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."

Comments

Re:Why is this news?

[SeventyBang]

Hear! Hear!

This is one of the dumbest topics which pops up on a cyclic basis (not specically /.). And mainstream media doesn't help as they need to find filler material and either don't realize it's been published before or figure it's been long enough to do it again (like remakes of movies, although those are almost always crap: be forewarned - here's one scheduled for 2006, a schlocked version of the original: ???, Animal House is also on the assembly line. I've got a Schlock List of about fifty movies which I made about four or five years ago, waiting for them to be ruined for "this cycle".

These types of stories reporters must use are probably like some headhunters: set a timer in whatever office software they use to remind them when it's time to do it again.

People start tossing out the questions they've heard, what the "correct" solutions are, why they were asked. "Why are manhole covers round?", "How many gas stations are there in the US?", "How do you count the number of set bits in a particular register or variable?". "Why did Microsoft used to rate projects in terms of IQ points?" (Oh, we'll need 3000 IQ points for that project. 3000/150IQ - supposedly the standard IQ of Microsoft personnel = 20 people. Thank God they quit doing that.) (I wonder how many questions involve Lateral Thinking and neither the 'softies nor the candidates realize it?)

Doesn't anyone find anything new about this subject?

"Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can't lose."
-William Henry Gates, III

remakes

[falconwolf]

like remakes of movies, although those are almost always crap:

I disagree that remakes are worse than the original movies. Maybe some are but others are better I believe. An example is "Mighty Joe Young". The remake , made in 1998, is better than the original made in 1949. And though I don't recall seeing the original movie "The Italian Job", the remak was good. Now what I don't like often are the movie versions of books I liked or loved. If not every tyme then most of the tyme I see a movie of a book I liked I am disappointed, which is why I didn't go see "The Lord of the Rings movies. I loved the book trilogy and didn't want to be disappointed in the movies.

Falcon