[pp13]

My point was, his questions, doesn't really indicate if the candidate is a good programmer or not.

It could be the person studied up on all sorts of puzzles and famous algorithms online but hasn't really written or programmed anything.

Not all jobs require that much expertise. You could be doing some really simple programming work.

I think most interviewers ask these type of questions 1.) make themselves feel smart 2.) they get a kick out it

[eropple]

That wasn't much of a point, on your part. The second question in particular requires some not-entirely-simple breaking down into subproblems. The first one can be handled in such a way if you're unfamiliar with the mathematics behind it; it's easier, as are many things, if you remember combinations and permutations from math class but not at all unsolvable if you don't. His questions aren't bad at demonstrating important aspects of a programmer's problem-solving approach.

And your complaining that "not all jobs require that much expertise" is unfounded. I consider those to be novice questions, personally--and even if they weren't, you don't know what he's hiring for.

He's not being unreasonable. You, on the other hand, seem to be, and seem to be doing so in a rather defensive manner.

[pp13]

@eropple

So do you have data to back up your claims that; answering those questions determine if your a good programmer.

Yes, there are tons of programming jobs out there, that don't require much of those skills. Not all jobs are that innovative.

Most of the development jobs I have seen require you to come up to speed with the code base fast. So it's that code reading comprehension that I think is most prevalent.

[eropple]

I did not in any way, shape, or form claim that such questions determine whether or not a candidate is a good programmer. If you are going to respond to my posts, please respond to my posts and not what you think or wish I said in those posts.

No interview or interview question can determine conclusively that you are a good programmer. But they reduce the likelihood that you're not, and comments like your strident and hysterical analogy drawn between these really very simple problems and "write a SSL library!" are doing little to change my mind.

[aplusbi]

Part of our interview process is having the candidate code-review some really bad code. The only problem with it is that it is biased against students/recent graduates. I'd say close to 90% of student/recent grad candidates do pretty poorly on the code review question.