On Thu, Sep 10, 2009 at 01:02:12PM -0700, Anselm Hook wrote: > Indeed it was fun to try the puzzles out - they were a distraction > from an already busy day down here in SF! > > It could be fun, but perilous to my schedule, to make a list of > puzzles like this.
ITA Software is well known in the Boston area for having puzzles as part of their job application process: http://www.itasoftware.com/careers/jlisting.html?uid=700679 has a list of some of them. Their puzzles lean more towards the 'algorithmic' side (like the second question that Ian posted), and one of the key things they used to do in the area was have an algorithmic problem that can be expressed on a billboard -- something like "How many palindromes are there in the english language that can be expressed in fewer than 12 letters" or something like that. Apparently they used to get a number of their candidates that way. I think Microsoft started doing the same kind of thing when they moved to Cambridge for one of their offices. Of course, Cambridge -- with MIT, Harvard, and approximately 100 other colleges in a 20 mile radius -- is somewhat uniquely suited for subway system advertisements directing technical challenges at the riders of the system. -- Chris > - me > > On Thu, Sep 10, 2009 at 12:46 PM, Brandon Martin-Anderson > <[email protected]> wrote: > > Ironically Ian's pre-screen test is more likely, I think, to pique people's > > attention than to weed them out. Hackers are compulsive problem solvers. I > > was tempted to solve the problems - and I've worked for Ian. > > _______________________________________________ > Geowanking mailing list > [email protected] > http://geowanking.org/mailman/listinfo/geowanking_geowanking.org -- Christopher Schmidt MetaCarta _______________________________________________ Geowanking mailing list [email protected] http://geowanking.org/mailman/listinfo/geowanking_geowanking.org
