I have indeed asked this question to several candidates, yes. They were faced with a debugging challenge and some of them weren't sure what .repeat() (JavaScript) did/what the argument meant.
I literally said "What would google for?" and then proceeded to invite them to show me in a browser. It gave us a good impression of how good they are at finding answers to coding problems.
You might just be my new hero. I find it both sad (but also interesting) how little the current IT interview process actually has to do with what job candidates will do once they get the job, and predicting their performance.
I literally said "What would google for?" and then proceeded to invite them to show me in a browser. It gave us a good impression of how good they are at finding answers to coding problems.