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2010-01-31T22:56:39.000Z

You don't bury survivors - transcript of an interview (2007)

http://www.codeslate.com/2007/01/you-dont-bury-survivors.html

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2007

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code slate: you don't bury survivors

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More semi-coherent (at best) rambling from a software guy.

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

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.

38 comments:

Anonymous said...

niiiiiiice.

lb.
(secretgeek.net): Monday, January 29, 2007
Anonymous said...
Is this for real?!: Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Dave G said...
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.: Tuesday, February 27, 2007
The shadow... said...
Exactly! Nice deadpan!: Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Anonymous said...
very funny, I didnt know the 7.5 degrees though: Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Robert Claypool said...
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.: Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Anonymous said...
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.: Tuesday, February 27, 2007
lee said...
The only interview I've ever had with riddles: Microsoft. I'll let you draw your own conclusions.: Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Anonymous said...
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.: Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Gordon said...
Can you post the real riddle questions for those of us who are feeling stupid right now?: Tuesday, February 27, 2007
keithb said...
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": Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Jim Martin said...

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).: Wednesday, February 28, 2007
bsimser said...
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.: Tuesday, March 06, 2007
DanR said...
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.: Monday, March 12, 2007
Rocky Agrawal said...
That's too funny. For those who are interviewing, here are my interview questions.: Friday, March 23, 2007
Anonymous said...

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.: Sunday, May 27, 2007
Anonymous said...

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: Monday, June 11, 2007
SPuR said...

"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): Tuesday, January 08, 2008
Anonymous said...

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.: Sunday, January 20, 2008
Anonymous said...

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.: Sunday, January 20, 2008
Anonymous said...
"Actually, where I come from, clocks don't have hands. This is the 21st century after all.": Monday, July 28, 2008
jarhead said...
You know whats scary, i know the questions to most of the answers he gave...: Thursday, August 28, 2008
hribek said...

to 1. manholes. You think it would be good answer to say that it has something to do with pressure of the surrounding concrete (and other ingredients ...).

Or it makes lesser material and work to create a circle than a square of a same side / diameter.

I haven't realized people can roll there I thought they just miss the step and fall down. Then it makes some , little, sense to assume they catch the sides more easily or wont be damaged by edge?

I'd be probably fired I think ;)

Nice questions thouh :) Thanks for sharing: Thursday, March 19, 2009
Anonymous said...
how about D crosses the bridge first(with flashlight)(10mins). C crosses second(5mins). Lastly, A and B cross together(2mins).: Thursday, December 17, 2009
BillRo said...
Brilliant!: Thursday, March 04, 2010
vote1arielkingoftheworld said...
If the fuses burn inconsistently then there is no way to know if burning one end of fuse 2 for 30 seconds leave only 30 seconds of fuse to burn at both ends. I think that riddle is a bit of fail.: Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Anonymous said...
The second hand moves all around the clock for 3:15 haha, the angle could be any angle between 80ths of the clock depending on how awesome your Rolex is.: Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Anonymous said...

You do know because the rope is given to be timed at 60seconds total for burning. Otherwise it's meaningless, you're right.

You burn 30 seconds of a 60 second rope and 30 seconds necessarily remain, no matter what the length or distribution you have that satisfies this.: Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Anonymous said...

You can set-and-forget the fuze thing by looping fuze 2 so its ends touch the end of fuze 1. At the end of fuze 1, it lights both ends of fuze 2. In other words, lay them out like an "i".

iFuze!

Ok, I'm dumb...: Monday, May 09, 2011
Anonymous said...
Question 2: The answer given assumes that the bulb was switched off initially. Since that was not granted in the question text and you were allowed only one trip from the switch room to the bulb room the question has no safely correct answer.
But what I dislike more are those questions in IQ tests that ask me to find some pattern in a series of numbers (or shapes or whatever) and predict the next one in the sequence. E.g. what is the next number group in this sequence (and how long is the group?):
1, 1 1, 2 1, 1 2 1 1, 1 1 1 2 2 1, 3 1 2 2 1 1, ....: Wednesday, May 11, 2011
unix command interview questions and answers said...
most funny interview I have ever seen but I see the point :): Saturday, June 18, 2011
Alex Le said...
Awesome!: Friday, October 14, 2011
TRACY BARNES said...

Hey!!!

Thats nice .... and thanks for the sharing with us through this blog really we are very thankful to you.

Thank You....: Monday, November 07, 2011
Anonymous said...
I'd buy livestock insurance, barbecue the chickens and blame the fox.: Friday, March 09, 2012
Anonymous said...
Best.
Retort.
**EVAR**!: Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Anonymous said...
Best.
Retort.
**EVAR**!: Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Anonymous said...
The answer to the question about the angle between the hands assumes that both the hour hand and the minute hand are in the same plane. In a real analog clock, one hand is a little further on the z-axis than the other. Dealing with three dimensions will slightly change the angle.: Monday, May 28, 2012
Anonymous said...

You know years after the other comments, these type of questions are still being asked! I took a days holiday and spent time preparing UML diagrams, making sure I knew my design patterns, plus lots more.

Did any of that matter? Did it f*&k! Because the most important thing was getting divers out of a cave!

Good post.: Wednesday, January 29, 2014

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