[randomdata]

Seems so. The broken tech interview idea stems from the idea that interview questions that do not pertain to the job will lead to hiring the wrong people.

And, indeed, what Microsoft really needed in the 80s was people who truly understood memory management in C, not gamblers left to hack their way into something that kind of worked sometimes. Microsoft's need to correct that hiring mistake later set them back significantly. Had they asked about the intricacies of C as it directly pertained to the job instead of unrelated trivia, they would be in a much stronger position now.

[ywvcbk]

> Had they asked about the intricacies of C

Presumably it wasn’t Ballmer who was asking questions like that?

If he was running the “business”, sales etc. part of the company.

All of the things you listed would have been less than worthless if they weren’t able to convince anyone to buy their products.

[randomdata]

Thanks for playing along. This is a perfect example of why pointless trivia does well in an interview. It reveals the psuedo-intellectuals who will overanalyze the situation in an effort to try and sound intelligent. Exactly who you want to steer clear of.

The candidate you actually want to hire will respond with something to effect of "That's dumb. Let's instead talk about X, which will be a far more appealing topic to both of us."

[ywvcbk]

Well.. most people generally don’t like working with annoying, self-entitled know-it-alls. So I guess the question serves its purpose if it filters such people out.

> effort to try and sound intelligent. Exactly who you want to steer clear of.

I wouldn’t be reading your comments if I wanted to stay clear of stuff like that, would I?