The author is extremely naieve if he never considered that candidates would Google the solution. How did they make it through the rest of the interview process, let alone years of working there, without him noticing that they actually couldn't code?
I knew someone looking for work at the time and asked for a link to the job description so I could forward it along.
In the description included the phrase “without Googling” for a majority of tasks. It’s not as if the role was especially demanding or contained a ridiculous amount of esoteric knowledge; it was the equivalent of a help desk position. I can’t imagine ever doing help desk, much less ever again (fuck that stress) or for someone who thinks it’s a role where you will never need to Google anything.
I pointed this out to my friend with a frown on my face, but left it up to him if he wanted to apply. He read the job description and said “yeah no. That boss sounds miserable to work with”. My interactions with that manager were quite minimal, but judging but the attrition we noticed on the help desk team, I think he was right.