[ywvcbk]

> "I don't know"

Which is exactly the same as “no” in this situation. If you were capable of proving the opposite I assume he would have been willing to hear you out.

> not be able to give you the answer to this on the spot

Realizing the most obvious strategy would be suboptimal if the game is adversarial is the first step of the correct answer though. If you didn’t know what to do next obviously the correct answer is “no, because I don’t know”.

Someone who is trying to absolve himself from making any decision ls is presumably not the sort of a person they were looking for.

Also would Balmer have been hiring for engineers to begin with?