The question I’ve gotten at a couple of different jobs is “What position on a baseball team is most important?”
Of course, the right answer is “None–they’re a team and are all equally important.”
I didn’t like that answer.
So I told the interviewers “The catcher.”
Of course, they wanted to know why.
“Because the catcher is the only player who’s able to keep an eye on those other 8 sons-of-bitches.”
Probably wouldn’t have worked anywhere but Texas…but I got both jobs.
-David
The question in the OP doesn’t make any sense. If they already make inflatable boats, what do they need a prototype for? Why can’t they just keep on making their old inflatable boats?
This is a good point, and whether you address the interviewer about this (ie, point out the curious use of the word “prototype”) or not is an interesting dilemma? Would the rest of you?
(It’s actually similar to a situation where you notice that the original classified ad/job posting has a typo in it. Do you say something?)
My answer: I probably would, in both cases, but tactfully, of course. Especially for the question above as opposed to my scenario, because it might buy me a couple seconds to try to figure out what the OP is designed to accomplish (while they’re busy clarifying the original question).
I’m particularly interested in what a recruiter or office administrator would think.
As to Soulfrost’s original baseball question, I would think my answer would be “Mine. At least to me.” (Followed by standard tripe about how it IS a team sport, blahblah…)
Why not outsource the design and construction of the prototype…the first guy that arrives on your island in an inflatable dinghy has proved he has the best product…Microsoft then buy his idea, market it as their own and sit back and watch 95% of the population buy the damn thing only to see it pop leaks every other day and sink.
That’s because you have cunningly made lots of tiny little holes in it so everyone has to constantly upgrade with, ahem, patches. Lifeboat 2.0, with Portholes XP.
I think I would point out that prototyping is not an appropriate design methodology for an object that is expected to traverse bodies of deep water. Who the hell wants to do the mid Pacific QA on Lifesaver V1.0.
The correct answer for “What are your weaknesses?” is “I make the other staff look bad.” For the paranoid amongst us it is “All the other staff hate me because I’m so popular.”
I tend to be impatient. If other workers are holding my back, I usually offer to help them out. I’m also a perfectionist, I am constantly thinking of ways to improve the product I am working on.
Ding! Bingo! 
I would offer to make it out of this thread, since even though it sank four and a half years ago, it has risen to the surface again.
Ah, thank you! I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why Billehunt was having trouble finding people in Silicon Valley. Those were the days…
As for the stupid interview question, assuming it was really a desert island, I guess my answer would be “First find a rubber tree.”
There’s a book on this now, How Would You Move Mount Fuji, by William Poundstone, copyright 2003. Maybe he’s a Doper and wrote it after reading/posting this thread. Anyway you can go to the library and check it out. It’s fairly interesting.
How the heck do guests find Zombie threads? They can’t search.
Finagle wrote
Indeed they were. Haven’t seen that name in a while; wonder what became of him.
If you must refer to old threads, link to them-do not resurrect them.