I don't know, the two questions are nothing alike:
One is asking for a guesstimate, while the other is a proper optimisation problem. To me it's a valid interview question, albeit a bit difficult for a short session.
One is asking for a guesstimate, while the other is a proper optimisation problem. To me it's a valid interview question, albeit a bit difficult for a short session.
Maybe Google (and the other big tech companies using the same style of interview) is looking for the types who can brilliantly solve problems like that in 40 minutes, but they're instead going to hire a lot of guys who read the book of problems ahead of time.
A friend was obsessed with getting into FAANG and relentlessly drilled leetcode problems. There’s a whole community around it, basically memorizing enough toy problems that they can pass these interviews.
The companies should know by now that these clever problems aren’t really that clever. I have not interviewed in a long time but I think I’d get kind of depressed if an interviewer asked me 2sum. I’d just lose respect for the company.
But when you have the #1 name in the world for a brand, it's OK to throw out 99 good people for every 100 that apply.