Microsoft Brain Teaser

Q.

You have 4 jars of pills. Each pill is a certain weight, except for contaminated pills contained in one jar, where each pill is weight + 1. How could you tell which jar had the contaminated pills in just one measurement?

A. I would take a pill out bottle 1, and a pill out of bottle 2. I would put pill 1 and bottle 3 on scale and then pill 2 and bottle 4 on the other side of the scale. If the scale tips a lot on one side, the bottle on that side will have the contiminate. If scale tips a little on one side, the pill on that side is the contaminate. If it's not a balance scale....

Let me think... I don't think I could figure out a way to find the contaminated pills with no comparison...

Q.You are an airport manager. You need to fit a 1.5 mile runway onto a 1mi square plot of land (1 mi by 1 mi). How do you do it?

A. Well the diagonal is square root of 2 which is about 1.41 so that won't work. What about down hill? Or off a cliff? Does it have to be straight runway? Circle? Maybe the the plane can turn? Ok I got it. Make an elevator that lifts the plane on to a ramp that's 1.5 miles long. The base is 1 mile but because your height can be over 1 mile high, your third side can be 1.5 miles long. I think there might be a more practical way but that's what I came up. Actually it makes more sense to make the base the diagonal that way you don't have to make the incline so steep. So base is 1.41 miles, side is 1.5 and height will be 1.5^2-2^(.5)=.25, so your height is .5.

OK one more before bed.

Q.You've got someone working for you for seven days and a gold bar to pay them. The gold bar is segmented into seven connected pieces. You must give them a piece of gold at the end of every day. If you are only allowed to make two breaks in the gold bar, how do you pay your worker?

A. Wow. I don't know how to do this one. Even if you don't have to give equal sizes. Two breaks means only 3 parts. You have to pay at the end of every day. So what about I break it in 3+4. No. I break it into 1+6. I give him 1 the first day. Then day 2. I break 6 into 2+4. I give him 2 and he gives me back 1. He has 2 gold bars. I have a 1, and a 4. Day 3. I give him 1. He has 3. Day 4, he gives me 3 and I give him the 4 piece. Day 5. I give him 1. He has 1 and 4. I have 2. Day 6 I give him 2, he gives me 1. Day 7. I give him 1. Wow. I did it.

Very helpful article for job applicants.

Very helpful article for job applicants. If you going into an interview this week or next, you should take a skim.

If you’re wondering about your next job, there are a series of Rands articles which might make the transition easier. First off, there’s A Glimpse and a Hook, which will describe how managers read your resume. Then we’ve got The Sanity Check, which will prepare you for the phone screen. And finally, there’s Ninety Days, which sketches out a plan for the first three months of your new gig.

Structure

Before you start pushing buttons, you need to gather a little data about how your interview is constructed. Is it structured or unstructured?

In a structured interview, each person interviewing you has a specific topic area: people skills, technical skills, etc. This means that each interview has a specific purpose and no two interviews that day are going to be alike. Someone has put in effort to make sure the different interviewers don’t step on each other’s toes.

The unstructured interview is a free-for-all. There’s an interview list, but no one has been given guidance about what to ask, so they wing it. With each person who walks in the door, an unstructured interview is a study in personality identification. More on this in a moment when I explain about interview creatures.

In general, the participants in structured interviews come prepared. There is a process, which occurred before you showed up. This might have involved a pre-interview meeting. They’ve read your resume and each person is likely capable of carrying the interview.

Unstructured interviewers waste the first ten minutes of the interview doing the homework they should’ve done before you arrived. It’s annoying, but, as you’ll see, it’s a great way to figure out what they are about.

As an aside, my preferred use of interview time is a structured-unstructured hybrid. While I don’t give interviewers specific topics to cover, I’ve chosen specific people because I know they gravitate towards certain professional areas such as technical aptitude or cultural fit. This structural ambiguity means interviewers can creatively adapt their questions to each person while also assuring that I get a complete professional picture of the candidate.

Understanding the structure of the interview process gives you some of your first insight into the organization, but the information doesn’t start to flow until you stare at and understand your potential future co-workers.

Then he has advice on how to deal with certain types of people.

Interview Creatures

Pissed Off Pete

Pete’s agenda is obvious 30 seconds into the interview because he’s pissed off. This isn’t an interview; this is an opportunity for Pete to rant to a captive audience. He’s going to go through the motions by bringing in your resume and feigning interest, but all he really wants to do is gripe about “the situation”.

The Button: Ask anything. Doesn’t matter, Pete is going to twist the answer so that he can ramble some more about how screwed up “the situation” is.

Influence: Low. These interviews are normally a waste of time and there are two red flags to consider. First, who thought it was a good idea for Pete to interview you? Don’t they know he’s a one-trick rant pony? Second, why is Pete so pissed off? What kind of organization lets Pete get this tense?

Perhaps your best tactic with Pete is to spend as much time as possible understanding “the situation”. If it’s so bad that he’s going to ignore the opportunity of learning about you, a potential co-worker, maybe “the situation” is something you should understand before you consider joining the company. Even better, asking about “the situation” is a great button exploration technique in later interviews.

Chatty Patty

Yeah, Patty’s here, too. Again, this isn’t an interview. Patty loves to talk and the moment you ask anything, she’ll start and it’ll be hard to get her to stop.

The Button: Ask any question.

Influence: Like Pete, I have concerns about an organization that puts Patty on the interview schedule. Unlike Pete, Patty can be a huge source of information, so use the time well. She’ll answer any question: “Why do you love your job?”, “Who’s a jerk?”, “Why’s Pete so pissed off?”

Given that Patty is going to do most of the talking, her report on you is going to be vanilla and dull. Don’t sweat her.

Full Articles: http://www.randsinrepose.com/archives/2007/09/25/the_button.html