The Google Interview Question Everyone Gets Wrong
A video explores the famous Google interview question about being shrunk to nickel-size in a blender with 60 seconds before the blades start. Various interviewees propose creative survival strategies, but the video suggests their answers are inadequate.
Summary
The transcript presents a popular interview question used by Google: imagine you are shrunk down to the size of a nickel and placed inside a blender that will start spinning in 60 seconds. What do you do? The video then showcases multiple responses from different people. Some answers include physical evasion strategies like ducking under the blades, while others propose more unconventional approaches such as asking politely for the blender not to be turned on, or using tied clothing as a rope. One respondent suggests positioning themselves at the center of the blade rotation where RPM might be lower, or using clothing to latch onto a blade tip to swing around. Other answers range from accepting defeat due to poor quality of life at that size, to considering quantum tunneling (dismissed as impossible), or attempting to catch air drafts for lift. The video concludes by indicating that these proposed answers don't adequately solve the problem, though the actual resolution is not provided in the transcript.
About this episode
The blender problem. Do you think you know the answer? Comment below!
Key Insights
- One interviewee proposes that standing at the very center of the blender blades is viable because the actual RPM at the center may not be high enough to cause harm, suggesting physics rather than evasion as a survival strategy
- An interviewee acknowledges the existential problem of the scenario itself, questioning what quality of life one would have at nickel-size, suggesting acceptance of defeat as a rational response
- The video presenter asserts that the common answers provided by interviewees are insufficient to actually solve the problem, implying there is a different or superior solution to the question
Topics
Transcript
[0:00] There is this famous Google interview question that everyone gets wrong. You're shrunk down to the size of a nickel and put into a blender. The blades will start spinning in 60 seconds. So, what do you do? >> I would like to think I could duck down and miss the blades. >> Push the button. >> Ask nicely for the blender not to be turned on. >> Accept defeat. I mean, I'm the size of a nickel. Like, what quality of life is that? >> That's still too big for me to quantum tunnel or anything like that. >> Tie my clothes together [music] and then [0:30] like use it as a rope, I guess. >> If I…
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