[alephnan]

> trying to find out your (software engineer) unconscious mind reveals during the process.

For many decades, Floyd's Cycle Detection algorithm was unknown in academic circles as the most efficient method of cycle detection.

It is not uncommon to encounter this problem in an interview. There's nothing revealing about the unconscious mind and process, other than that the candidate remembered the solution to this problem.

If it was so readily obvious to derive and arrive at a solution, you would have expected the army of PhDs and academics to have done so.