempts do you have to make to find out the highest floor? And you can only break two eggs.
Position: Product Manager
Answer: The largest number of attempts is 14 times. Instead of breaking down floors 10 at a time, you start at floor 14, then go up another 13 floors, then 12, then 11, then 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, until you reach you'll get to 99. If the egg broke on the 100th floor, there would be 12 attempts (or 11 if you assume the egg breaks on the 100th floor). Suppose, for example, that we found out that the 49th floor is the highest floor where the egg did not break, then our attempts are: 14th, 27th, 39th, 50th (the egg broke on the 50th floor ) plus 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48 and 49 floors - a total of 14 attempts.
14. Explain what a database is in three sentences so your 8-year-old nephew can understand
Position: Product Manager
Answer. The main purpose of this question is to assess the applicant's ability to explain a complex idea in simple words. Here's our attempt: "A database is a machine that remembers a lot of information about different things. People use it to remember that information whenever they need to. Let's go play."
15. You were shrunk to the size of a nickel and your mass was proportionally reduced to match your density. You are thrown into an empty blender glass. The knives will start moving after 60 seconds. What to do?
Position: Product Manager
Answer. This question assesses the applicant's creativity. We would try to break the electric motor.
