2 interview questions 1 from Jim Williams, the other Bob Pease

Ratchit said:

Unless the job requires a applicant keeps cool under pressure, the employer might be bypassing a productive worker. Not all jobs are stressful. Or perhaps the employer likes to see people squirm and suffer. Someone say sadistic?

Ratch

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As I had mentioned above in my first post, The purpose of the question, as explained in the article (To see if the person freaks out was not mentioned) was to evaluate the applicants problems solving ability. There is no right or wrong answer. So, to reiterate, the purpose of the question was for problem solving skills of the applicant, after all, what is engineering if not finding solutions to solve a problem?

bountyhunter said:

Anyway, measuring people's ability to handle stress is pretty important for an engineer.

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Very true. Schedules often create stress. Crunch time is the norm in the engineering field.

Mikebits said:

I found this while reading up on some low noise LDO appnotes by Jim WIlliams. How would you answer these questions and be honest

The first one still has me puzzled.

I was interviewed by Jim in 1990, when he asked "Tell me five ways you would measure the height of a multi-story building in the daytime, using an oscilloscope, a 100 ft extension cord and a yardstick?"

I was interviewed by Bob Pease the same month, and he asked "If you are driving while holding a helium balloon on a string, what happens when you apply the brakes? Why?" (Hint: He told me later that a helium balloon is a very sensitive density meter.)

Oh wait, I got an answer for question 1. Use the scope as a weight on the extension cord, lower the cord over the bldg until it hits the ground, mark the cord measurement, now use the yard stick to measure how long the cord is. Okay, that is only 1 way. Hmm, good question. The article mentions, the reason for the question is to determine your problem solving skills, not your ability to do math. Have fun coming up with your answers, and please do post.

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You met Jim Williams and Bob Pease- WOW

What was your impression of them?

spec

spec said:

You met Jim Williams and Bob Pease- WOW

What your impression of them?

spec

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No I never met those guys I was quoting someone who interviewed with them and I was quoting what he said

Oops, Ratchit answered with proportion using shadows in the Post #3

Use the shadow of the building at 12 noon and place the Scope at it's furthest point of the shadow now measure the shadow of the building with the extension cord and yard stick.

Then stand the Yard Stick up and place your finger at the furthest point of the shadow, which at 12 noon should be around 2.65.

Now you have the first and second measurement 3ft high and 2.65 length of the yard stick shadow now you can proportion the building, once you've found the buildings shadow length.

The question says use the Scope, 100ft cord, and yard stick, the clue is during the daytime in order to obtain the shadow lengths.

kv

Mikebits said:

I found this while reading up on some low noise LDO appnotes by Jim WIlliams. How would you answer these questions and be honest

The first one still has me puzzled.

I was interviewed by Jim in 1990, when he asked "Tell me five ways you would measure the height of a multi-story building in the daytime, using an oscilloscope, a 100 ft extension cord and a yardstick?"

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This is a variation on an old story: http://www.esmerel.com/circle/question/building.html

http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/angelpin.htm

"If you are driving while holding a helium balloon on a string, what happens when you apply the brakes?

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Hi Mike,

If a guy asked me such an ambiguous question,
My reply would be: 'I would expect that the vehicle would slow down'

He has not asked me a question regarding the balloon.

E

If you are in a space ship that is traveling at the speed of light, and you turn on the headlights, does anything happen?

Steven Wright

I'm lost

ClydeCrashKop said:

If you are in a space ship that is traveling at the speed of light, and you turn on the headlights, does anything happen?

Steven Wright

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A space ship can not go the speed of light because it has mass.

KeepItSimpleStupid said:

Disagrees are totally uncalled for here. If they are not removed for everybody, I will at a minimum disagree with all of your posts in this thread..

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That reaction would have been uncalled for, and would have been childish at the very least. "Disagrees" do not count as negative ratings (unlike "dislikes"). They are considered "neutral" and do not harm your statistics in any way. Relax.

Never knew that. Thanks a bunch. A bit stressed lately too.

ClydeCrashKop said:

If you are in a space ship that is traveling at the speed of light, and you turn on the headlights, does anything happen?

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So re-ask the question.
If you are in a space ship going near the speed of light, what happens when you turn on the headlights.
You will measure the light of you headlight and get the same answer as when you are stopped. This is because time for you, changes as you approach the speed of light.
If I watch you go by, you will look like you are traveling 0.98 the speed of light and the light of your headlights will be exactly 1.000 light.
The way I understand it; every one, no matter their speed, will measure light at 1 light. (assuming nothing can go faster than light)

Test have been done to prove that a clock traveling very fast will be different than a clock standing still.

bountyhunter said:

You haven't been in the business long enough and done enough interviews to know the psychology of the process. Most of the people you will interview as an engineer don't want to be doing the interview and consider it a waste of their time....... seriously. They will have "canned" questions to get it over with. In one interview of mine, two consecutive interviewers asked the same question. I really impressed guy #2 whipping off the answer without doing any work at all. Most engineers are incompetent at interviewing it's not in their skill set.

And yes, some are "sadistic" and intentionally ask questions which either have no clear answer or are intended to be way over the head of the applicant to gauge his ability to absorb abuse. Having a thick skin is a pretty essential trait for an engineer. Bob Pease once wrote an article titled "Hollerin'" in which he justified yelling at people at work since he had gotten in trouble for doing it at some point. Anyway, measuring people's ability to handle stress is pretty important for an engineer.

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Very wise Bounty- as usual there is a practical real world, warts and all flavor to your observations. I have interviewed many potential engineers, which apart from the interest side I absolutely hated. I used the put them in a spot technique to find out how they would handle a difficult situation. I remember one chap suddenly switched from charming and accommodating into an aggressive psychopath at any thought of his views being challenged.

It was disgraceful how many interviewees were treated. In some cases they would arrive at 9am and spend the whole day either hanging around or going from department to department to be interviewed, often being asked the same questions as you say. And on our side we would get a phone call saying, 'Oh we have a chap here who you may be interested in. Can you see him in five minutes. This inevitably meant a long wait and no time for us to prepare for the interview. Then the HF department would forget to tell them that they have a job offer.

One discussion point was, 'When scientists first built a rocket capable of rising above the earths atmosphere they were worried about setting the world ablaze by igniting the hydrogen layer which would be at the atmospheres extremities as hydrogen is the lightest gas'

spec

ClydeCrashKop said:

I asked Alice

when she was just small

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A favorite tune- I never knew what it was about for years Jefferson Airplane/Starship is an underrated group in my opinion.

spec

Inquisitive said:

Disagrees have been removed from both parties.

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Sorry, a misunderstanding on my part. What is the significance of a "disagree" then?

djsfantasi said:

Sorry, a misunderstanding on my part. What is the significance of a "disagree" then?

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If someone gives bad advice, you can disagree. It tells the OP that the post may not be correct.

spec said:

It was disgraceful how many interviewees were treated.

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Funny. Of the many dozens of interviews I did over the past decades, the one that was so bad I remember it clearly was one guy who had a very thick accent and was VISIBLY agitated about being forced to do the interview. He also mumbled and talked into the floor which made it impossible to hear or understand a word he said. Whenever I said "Excuse me, I didn't understand what you asked" he would get very angry and scream a few unintelligible words and then go back to mumbling. Wonderful experience.

Another really memorable day was when I interviewed at Apple in 1989. Apple then had "grown up" around the people who built it up from the start which meant you had a lot of directors, VPs and high ranking people who were basically technicians or secretaries or whatevers who rode the wave and ended up in charge of something. One guy who was a really racist and arrogant moron started screaming about how mad it made him when idiots sent resumes when they "weren't qualified" for the job because all the resumes clogged up his mail box. He also did a ten minute dissertation about how much time he had to waste flying to Japan to get the subcontractors to do their job because "you have to scream at those people". The whole time I was there I was just staring at this guy like I was watching a Seinfeld episode.

spec said:

One discussion point was, 'When scientists first built a rocket capable of rising above the earths atmosphere they were worried about setting the world ablaze by igniting the hydrogen layer which would be at the atmospheres extremities as hydrogen is the lightest gas'

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Before they ignited the first atomic bomb in New Mexico, there was a big debate as to whether it would ignite the atmosphere and end life on the planet. There was even some large wagers placed which always struck me as the height of stupidity..... if you bet the world was going to end and you won, you would never be able to collect the wager.

spec said:

A favorite tune- I never knew what it was about for years Jefferson Airplane/Starship is an underrated group in my opinion.

spec

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It's about drug use. For a number of years, the song was banned from commercial radio broadcast here primarily because the last lines of the song are:

Remember, what the Door Mouse said:

Feed your head.

Feed your head.


"Feed your head" means taking psychedelic drugs.

bountyhunter said:

Before they ignited the first atomic bomb in New Mexico, there was a big debate as to whether it would ignite the atmosphere and end life on the planet.

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But they did it anyway.
I watched a movie just last night where they made some antimatter. Then they were surprised when it fell into the wrong hands and threatened the world. Just because we can, doesn't mean we should.