I also can't help but notice that some of the interview questions were confusing or misleading when taken into context with the other questions.
The engineer says that he got lost when she mentions ads might have a 25% click through rate but in another question the click through rate was 20%, as an example. She probably thought, but did not write that her earlier estimate would have been ok or acceptable which would be confusing given the engineer's reaction.
Also, if said question was meant to test reasoning skills and not a raw answer, then a wrong estimate for click through shouldn't "lose" anyone. After all, if you haven't worked in search or heard of google or the internet ad business internals, how would you know what the click through rate should be more like? Advertising is but one of many industries.
I think google needs to be a bit more careful about how they ask questions or at least have interviewers talk to each other. Probably too difficult since they all have other tasks and duties to do.
The engineer says that he got lost when she mentions ads might have a 25% click through rate but in another question the click through rate was 20%, as an example. She probably thought, but did not write that her earlier estimate would have been ok or acceptable which would be confusing given the engineer's reaction.
Also, if said question was meant to test reasoning skills and not a raw answer, then a wrong estimate for click through shouldn't "lose" anyone. After all, if you haven't worked in search or heard of google or the internet ad business internals, how would you know what the click through rate should be more like? Advertising is but one of many industries.
I think google needs to be a bit more careful about how they ask questions or at least have interviewers talk to each other. Probably too difficult since they all have other tasks and duties to do.