[enjalot]

I'm almost certain this is why I failed my phone interview. It wasn't that I implemented an inefficient sort right away, its that I didn't talk about how/why it was and what I could do about it with more time.

I really don't like the idea of solving contrived puzzles, but I'll never make the mistake of keeping my thought process hidden again.

[larsberg]

If you can, track down somebody who has done a lot of these interviews before to give you a test one and some feedback. I do that for the undergraduates at our school (I went back for my Ph.D. after retiring from MSFT), and they claim it has helped them prepare.

I don't claim any responsibility for their success, though! The University of Chicago undergrads are a hard-working bunch. Much more so than when I was an undergrad :-)