DevBlog

Ask anyone who has had a job interview at Microsoft what it was like and you'll possibly hear something along the lines of "It was hell." Over the years I've had all sorts of interviews, individual, by committee, a series of people, but never the "solve this puzzle" type. That hasn't stopped me from wondering about them and trying to figure out an answer to the puzzle. This month's book, How Would You Move Mount Fuji? by William Poundstone (ISBN 0316919160, Little-Brown) discusses the history of these puzzles, how they are used by Microsoft, and presents several puzzles and their solution. Questions such as "How would you weigh a jet plane without using scales?", "Count in base negative 2", or "How many times a day do a clock's hands overlap?" are there. I'm not giving you the answers. You'll have to figure out the solution or get the book.