Earlier I mentioned that I had 4 separate interviews in one day and that I should write a logic puzzle based on that. Well… here it is. I’ve learned that I either need more practice at this (I’m not really happy with the distribution of clues), or that I simply enjoy solving them more than I enjoy writing them. Note to anyone from any of the companies that interviewed me that day… the logic puzzle is only tenuously based on reality. Please don’t infer anything about my actual feelings towards you / your company based on this. Leave your answer in the comments. Even if someone answered the same thing before you, I at least want to know how many actually attempted to solve it. Anyway… onto the actual puzzle.
Too Much Interviewing
After being a stay-at-home dad for close to a year, I’ve decided it’s time to get back into the workforce. My interview schedule, combined with taking care of my son Alex, is tiring me out. The most taxing day was when I had 4 separate interviews. I was interviewed by 4 people (including someone with the same name as my son, what are the chances?) who each work for a different type of company (including a Consulting Firm). I snagged the interviews through unique means, and was grilled on different topics at each (they even asked me about one of my favourite topics, Polymorphism). The interviews obviously happened at different times of the day. The first two interviews (at 9:00 and 10:00) were phone screens, the third (at 11:00) was in person at the company’s offices, and the last (at 19:00) was a dinner interview at a restaurant. Now that they’re all done, I have different feelings about each interview.
- Dave, who does not work for a Web 2.0 company, grilled me on User Interface Design over the phone.
- After the interview, I felt ‘Enh’ about the company that I found through the prestigious Job Board. It’s a shame I’ll never get to be interviewed by the company in person… I hear they have swank offices.
- The company that Claire works for and the company I feel ‘Wow’ about found me through my Online Résumé and a Recruiter, in some order.
- The company that quizzed me on Inheritance interviewed me before the Social Networking horde.
- I really enjoyed the view of Boston Harbor from the Financial Giant’s 32nd floor offices. In fact, Claire spent a good five minutes pointing out all the cool sights and landmarks. I should’ve brought my camera with me.
- The Web 2.0 company interviewed me at some point before the company I feel ‘OK’ about and at some point after Dave’s company.
- My Friend pointed me to a company’s blog entry which noted that they were hiring. I felt ‘Hmmm’, intrigued, by their technology as described to me by Bob.
- I guess it’s no coincidence that the company that found my Online Résumé asked me a lot of questions on User Interface Design.
- I feel ‘Enh’ about the company that quizzed me on SQL. Part of it was the fact that they made me speak a really long and complicated query into the phone. I would’ve much rather written it on a whiteboard or a napkin.
Edit 2007-05-16: Answers as well as some variations in the clues in the comments.
I should be packing, but I love these puzzles too much! Let me know if I got it right, I’m a little jetlagged and sleepy.
9 AM: Wow! Dave from Consulting, who found your online resume. You talked UI design.
10 AM: Enh. Alex from web 2.0, who found you from job board. You talked SQL.
11 AM: OK. Claire from Financial Giant, who found you from recruiter. You talked inheritance.
7 PM: Hmmm. Bob from Social Networking, who you found from a blog entry. You talked polymorphism.
That wasn’t particularly hard, just lots of variables to deal with. Some of your clues are redundant:
#3 – I think the only piece of info I used from #3 was that Claire’s company wasn’t the Wow. The Recruiter/Online Resume thing isn’t useful the first time through, and by the time you get to #8, you’ve placed Dave and UI Design, so it’s easy to fill in the Online Resume there, Claire found you through the Recruiter by process of elimination.
#9 – You didn’t need to clue that the SQL interview was a phone interview. Before you get to #9, you’ve figured out by process of elimination that you felt Enh about the 10:00 phone interview with Alex at the Web 2.0 company that you found through the job board, so it’s easy to drop SQL there.
Some other comments from people:
“Clue 6 renders all of clue 1 redundant except that Dave grilled you on User Interface.”
Tweaked version, based on comments above:
Earlier I mentioned that I had 4 separate interviews in one day and that I should write a logic puzzle based on that. Well… here it is. I’ve learned that I either need more practice at this (I’m not really happy with the distribution of clues), or that I simply enjoy solving them more than I enjoy writing them. Note to anyone from any of the companies that interviewed me that day… the logic puzzle is only tenuously based on reality. Please don’t infer anything about my actual feelings towards you / your company based on this. Leave your answer in the comments. Even if someone answered the same thing before you, I at least want to know how many actually attempted to solve it. Anyway… onto the actual puzzle.
Too Much Interviewing
After being a stay-at-home dad for close to a year, I’ve decided it’s time to get back into the workforce. My interview schedule, combined with taking care of my son Alex, is tiring me out. The most taxing day was when I had 4 separate interviews. I was interviewed by 4 people (including someone with the same name as my son, what are the chances?) who each work for a different type of company (including a Consulting Firm). I snagged the interviews through unique means (including a recruiter), and was grilled on different topics at each (they even asked me about one of my favourite topics, Polymorphism). The interviews obviously happened at different times of the day. The first two interviews (at 9:00 and 10:00) were phone screens, the third (at 11:00) was in person at the company’s offices, and the last (at 19:00) was a dinner interview at a restaurant. Now that they’re all done, I have different feelings about each interview.
1. Dave grilled me on User Interface Design.
2. After the interview, I felt ‘Enh’ about the company that I found through the prestigious Job Board. It’s a shame I’ll never get to be interviewed by the company in person… I hear they have swank offices.
3. The company that quizzed me on Inheritance interviewed me at some point before the Social Networking horde.
4. I really enjoyed the view of Boston Harbor from the Financial Giant’s 32nd floor offices. In fact, Claire spent a good five minutes pointing out all the cool sights and landmarks. I should’ve brought my camera with me. Despite all that, I didn’t feel ‘Wow’ about her company.
5. The Web 2.0 company interviewed me at some point before the company I feel ‘OK’ about and at some point after Dave’s company.
6. My Friend pointed me to a company’s blog entry which noted that they were hiring. I felt ‘Hmmm’, intrigued, by their technology as described to me by Bob.
7. I guess it’s no coincidence that the company that found my Online Résumé asked me a lot of questions on User Interface Design.
8. I feel ‘Enh’ about the company that quizzed me on SQL.
Lauren’s comments on the above:
1: You no longer mention the Recruiter, so we don’t know what the 4th means is. (Ed. Fixed)
2: By the end of Clue 6, we’re just waiting for the gimme’s in clues 7 and 8, kinda boring
3: Overall, I think there are too many gimme’s.
Lauren’s (better) reformulation:
Here’s my first try at clues for the puzzle, which assume adding the fact that the Recruiter is one of the means to the instructions.
1) I did not find the Financial Giant through the prestigious Job Board.
2) The company that quizzed me on Inheritance interviewed me before the Social Networking Horde.
3) The Web 2.0 company interviewed me sometime before the company I feel OK about and sometime after Dave’s company.
4) I guess it’s no coincidence that the company that found my Online Resume asked a lot of questions about User Interface Design in their phone interview
5) The Financial Giant interviewed me sometime before the company I felt Hm about and sometime after the company that quizzed me on SQL.
6) I felt Enh about the company that quizzed me on SQL.
7) I really enjoyed the view of Boston Harbor from the 32nd floor offices of Claire’s company. I should have brought my camera with me. Despite that, I didn’t feel “Wow” about her company.
8) My Friend pointed me to Bob’s company’s blog entry that noted that they were hiring. I felt Hmmm, intrigued by their technology.
9) The Web 2.0 company did not quiz me on User Interface Design.