Programmer Humor

39640 readers

566 users here now

Post funny things about programming here! (Or just rant about your favourite programming language.)

Rules:

Posts must be relevant to programming, programmers, or computer science.
No NSFW content.
Jokes must be in good taste. No hate speech, bigotry, etc.

founded 6 years ago

MODERATORS

cat_programmer@lemmy.ml

AgreeableLandscape@lemmy.ml

244

Op doesn't have time for interviews (lemmy.ml)

submitted 4 days ago by danhab99@programming.dev to c/programmerhumor@lemmy.ml

86 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Post:

You have three switches in one room and a single light bulb in another room. You are allowed to visit the room with the light bulb only once. How do you figure out which switch controls the bulb? Write your answer in the comments before looking at other answers.

Comment:

If this were an interview question, the correct response would be "Do you have any relevant questions for me? Because have a long list of things that more deserving of my precious time than to think about this!

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] TDCN@feddit.dk 17 points 4 days ago (2 children)

The "correct" answer doesnt work for led bulbs. A more modern answer would be why the hell can i only go to the room once!? Or you could get a friend/coworker to go to the room and just observe the bulb. One blink switch one, two blinks switch two etc. Lastly if you know a random switch is controlling a light in another room, why the hell is that switch not labeled if you already knew about it. Like how did this problem even arise in the first place. Also if you just want light in the room right now just turn all 3 on and go to the room.

[–] mech@feddit.org 10 points 3 days ago (1 children)

There is no correct answer. The interviewer wants to see how you approach the problem. You can have the correct answer but still make a bad impression, or you can fail to find the standard solution and still ace this test.

[–] TDCN@feddit.dk 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I think of the interviewer ask this specific question they aren't sophisticated enough to expect anything else than the "correct" answer. The question is so old, stupid, and irrelevant that anyone smart enough to ask actual good interview questions would never lead with this.

[–] mech@feddit.org 3 points 3 days ago

IMO questions like this only make sense if you slightly modify them to make the "standard" answer impossible.
Then you see how the candidate reacts to curveballs.
I still think it's more useful to ask the candidate for a problem they've solved in a creative way.

[–] lennee@lemmy.world 5 points 4 days ago

i just look through the keyhole and go ham on the switches