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Crazy Questions Google Asks During Interviews

Search giant wants employees good at brain-teasers

By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff

Posted Nov 5, 2009 9:08 PM CST

(Newser) – Google is hiring, and we hear it’s a great place to work. But even if you’re an Ivy League grad with a great GPA, you’re going to have to survive the dreaded Google Interview process. How dreaded? Well, here are some questions they’ve asked, along with how Business Insider would answer them:

  • How much should you charge to wash all the windows in Seattle? The key here is to simplify the question. How about $10 per window?

  • How many piano tuners are there in the world? This is a classic “Fermi Problem.” You’re supposed to make estimates, then calculate an answer based on them.
  • Design an evacuation plan for San Francisco. This is all about how you tackle problems. Start by asking what disaster we’re preparing for.
  • How many times a day do a clock’s hands overlap? 22.
  • A man pushed his car to a hotel and lost his fortune. What happened? He landed on Boardwalk.
For more, check the sources. The first has the questions, the second the answers.

A worker at Google Inc.'s new campus in Kirkland, Wash., walks past a company sign built entirely out of Lego bricks and featuring the Space Needle, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2009.
A worker at Google Inc.'s new campus in Kirkland, Wash., walks past a company sign built entirely out of Lego bricks and featuring the Space Needle, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2009.   (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 9 comments
thejoint00
Nov 9, 2009 4:37 AM CST
the questions are design to see how you handle things you don't know. One person wouldn't reasonably know all of the answers unless they studied specifically for this test. It's easy to deal with a customer when you know, it's a little bit more difficult to come up with reasonable solutions, without lying, for subjects you know little about.
Hip
Nov 7, 2009 12:56 PM CST
How do you guys all know who I'm talking about anyway? It was a joke! Stop yelling and get back to writing 666 on all the walls in your room...
Hip
Nov 7, 2009 12:54 PM CST
Guess the GOP can't take a joke. Come on...5 schools for one degree? I thought it was funny and pertinent to the article. Maybe not. Definitely no malice in this one though.

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