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parpfishtoday at 3:49 AM1 replyview on HN

i once had this "make a PB&J" as part of a written take-home interview.

i knew the schtick -- no matter how precise and complete you are, there is always the possibility for another little gotcha. and that makes it absolute rubbish for a take home because... how much detail do i need to go into to satisfy the manager reviewing this? i think i wrote a couple paragraphs and ended with a little rant about how i know how this problem works and it'd work better in person. i don't know how much they expected somebody to write.


Replies

chiitoday at 5:28 AM

> how much detail do i need to go into to satisfy the manager reviewing this?

it would've been fun to troll by writing the instructions on exactly which muscle to contract and extend for X seconds, and moving in an arc of Y minutes.

It'd be like writing assembly code for your skeleton and muscles'.