alt Hacker NewsI also feel it's very easy for a good interviewer to bring the conversation back to the desired scenario.
Anything from "imagine we are in a parallel universe where Google Sheets has not been invented yet" to "how would you design a google sheets competitor" would do the trick.
Source: interviewed hundreds, incl FAANG.
Yeah - for sure. When I’m interviewing I want to give the candidate the best chance of success and to show off both what they know and how they will work with me.
I generally give it three goes with questions like these - the initial ask, and two clarifications. If we’re not getting anywhere I move on.