Hacker News Books

I enjoyed these books:

* Strategy Rules

* How Google Works

* Founders at Work

No, however, please note the following:

Companies, like customers, have requirements for their needs. If a company needs a potential employee to know how to invert a binary tree then it's in their right to find one.

In Google's case, as you're probably alluding to[0], although I might be mistaken, they've always had the reputation for seeking the best qualified people[1] for their work. I mean look at who's working for them - there's a lot of well-known people in their respective fields that are working for them.

Moreover, I think that the point of these tests is to help assess a potential employee's abstract thinking. And, probably, to understand one's thought process behind the solution - if there's one - to the given problem. (Which, by the way, might be helpful if you're trying to solve AI - something that's right up in Google's alley ;).

Despite the backlash over this, I believe companies will keep doing these types of tests for a long, long time. I don't think this is going away that easily. And I also think that, in the future, these tests might be done in a way you won't even know you're being tested for.

[0] - https://twitter.com/mxcl/status/608682016205344768

[1] - I understand that "best qualified" here might mean different things for different people, but you should take it literally, that is, people who are above the average in terms of abstract thinking. I suggest you read How Google Works[2], they've coined the term Smart Creative which is kind of(?) related to this.

[2] - https://www.howgoogleworks.net/