Ask HN: How to not fail on coding interview questions?
>there's also extreme examples like the inventor of homebrew that got rejected by google because he couldn't reverse a binary tree.<p>HN has rehashed this debate plenty, but I don't think you should necessarily see this as an example of a dramatic failure of the Google SWE interview process.<p>Homebrew became a success due to great vision and execution, not because it solved a challenging technical problem. Howell seems like a great guy who would probably make a great senior developer, founder or PM at any company that aims to solve customer needs.<p>Google's focus, however, is on hiring SWEs that can solve uniquely complex and difficult technical problems. The merits of such a narrow focus is obviously up for debate, but if that is to be your goal, this hiring decision aligns with it.