Coding interview: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 05:42, 4 July 2022

Revision as of 21:43, 4 July 2022

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==Innovation==

Microsoft's interview style was distinctive in that it concerned technical knowledge, problem solving and creativity as opposed to the [[Job interview#Behavioral interview questions|goal and weaknesses interviews]] most companies used at the time. Initially based on [[Bill Gates]]'s obsession with puzzles, many of the puzzles presented during interviews started off being [[Fermi problem]]s, or sometimes logic problems, and have eventually transitioned over the years into questions relevant to programming.<ref name="Poundstone">{{cite book | last = Poundstone | author-link = William Poundstone | first = William | title = How Would You Move Mount Fuji | ___location = Boston | publisher = [[Little, Brown and Company]] | year = 2003 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/howwouldyoumovem00poun/page/50 50–90] | isbn = 0-316-91916-0 | url = https://archive.org/details/howwouldyoumovem00poun/page/50 }}</ref> As [[William Poundstone]] wrote, "Puzzles test competitive edge as well as intelligence. Like business or football, a logic puzzle divides the world into winners and losers. You either get the answer, or you don't. … Winning has to matter."<ref> name="Poundstone," page 62.</ref>{{rp|62}}

== Questions ==

The questions asked during a coding interview are crafted to determine a candidate's problem solving, coding and design abilities. Eccentric questions (such as "Which of the fifty states would you remove?") test a candidate's ability to come to a decision and articulate it.<ref> name=Poundstone, page />{{rp|67.}}</ref> Candidates answering questions should consider the use of technology in the present and future, and [[user scenarios]]. Some questions involve projects that the candidate has worked on in the past.

A coding interview is intended to seek out creative thinkers and those who can adapt their solutions to rapidly changing and dynamic scenarios.{{cn|date=July 2022}}

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[[File:Open Manhole and Cover Mid-City New Orleans.jpg|thumb|A round manhole and its cover]]

Microsoft popularized the question of why [[manhole covers]] are typically round (in some countries) when they began asking it as a job interview question.<ref name="Microsoft Puzzle BookPoundstone">{{cite book| last = Poundstone| first = William| title = How Would You Move Mount Fuji? Microsoft's Cult of the Puzzle – How the World's Smartest Company Selects the Most Creative Thinkers| publisher = Little, Brown| year = 2003| isbn = 0-316-91916-0| url = https://archive.org/details/howwouldyoumovem00poun}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Davis |first=Jim |url=http://www.joblossguide.com/2009/02/why-are-manhole-covers-round_10.html |title=Why Are Manhole Covers Round? |publisher=Joblossguide.com |date=2009-02-10 |access-date=2011-04-08 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110612064454/http://www.joblossguide.com/2009/02/why-are-manhole-covers-round_10.html |archive-date=June 12, 2011 |df=mdy }}</ref> Originally meant as a psychological assessment of how one approaches a question with more than one correct answer, the problem has produced a number of alternative explanations, from the [[tautology (rhetoric)|tautological]] ("Manhole covers are round because manholes are round.")<ref name="Microsoft Puzzle BookPoundstone" /> to the philosophical.

The practice of asking [[lateral thinking]] questions was later formally discouraged at Microsoft.{{cn|date=July 2022}}