Are Brain Teasers Good Hiring Criteria? 672
theodp writes "Your brain teaser prowess may win you a job at Google, but the folks at 37signals don't hire programmers based on puzzles, API quizzes, math riddles, or other parlor tricks. 'The only reliable gauge I've found for future programmer success,' explains 37signals' David Heinemeier Hansson, 'is looking at real code they've written, talking through bigger picture issues, and, if all that is swell, trying them out for size.'"
Those of you who have hired employees: have you seen correlation between interview puzzle success and job competency? How should an interviewee best handle these questions?
Re:It's important to understand (Score:5, Informative)
Google isn't giving brain teasers to find good programmers.
Google does *not* give brain teasers for engineering positions, and haven't been for the last 5+ years.
The WSJ article is based on urban legends, and *very* dated information.
Re:I had a hedge fund ask me physics problems (Score:5, Informative)
I work as a quant in the hedge fund industry and use puzzles in the reverse way described here to weed out physics and math/finance majors that can't program well enough. I give them a programming puzzle (rather than a physics or math puzzle) and grade their performance. I am usually not hiring these people for their programming skills but I cannot afford having a math whiz that requires support from professional programmers in order to be productive. The most productive quants in my industry are the ones who are also programming whizzes.
If the job involved solving puzzles... (Score:5, Informative)
If you're hiring a sales guy, your interview should test his persistence, resilience, likability, and perhaps ability to hold his liquor.
If you're hiring a customer service rep, your interview should test their patience, politeness, and thoroughness at collecting information.
If you're hiring an engineer, solving puzzles is part of the job, brain teasers are one quick way to gauge how a potential hire will respond to the kind of task the job requires.
As for hiring HR staff, I'm not really sure how to judge them, other than the fact that any good person I've ever encountered in HR didn't stay in the job for long.
Re:It's important to understand (Score:4, Informative)
You're information is only somewhat accurate. A typical interview path for Google consists of about 7 interviews during which you're interviewed by at least a couple different people and although there is no official stance on asking such questions there are most definitely interviewers that do.
Re:Well, they're a good indicator of intelligence (Score:5, Informative)
God I always hate those fucking questions. "Why did you chose to apply with us?" Because I need a fucking job! Why else do people apply for a job? Why is that not enough?
If you repeat the question to yourself again, you'll see that the question is about why you are applying to that *particular* company, not why you need a job. Are you truly interested in what the company does and what practice area it is involved in, or as you say, are you applying only because "you need the fucking job". This helps the company determine if you are just going to be a pencil pusher clocking your time and going to be a sourpuss about it, or if you are going to kick some ass in your job.
"Where do you see yourself in five years?" Uh, gainfully employed? Do my life goals really matter to whether or not I can fill this position? What if I saw myself working at the fucking circus in five years, would that have a bearing on whether or not I was hired? Why? "What are your goals?" To make enough money to pay my bills with a little left over for fun once in a while? Is that too mundane?
I would imagine that just about *any* company would be interested in you want to do with your career and how the position will fit not just your current needs (bring food on the table as per your statement) but also your future needs as a person AND as a professional. Are you seriously tell me that you are an automaton - you just want to clock in your 8 hrs at work so you get your paycheck and aspire absolutely nothing else from your career??
Why would you react so strongly to an interviewer who is trying to understand your career aspirations? Its not like they are asking you how you lead your life or how you floss your teeth, the question is only about your career goals. Sooner or later, you will end up discussing this with your manager anyway.