Fancy a job at Google?

Urban myths of the interview process includes the following:

1. Why are manhole covers round?
2. You are shrunk to the height of a nickel and your mass is proportionally reduced so as to maintain your original density. You are then thrown into an empty glass blender. The blades will start moving in 60 seconds. What do you do?
3. How much should you charge to wash all the windows in Seattle?
4. Explain a database in three sentences to your eight-year-old nephew.
5. In a country in which people only want boys, every family continues to have children until they have a boy. If they have a girl, they have another child. If they have a boy, they stop. What is the proportion of boys to girls in the country?
6. If you look at a clock and the time is 3.15, what is the angle between the hour and the minute hands? (The answer is not zero!)
7. How many piano tuners are there in the entire world?
8. Four people need to cross a rickety rope bridge to get back to their camp at night. Unfortunately, they only have one flashlight and it only has enough light left for 17 minutes. The bridge is too dangerous to cross without a flashlight, and it's only strong enough to support two people at any given time. Each of the campers walks at a different speed. One can cross the bridge in one minute, another in two, the third in five, and the slow poke takes 10 to cross. How do the campers make it across in 17 minutes?
9. How many golf balls can fit in a school bus?
10. You're the captain of a pirate ship, and your crew gets to vote on how the gold is divided up. If fewer than half of the pirates agree with you, you die. How do you recommend apportioning the gold in such a way that you get a good share of the booty, but still survive?

blog.seattleinterviewcoach.com via guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited