Can you use search engines when doing an assessment at interview? [closed]

Question

I admit that I spend most of my time googling for a solution when faced with a problem. So, when it comes to interviewing, sometimes the question is really tough or there are questions you never tried before.

I understand this is to assess how much do we understand about theory but sometimes I also wondering, perhaps interviewer wants to know how are we going to solve the problem?

I am struggling with this question, with regards to a developer role:

Am I allowed to use search engines when doing an interview assessment?

Answer 1

Whether you're allowed to use external sources will be up to the ones evaluating you.

The question itself is entirely fair as it merely draws up the boundaries of the task.

Personally, I would ask whether it is OK to use StackOverflow rather than Google (even though I generally use Google and end up following a link to StackOverflow), as it signals you have a go-to place when solving problems and are not just arbitrarily searching (even though you are).

Answer 2

Your potential employer is very likely interested in having you correctly completing the assigned tasks in a given time.

That you already knew how to handle it or that you searched for help it has little impact on the outcome, as long as you can be on schedule.

Someone said that knowledge is not about keeping all the information in your head, but knowing where to find it when it is needed. This is the very case.

Answer 3

If you are going to have Google in performing the job then it seems reasonable to use Google for the assessment. But it should still be your own work. Don't copy solutions as a whole. If the assessment does not match your real skills it will eventually come out. If it lands you a job you are not qualified for you will be frustrated and possibly fired.

Take it to an extreme. Does refer to the documentation count as cheating? If they want a controlled result then they should have timed tasks at their location with either no access to the Internet or limited (E.G. msdn.microsoft.com/en-us). This is just my opinion but I think is should be like 8 super easy questions if you miss you are out. And then 1 or 2 challenging questions in 2-4 hours. A two week take home to build a full web site to me is ridiculous - that is a company that has no idea how to measure core skills.

I see tech questions that appear to be interview question and I will typically pass unless the question is interesting to me.

If you are going to post for an answer on the stack exchange network then use a name that does not trace back to you.

Answer 4

There is no general rule for this unfortunately, some interviews may be on a computer with access to the internet and they may be fine with you searching online, some may ask you to solve on a whiteboard in front of them, and then there's a million variations in between.

So instead of trying to suggest whether it's OK to use google or not, I feel the answer you actually need is to know what you can do when you can't use your normal tools (i.e. when you are restricted to just your memory).

I'd suggest the following for best communicating your skills:

• For problems you can solve directly, solve them first.

• If you believe there is a better way, make this clear. If this relies on some knowledge you don't know off the top of your head - detail why you think there's a better way, and what you what specific things you need to double check. For example: "I think we can improve this using x, but I'm not sure if y behaves like this or not - I'd need to check this first".

• If you only know how to partially solve a problem, abstract the areas you can't solve and then proceed to solve the problem with those assumptions detailed. For example, "We need to get a to work with b, I'm not sure exactly how we'd do that - so I'd need to check up on it first - but after that, it would allow c to do this that and the other".

• If you don't know how to solve it at all, detail similar problems that you have solved before and how these relate to your current problem. Give ideas on what you think you'd need to look into. "I'm not sure exactly how to do this, but it looks similar to y I've worked on before. My gut instinct is part of it can be solved by something similar to z - which I think we could look into".

The key with all of these is to never give no-answer. Even the questions you are completely stumped by, you should be answering how you would go about getting the specific information you need and what exactly you are unsure of.

There's no way to know what tools you will or will not be allowed to use in a certain interview, nor is there a way to guess what an employer is looking for in your solutions. But if you give as much detail on what parts you don't understand as possible, you'll be able to show your skills and experience to their fullest.