Reddit reviews How Would You Move Mount Fuji?: Microsoft's Cult of the Puzzle -- How the World's Smartest Companies Select the Most Creative Thinkers

In my experience, the more experienced you are, the more an interview focuses on things like prior projects, architecture, teams, culture, etc. I just completed a job hunt where I interviewed with several major east/west-coast tech companies, and none of them asked LeetCode-style questions. I did get programming questions and take-home exercises, but they were practical ones (e.g., discussing a real-world problem the company has) or, surprisingly, lightweight bozo screens (e.g., traversing a tree and printing values).

But it really depends upon the company. My understanding is that Google's interviews still consist of multiple rounds of LeetCode-style questions, though I've also heard that's changing.

I've been involved in hiring at several companies now, and I think LeetCode-style interviews are on their way out. The more nimble a company is, the less-likely it is to ask you the traditional LeetCode-style whiteboarding question. It's the slower companies that are entrenched in their cargo-culted interview processes that still ask LeetCode-style questions, including some Big 4s and Unicorns. But that will change. No one asks "How would you move Mt. Fuji?" anymore. I imagine companies will continue asking programming questions, but I expect them to become more practical, typically covering the sort of problem you might encounter if given an offer.

I assume any such test is bullshit.

Seriously, I thought the fad of "why are manhole covers round?" had already (thankfully) passed.

But I'd expect cute little logic puzzles or riddles to be on it. There's a book called How Would You Move Mount Fuji that covers a lot of these sorts of questions.

>Do you find that the standard system of technical interviews (data structures & algorithms) is an effective way of assessing candidates? Why or why not?

When I was an undergraduate, the dominant interview approach involved brainteasers like "why are manhole covers round?" Initially, these were reliable indicators of future success. But after every other company started copying Microsoft mindlessly and asking the same set of questions, the approach quickly became less effective. People optimized for interview performance with books like How Would You Move Mount Fuji? and How to Ace the Brainteaser Interview.

Brainteasers were mostly phased out after Google introduced the current approach involving data structures and algorithms. Initially, these were reliable indicators of future success. But after every other company started copying Google mindlessly and asking the same set of questions, the approach quickly became less effective. People optimized for interview performance with books like Cracking the Coding Interview and Elements of Programming Interviews.

There are certainly parallels between what happened then and what's happening now. The difference today is that people have taken things to another level with platforms like Pramp and bootcamps like Interview Kickstart. New businesses keep popping up that focus on cracking the current system, and I don't think that bodes well for its future.

But what can we do about it? The fact is that any interviewing process can be cracked once its format becomes popular and standardized. Let's say that some major company like Facebook introduces a new standard that involves candidates giving two-hour presentations about significant personal projects and then answering tough questions from a committee. You may be familiar with this format if you've ever applied for a research position. I actually think this would be great for 2-3 years until everyone starts doing it and Gayle Laakmann McDowell or whoever publishes "Cracking the Personal Project Presentation." And then a bunch of new businesses will pop up to sell you slide templates, professional reviews, etc.

In short, I'm not a big fan of the current system (EDIT: because it's been "cracked") but I honestly don't know of a better one (EDIT: that won't suffer the same fate).

maybe they worked at microsoft and got in like the mid80s?

although then the process was arguably worse lol. "How would you move mt fuji?"

https://www.amazon.com/How-Would-Move-Mount-Fuji/dp/0316778494

etc

then again. for that id guess OP would just say something equally terrible. "you dont need to prepare for those, you either have the intelligence or you dont" or something that shows massive survivorship bias for luckily answering one of those super vague questions correctly 30 years ago

a techincal process which everyone can spend time preparing for is GOOD. for everybody

Cool piece of trivia. If you're interested, the book "How Would You Move Mount Fuji" was an interesting read I had on that type of reasoning.

As for moving a customer and producer closer to each other, I think that applies broadly; I'm trying to find specific examples of it in practice.

Thanks for the input!

Have you read How Would You Move Mount Fuji? and if yes, is it an accurate description? Do you have crazy job interview anecdotes you can share with us?

http://www.amazon.com/How-Would-Move-Mount-Fuji/dp/0316778494

I bet they read this book before interviewing you: https://www.amazon.com/How-Would-Move-Mount-Fuji/dp/0316778494

Could it be How Would You Move Mount Fuji?: Microsoft's Cult of the Puzzle -- How the World's Smartest COmpanies Select the Most Creative Thinkers ?

Here's a pic of one of the covers, or there is this one.

https://www.amazon.com/How-Would-Move-Mount-Fuji/dp/0316778494

https://www.amazon.com/How-Would-Move-Mount-Fuji/dp/0316778494

That interviewer wasn't even creative enough to use more than the title of the book as his question: How would you move mount fuji?

FYI, Microsoft doesn't really use puzzle questions anymore.

I'm not surprised by the GPA and degrees being useless. My interest is more in the puzzles aspect.

I agree that questions like "How would you move Mount Fuji" are silly and worthless, but what about simple programming "puzzles" like asking someone to reverse a string or to find the average or median of an array of numbers? I've found simple whiteboard programming tasks to be an excellent way of initially filtering out people who can't program, no matter how many years of experience they have.