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Microsoft's Personnel Puzzle
theodp writes "CNET reports on Microsoft's reputation for arrogance in its personnel practices, citing the experience of Arthur Sorkin, who responded to an unsolicited invitation to interview with MS back in 2000. But instead of trying to sell him on the company or the job, interviewers challenged him with a technical 'pop quiz.' Sorkin, who holds a PhD in CS, withdrew his application. During the past year, Microsoft called Sorkin to say it had scheduled a phone interview with him for another job, although Sorkin hadn't applied for it and no one had asked if he was interested."
"unsolicited invitation to interview"
Sounds like Spam!
When was the last time the Borg asked if they could assimilate you?
internet like monkeys'
Must be one hell of a player!
"Comedy's a dead art form. Now tragedy, that's funny."
"How Would You Move Mount Fuji?"
/mnt/fuji /dev/null
mv
Free XBox, PS2
I had an interview for a co-op marketing position with Microsoft. The interview went well, I was getting along with the interviewers and we were have a good conversation, and then they asked me the last question......
"How on earth could you ever work for Microsoft, the big evil company??"
Probably the best question I've ever been asked in an interview.
How would you move Mount Fugi?
I would use a static warp shell to lower its mass in this inertial frame of reference and then pick it up.
I am the Alpha and the Omega-3
mv /mnt/fuji /dev/null
If you wanted to get the job with MS, you would have to change that to:
move "C:\Mount Fuji" C:\RECYCLEDSometimes you've gotta roll the hard six.
``Example question, since I know you're curious: You have triple redundant storage of certain critical data. Write a subroutine that takes three 32 bit integers and produces a result where each bit is "voted on" by the corresponding bit in the three inputs."
My ph.d. isn't in CS (I don't do any programming) but I think the answer is ``shoot the hostage."
"Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under." - H.L. Mencken
mv
Would you like to overwrite device file
LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
The original answer is still correct in that case.
On windows, you'd get something like
/dev/null
Not enough free space on
(A)bort, (R)etry, (F)ail?
It's easy when Microsoft offers them exorbitant wages of 40 Rupees an hour!
Liberals call everyone Nazis yet they are the closest thing to it.
I would hire 20,000 temporary staff for a period of 5-15 years, without ever offering to hire them on permanently. Then, I would issue each of them a teaspoon and canoe. These would be deducted from their first paycheck of course, at full retail price. The teaspoon serves 2 functions, as a paddle for the canoe, and when they arrive at Mt Fuji, as their shovel. It is true that Mt. Fuji is made more of rock than anything resembling soil, but I expect my employees to not need a babysitter, I hired them to figure these things out. Once they have their teaspoon filled with 0.0000000000001% of Mt. Fuji, then they have to canoe back to where ever, and deliver the teaspoonful. There would then be paperwork to fill out.
On second thought, Mt. Fuji is still somewhat active, might be best to have them sign a disclaimer, in case they are lavanated.
"How would you design an in car coffee maker?"
Well.
Extracted quote: .....Still, I did a decent job - it took me too long, and I had a memory leak.....
God - I'm stunned that he did NOT get the job at Microsoft (!!!),
since that is *SO* perfectly the Microsoft Way!!!
No no no, from my PC, the night before. When I decide what time I'm going to head to the office.
To: Car Coffee Maker
From: Me
Subject: Work
Dear Coffee Machine,
I plan on leaving for work at 6:15AM tomorrow. Please have 4 cups of Breakfast Blend prepared just prior to my departure.
Regards,
Me
He would ask me a question, and sit and roll his eyes as I was answering and check his email - basically communicating clearly to me that he didn't like me, want me there or want to be talking to me.
I had an interview like that once. The guy asked me of my degree was from a "real school or one of those diploma-by-mail outfits".
Many years later I got to sit on a committee that was going to evaluate a purchase of a product his company had built. This was a major purchase and I made damn sure he knew who I was and I made him sweat blood.
Damn - that felt good!!!!!
It's simple: I demand prosecution for torture.
For those who were wondering what a solution might be (I saw some attempts but didn't care much for them)..
// if this ends up as 2 or 3, we will turn place value bit on
// throw out lower place values
// throw out higher place values
// see if remaining bit is equal, if so increase vote count
#include <cmath>
using namespace std;
DWORD Vote (DWORD storedvalue[3])
{
DWORD result = 0;
for (int i = 31; i >= 0; i--)
{
int votes = 0;
for (int j = 0; j < 3; j++)
{
DWORD temp = storedvalue[j];
temp = temp / pwr(2,i);
temp = temp % pwr(2,i);
if (temp == pwr(2,i))
votes++;
}
if (votes >= 2)
result = result + pwr(2,i);
}
return result;
}
1) Announce that you will move mount fuji any day now. .....wait four years.
.... Wait two years.
2) Announce that the competition will never be able move mount fuji and that once you move mount fuji there is a real chance they will go out of business.
3) Announce that since you will move mount fuji any day now it makes no sense to buy anything from a competitor.
4) Announce that you will not be moving all of mount fuji just "the important parts"
5) Announce that you have already moved part of mount fuji and show the press a bucket of dirt.
6) Get a truckload of dirt from mount fuji, dump it in redmond and proudly announce that you have successfully moved mount fuji.
7) Keep claiming that MS has moved mount fuji and that it's the most innovative and amazing thing ever done by anybody anywhere. Pay ZDNET lots of money to repeat that announcement five times a day for six months.
8) Voila! MS has moved mount fuji, anybody who claims otherwise is a communist, hippie, terrorist.
evil is as evil does