I agree, but I think these exercises are still useful.
Reminds me of an interview I had well over a decade ago. It was a pretty high-flying investment bank, that was over 80% PhDs.
They were a C++ shop and asked me a particularly gnarly C++ question in the interview.
I didn't know the answer. In fact, I had no idea. I was pretty green & it was a pretty scary high-performing environment. So I answered how & why I'd avoid it entirely. Plus what I'd do if I actually encountered it in the wild.
The interviewer told me at the end - "Plenty of other interviewees have answered that question, but you're the only one who got it right."
That's just an anecdote really, but it's been borne out in my experience too. Knowing what you don't know is sometimes very useful...
Reminds me of an interview I had well over a decade ago. It was a pretty high-flying investment bank, that was over 80% PhDs.
They were a C++ shop and asked me a particularly gnarly C++ question in the interview.
I didn't know the answer. In fact, I had no idea. I was pretty green & it was a pretty scary high-performing environment. So I answered how & why I'd avoid it entirely. Plus what I'd do if I actually encountered it in the wild.
The interviewer told me at the end - "Plenty of other interviewees have answered that question, but you're the only one who got it right."
That's just an anecdote really, but it's been borne out in my experience too. Knowing what you don't know is sometimes very useful...