Microsoft Interview - Off the Wall Questions?

CryptKeeper

CryptKeeper

CryptKeeper

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I've got an interview with Microsoft today (well actually a recruiter for Microsoft). I'm reading on wikipedia that MS are notorious for giving off the wall questions, for example: Why is a manhole cover round?

Now, part of my session today is some tests and a 10 minute video taped interview. So has anyone been through this before and what kind of answers are best to give?

I've heard of a lot of similar Questions being asked at Oxbridge interviews, and they seem to like off the wall answers to these questions.

Just off the top of my head: A manhole cover is round so the workers don't have to spend time making sure it fits correctly when replacing it....

Cheers

CK
 
Best of luck!

Wiki has a whole Microsoft-referenced section to that question....

Why are they round?
The question of why manhole covers are typically round, at least in the U.S., was made notorious by Microsoft, and Tony Martinez when they began asking it as a job-interview question.[2] Originally meant as a psychological assessment of how one approaches a question with more than one "right" answer, the problem exerts a strange fascination on people, who seek to find alternate explanations, from the pragmatic and satirical to the philosophical. One practical answer being, "Manhole covers are round because manholes are round."[2]

Reasons for the shape include:

-A round manhole cover cannot fall through its circular opening, whereas a square manhole cover may fall in if it were inserted diagonally in the aperture (A Reuleaux triangle or other curve of constant width would also serve this purpose, but round covers are much easier to manufacture.)
-Round tubes are the strongest and most material-efficient shape against the compression of the earth around them, and so it is natural that the cover of a round tube assume a circular shape.
-Cylindrical holes are easier to dig.
-The bearing surfaces of manhole frames and covers are machined to assure flatness and prevent them from becoming dislodged by traffic.
-Round castings are much easier to machine using horizontal boring mills.
-Circular covers do not need to be rotated to align them when covering a circular manhole.
-Human beings have a roughly circular cross-section.
-A round manhole cover can be more easily moved by being rolled.
-If an automobile rolls over a dislodged manhole of another shape, the sharp corners could puncture the automobile's tire, whereas a circle doesn't have corners.
-Tradition
-Aesthetics

However, other manhole shapes can be found, usually squares or rectangles. Nashua, New Hampshire may be unique in the U.S. for having triangular manhole covers that point in the direction of the underlying flow. The city is phasing out the triangles, which were made by a local foundry, because they are not large enough to meet modern safety standards, and larger triangles cannot be found.
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:)
 
Not all manholes are circular, some are rectangular.

Tell them that if Apple made manholes they would look fanstastic and fit first time, flush to the road and have a non slip surface. However, if M$ made manholes they would be circular but set in a rectangular frame that doesn't quite fit into the triangular hole, they would stand proud and present a trip hazard. ;)

:)

Good luck with the interview.
 
AJUK said:
Not all manholes are circular, some are rectangular.

Tell them that if Apple made manholes they would look fanstastic and fit first time, flush to the road and have a non slip surface. However, if M$ made manholes they would be circular but set in a rectangular frame that doesn't quite fit into the triangular hole, they would stand proud and present a trip hazard. ;)

:)

Good luck with the interview.
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Lol, should I actually say that?
 
CryptKeeper said:
Lol, should I actually say that?
Click to expand...
No, if you were going along those lines you'd be saying something like 'if Apple made manhole covers they'd look fantastic but only 1% of road surfaces would be compatible with them' and 'if Microsoft made manhole covers they'd be functional, work 99.99% of the time, would take a battering and yet keep working and 99% of the roads would work with it, even if a little tinkering was required'
 
CryptKeeper said:
I've got an interview with Microsoft today (well actually a recruiter for Microsoft). I'm reading on wikipedia that MS are notorious for giving off the wall questions, for example: Why is a manhole cover round?

Now, part of my session today is some tests and a 10 minute video taped interview. So has anyone been through this before and what kind of answers are best to give?

I've heard of a lot of similar Questions being asked at Oxbridge interviews, and they seem to like off the wall answers to these questions.

Just off the top of my head: A manhole cover is round so the workers don't have to spend time making sure it fits correctly when replacing it....

Cheers

CK
Click to expand...

A man-hole cover is round because that way it can't fall into the hole because the diameter is constant as oposed to sqaures and rectangles where at certain angles it could fall in.
 
Its more interesting when you think about the fact that the round cover is infact sat ontop of a square chamber that leads down to a round tunnel...
 
I had an interview for MS a few years ago (which was part of a morning session with a 3rd pary recruiter and included a 10 minute video interview to be forwarded to MS).

I was invited back for a further interview actually with MS, but declined as by the time they had got back to me I had a job offer elsewhere.

To be honest I don't recall any particularly off the wall questions, just the usual kind of stuff really....

Why Microsoft, what could you bring to the company, how do your past experiences relate to the work you could see yourself doing etc etc
 
I hear weird questions like this are fairly common. Another one is "If you came home and there was an alligator in your bath tub what would you do?". I have a mock interview with someone from IBM so I might get questions like that. It's for a course about career management, presentation, interview skills, etc. not for an actual job.
 
AJUK said:
Not all manholes are circular, some are rectangular.

Tell them that if Apple made manholes they would look fanstastic and fit first time, flush to the road and have a non slip surface. However, if M$ made manholes they would be circular but set in a rectangular frame that doesn't quite fit into the triangular hole, they would stand proud and present a trip hazard. ;)

:)

Good luck with the interview.
Click to expand...

Very good. You made me LOL!
 
Sounds to me like its a sales role, in which case they won't really be bothered about the reason for it being round, but more how you respond to being asked something "strange" which happens a lot with customers :)

I'd say instead of going on about random reasons why something is the way it is when you don't know, simply say something like "I can get the answer, I just need to ring the manhole company and ask them!"

I a job like that, from time to time you may get asked questions you don't have a clue what the answer would be, but its your ability to instantly respond in a way which would satisfy the customer, if it means finding out from somewhere, thats generally good enough..
 
I attended one of those interview and test days a week back, should be hearing by the end of this week whether i got to the final assessment day stage or not!

*fingers crossed*

Hope you did well mate, good luck! :)

P.S i didnt get any questions relating to Manhole covers, so dont worry!
 
I had a technical interview with ms back in december. Like you I was anxious that they would throw off the wall questions at me, but thankfully no, just some programming and a few normal questions and then onto the next interviewers!

Got offered a job but declined as I had already taken up a job elsewhere.

But a fun day out it was!
 
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