Crazy Google Job Questions

[Cloud]

I think I'd back away slowly from the interview room . . .

1. How many golf balls can fit in a school bus?

2. You are shrunk to the height of a nickel and your mass is proportionally reduced so as to maintain your original density. You are then thrown into an empty glass blender. The blades will start moving in 60 seconds. What do you do?

3. How much should you charge to wash all the windows in Seattle?

4. How would you find out if a machine’s stack grows up or down in memory?

5. Explain a database in three sentences to your eight-year-old nephew.

6. How many times a day does a clock’s hands overlap?

7. You have to get from point A to point B. You don’t know if you can get there. What would you do?

8. Imagine you have a closet full of shirts. It’s very hard to find a shirt. So what can you do to organize your shirts for easy retrieval?

9. Every man in a village of 100 married couples has cheated on his wife. Every wife in the village instantly knows when a man other than her husband has cheated, but does not know when her own husband has. The village has a law that does not allow for adultery. Any wife who can prove that her husband is unfaithful must kill him that very day. The women of the village would never disobey this law. One day, the queen of the village visits and announces that at least one husband has been unfaithful. What happens?

10. In a country in which people only want boys, every family continues to have children until they have a boy. if they have a girl, they have another child. if they have a boy, they stop. what is the proportion of boys to girls in the country?

11. If the probability of observing a car in 30 minutes on a highway is 0.95, what is the probability of observing a car in 10 minutes (assuming constant default probability)?

12. If you look at a clock and the time is 3:15, what is the angle between the hour and the minute hands? (The answer to this is not zero!)

13. Four people need to cross a rickety rope bridge to get back to their camp at night. Unfortunately, they only have one flashlight and it only has enough light left for seventeen minutes. The bridge is too dangerous to cross without a flashlight, and it’s only strong enough to support two people at any given time. Each of the campers walks at a different speed. One can cross the bridge in 1 minute, another in 2 minutes, the third in 5 minutes, and the slow poke takes 10 minutes to cross. How do the campers make it across in 17 minutes?

14. You are at a party with a friend and 10 people are present including you and the friend. your friend makes you a wager that for every person you find that has the same birthday as you, you get $1; for every person he finds that does not have the same birthday as you, he gets $2. would you accept the wager?

15. How many piano tuners are there in the entire world?

16. You have eight balls all of the same size. 7 of them weigh the same, and one of them weighs slightly more. How can you find the ball that is heavier by using a balance and only two weighings?

17. You have five pirates, ranked from 5 to 1 in descending order. The top pirate has the right to propose how 100 gold coins should be divided among them. But the others get to vote on his plan, and if fewer than half agree with him, he gets killed. How should he allocate the gold in order to maximize his share but live to enjoy it? (Hint: One pirate ends up with 98 percent of the gold.)

thanks to this blog: http://tihomir.org/crazy-questions-a...job-interview/

[Perry Winkle]

All of those questions are either easy to solve or are a test of problem solving/reasoning ability in which they aren't looking for one particular answer.

[Cloud]

I'd be likely to make stuff up, or twist my answer somehow.

I cannot fathom how I would answer if I were asked in a job interview how many piano tuners there are in the world. I have no earthly idea, so I'd hedge and say something like, "I don't know, but certainly less than 50 years ago, when there was a piano in every living room. Now people play on the Internet. Google tunes the Internet like tuners did on piano, making the whole experience smoother and sweeter."

Or some such bullshit. They'd probably be ushering me out the door in a hearbeat. NEXT!

[Clodfobble]

1. How many golf balls can fit in a school bus?

My first thought was, "It depends on how many kids are still in it."

Think that would get me hired, or shoved out the door as fast as they could?

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by Perry Winkle

All of those questions are either easy to solve or are a test of problem solving/reasoning ability in which they aren't looking for one particular answer.

Zatso?

15. How many piano tuners are there in the entire world?

Take your time.

[Cloud]

see? my answer is looking better and better . . .

although they're probably looking for some kind of statistical analysis. (mutters: where's my copy of Statistics for Dummies?)

[Cloud]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

My first thought was, "It depends on how many kids are still in it."

Think that would get me hired, or shoved out the door as fast as they could?

LOL! I'd hire you. My answer would have been something like: One for every kid who could hold a golf ball in their mouths.

[Undertoad]

This is why I didn't return the Google recruiter's call 6 months ago, BTW. They want you to pay airfare to San Jose to get asked these things, BTW...

Can't understand why they want to build a monoculture of riddle-solvers. A successful operations takes all kinds of people... and good managers. Good managers = worth their weight in gold compared to riddle-solvers. Riddle-solvers + bad management = disaster.

[Cloud]

I think it would be kind of nice to get fun questions at a job interview, besides, why do you want to work for us? and what are your salary requirements?

It would excite me, because I would think my prospective employers had a sense of humor and imagination, qualities I value.

[SteveDallas]

Originally Posted by Cloud

It would excite me, because I would think my prospective employers had a sense of humor

I have a great sense of humor. (I love to laugh at my underlings' shortcomings and mistakes.)

Originally Posted by Cloud

and imagination, qualities I value.

I have lots of imagination. (I sit around all day dreaming up ways to make my employees' lives a living hell.)

[Cloud]

turn away from the Dark Side! turn away!

[Cloud]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

Can't understand why they want to build a monoculture of riddle-solvers.

agree--don't think a monoculture of people would be beneficial to any group, business or not. Complementary talents make up better teams.

[Rexmons]

1. How many golf balls can fit in a school bus?

just enough

2. You are shrunk to the height of a nickel and your mass is proportionally reduced so as to maintain your original density. You are then thrown into an empty glass blender. The blades will start moving in 60 seconds. What do you do?

shoot the hostage.

3. How much should you charge to wash all the windows in Seattle?

half the value of all the tea in china

4. How would you find out if a machine’s stack grows up or down in memory?

ask the machine, then pick the opposite. everyone knows they're liars.

5. Explain a database in three sentences to your eight-year-old nephew.

Why aren't you in school? Where did you get that lighter from? A database is like a giant shared filing cabinet that everyone works on, but inside of a computer.

6. How many times a day does a clock’s hands overlap?

I don't know, but everytime it does an angel gets its wings.

7. You have to get from point A to point B. You don’t know if you can get there. What would you do?

magic eightball it.

8. Imagine you have a closet full of shirts. It’s very hard to find a shirt. So what can you do to organize your shirts for easy retrieval?

replace the lightbulb in the closet.

9. Every man in a village of 100 married couples has cheated on his wife. Every wife in the village instantly knows when a man other than her husband has cheated, but does not know when her own husband has. The village has a law that does not allow for adultery. Any wife who can prove that her husband is unfaithful must kill him that very day. The women of the village would never disobey this law. One day, the queen of the village visits and announces that at least one husband has been unfaithful. What happens?

monica lewinsky is immediately found and questioned.

10. In a country in which people only want boys, every family continues to have children until they have a boy. if they have a girl, they have another child. if they have a boy, they stop. what is the proportion of boys to girls in the country?

a lot to a very lucky few.

11. If the probability of observing a car in 30 minutes on a highway is 0.95, what is the probability of observing a car in 10 minutes (assuming constant default probability)?

an african or a european car?

12. If you look at a clock and the time is 3:15, what is the angle between the hour and the minute hands? (The answer to this is not zero!)

trick question, digital clocks don't have hands.

13. Four people need to cross a rickety rope bridge to get back to their camp at night. Unfortunately, they only have one flashlight and it only has enough light left for seventeen minutes. The bridge is too dangerous to cross without a flashlight, and it’s only strong enough to support two people at any given time. Each of the campers walks at a different speed. One can cross the bridge in 1 minute, another in 2 minutes, the third in 5 minutes, and the slow poke takes 10 minutes to cross. How do the campers make it across in 17 minutes?

they take the road 5 minutes up the path

14. You are at a party with a friend and 10 people are present including you and the friend. your friend makes you a wager that for every person you find that has the same birthday as you, you get $1; for every person he finds that does not have the same birthday as you, he gets $2. would you accept the wager?

yes, but only to humor my mentally handicapped friend.

15. How many piano tuners are there in the entire world?

8, one for each continent.

16. You have eight balls all of the same size. 7 of them weigh the same, and one of them weighs slightly more. How can you find the ball that is heavier by using a balance and only two weighings?

i think if i had 8 balls finding out which one weighs more would be the least of my problems.

17. You have five pirates, ranked from 5 to 1 in descending order. The top pirate has the right to propose how 100 gold coins should be divided among them. But the others get to vote on his plan, and if fewer than half agree with him, he gets killed. How should he allocate the gold in order to maximize his share but live to enjoy it? (Hint: One pirate ends up with 98 percent of the gold.)

he says he should keep it all, then a paid ninja assasin takes out the 4 remaining pirates because everyone knows ninjas rock.

[HungLikeJesus]

Rexmons - you're hired. Come on down.

[monster]

1. How many golf balls can fit in a school bus?

We should fill it with soccer balls instead. They will cost less, the job will require less labor, and we can persuade the punters that bigger is better -and maybe even charge them more for the experience.

2. You are shrunk to the height of a nickel and your mass is proportionally reduced so as to maintain your original density. You are then thrown into an empty glass blender. The blades will start moving in 60 seconds. What do you do?

Either sit beneath the blades and enjoy the breeze, or hook the blades through my brastraps and enjoy the ride.

3. How much should you charge to wash all the windows in Seattle?

I would charge a $1000 consultation fee then pass the question on to a window cleaner. Your bill is in the mail.

4. How would you find out if a machine’s stack grows up or down in memory?

From what i remember, only bananas grow up, everything else grows down.

5. Explain a database in three sentences to your eight-year-old nephew.

It's like the lego box in the classroom. Can I get a refund on the last two sentences?

6. How many times a day does a clock’s hands overlap?

Is the clock running?

7. You have to get from point A to point B. You don’t know if you can get there. What would you do?

Call a cab.

8. Imagine you have a closet full of shirts. It’s very hard to find a shirt. So what can you do to organize your shirts for easy retrieval?

Organize shirts? Well the first step is to find shirts that feel similarly aggrieved by their working conditions. I guess they'll become easier to find because they'll always be one their union mandated coffee break..... http://www.ranknfile-ue.org/org_steps.html

9. Every man in a village of 100 married couples has cheated on his wife. Every wife in the village instantly knows when a man other than her husband has cheated, but does not know when her own husband has. The village has a law that does not allow for adultery. Any wife who can prove that her husband is unfaithful must kill him that very day. The women of the village would never disobey this law. One day, the queen of the village visits and announces that at least one husband has been unfaithful. What happens?

I sue you for sexual harrasment and discrimination during the interview.

10. In a country in which people only want boys, every family continues to have children until they have a boy. if they have a girl, they have another child. if they have a boy, they stop. what is the proportion of boys to girls in the country?

50/50ish.

11. If the probability of observing a car in 30 minutes on a highway is 0.95, what is the probability of observing a car in 10 minutes (assuming constant default probability)?

Depends where you spend the 10 minutes. Now where is this highway? Or are you observing it through google earth rather than IRL?

12. If you look at a clock and the time is 3:15, what is the angle between the hour and the minute hands? (The answer to this is not zero!)

What he said

13. Four people need to cross a rickety rope bridge to get back to their camp at night. Unfortunately, they only have one flashlight and it only has enough light left for seventeen minutes. The bridge is too dangerous to cross without a flashlight, and it’s only strong enough to support two people at any given time. Each of the campers walks at a different speed. One can cross the bridge in 1 minute, another in 2 minutes, the third in 5 minutes, and the slow poke takes 10 minutes to cross. How do the campers make it across in 17 minutes?

Suggest they run rather than walk? Or put fatboy in a wheelchair.

14. You are at a party with a friend and 10 people are present including you and the friend. your friend makes you a wager that for every person you find that has the same birthday as you, you get $1; for every person he finds that does not have the same birthday as you, he gets $2. would you accept the wager?

Can we make the 8 other people my fellow nontuplets?

15. How many piano tuners are there in the entire world?

13, 421.

16. You have eight balls all of the same size. 7 of them weigh the same, and one of them weighs slightly more. How can you find the ball that is heavier by using a balance and only two weighings?

I'd ask the magic eight ball

17. You have five pirates, ranked from 5 to 1 in descending order. The top pirate has the right to propose how 100 gold coins should be divided among them. But the others get to vote on his plan, and if fewer than half agree with him, he gets killed. How should he allocate the gold in order to maximize his share but live to enjoy it? (Hint: One pirate ends up with 98 percent of the gold.)

Are any of them called Bill Gates?