Was this for a software engineering role? I've never been asked this, and I'm pretty sure during interview training you are explicitly told not to ask those sorts of questions.
No, not software engineering - product management. That said, the position in question was still of a fairly technical nature as far as I understood it.
Sure, but coding doesn't apply to the position you applied for. Fermi questions are a good way of determining cognitive ability and problem solving, especially when coding or algorithmic questions aren't appropriate. I've gone through both PM and SWE interviews at Google, and am currently a SWE and interviewer. My PM interview had a Fermi question, and thought it was enjoyable and appropriate for the position.
Brain teasers are not as frowned upon as much for non engineering interviews but they are absolutely banned for engineers (source: former Google employee with about 300+ interviews during my time there and also former hiring committee member).
sixdimensional|11 years ago
mgob|11 years ago
zak_mc_kracken|11 years ago
Brain teasers are not as frowned upon as much for non engineering interviews but they are absolutely banned for engineers (source: former Google employee with about 300+ interviews during my time there and also former hiring committee member).
foobarqux|11 years ago