Interview: How would you direct someone else on how to cook an omelet? (Take 2)

How would you direct someone else on how to cook an omelet?

Gather Answers to Follow-up Questions

Why am directing someone?

• Instructional?
• To cook me breakfast?
• For himself? How many tries? How many eggs? Are there eggs?

Who is "someone"?

• Experience
• Age
• Language
• Customs
• Culture

How? Where?

• In-person? Virtual? Text? Amazon how-to? SMS?
• Language?
• High elevation?
• Stove? Campfire? Barbecue?

Goal?

If I get this question in my next interview, I feel like my goal is to keep asking questions and hope to not answer the question. I think it would be entertaining to see how far I can push without actually answering the question which then go back to the first post with modifications to the additional information.

Reference

Take 1: https://douglastclee.blogspot.com/2013/01/interview-how-would-you-direct-someone.html

Buggish: Windows 10 Context Menu Does Not Disappear (right click)

Problem: Right click on any windows entity that creates a context menu (the menu that appears after right clicking), then click on any of the options. Once clicked, that option "never" disappears.

Trigger: I have not determined what triggers this problem. It is repeatable once it is triggered though.

Workaround: Lock screen and log back in. I think anything that will refresh the whole screen.

Fix:
1. In the Windows search, type in Performance and look for Adjust the appears and performance of Windows
2. Look for the option for Fade out menu items after clicking
2.a. For me, the Performance Options window was already open to the list of options under custom. By default it is under Performance Options > Visual Effects > Custom > Fade out menu items after clicking.
3. You may need to use the workaround one more time.

Once I logged back in, the error no longer occurred. I just fixed the issue and have not rebooted. Hoping this is a permanent fix.

Human Decency - Mr. Rogers - Senate Subcommittee (1969)

Still relevant today...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKy7ljRr0AA
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/fredrogerssenatetestimonypbs.htm


Senator Pastore: Alright Rogers, you've got the floor.
Mr. Rogers: Senator Pastore, this is a philosophical statement and would take about ten minutes to read, so I'll not do that. One of the first things that a child learns in a healthy family is trust, and I trust what you have said that you will read this. It's very important to me. I care deeply about children.
Senator Pastore: Will it make you happy if you read it?
Mr. Rogers: I'd just like to talk about it, if it's alright. My first children's program was on WQED fifteen years ago, and its budget was $30. Now, with the help of the Sears-Roebuck Foundation and National Educational Television, as well as all of the affiliated stations -- each station pays to show our program. It's a unique kind of funding in educational television. With this help, now our program has a budget of $6000. It may sound like quite a difference, but $6000 pays for less than two minutes of cartoons. Two minutes of animated, what I sometimes say, bombardment. I'm very much concerned, as I know you are, about what's being delivered to our children in this country. And I've worked in the field of child development for six years now, trying to understand the inner needs of children. We deal with such things as -- as the inner drama of childhood. We don't have to bop somebody over the head to...make drama on the screen. We deal with such things as getting a haircut, or the feelings about brothers and sisters, and the kind of anger that arises in simple family situations. And we speak to it constructively.
Senator Pastore: How long of a program is it?
Mr. Rogers: It's a half hour every day. Most channels schedule it in the noontime as well as in the evening. WETA here has scheduled it in the late afternoon.
Senator Pastore: Could we get a copy of this so that we can see it? Maybe not today, but I'd like to see the program.
Mr. Rogers: I'd like very much for you to see it.
Senator Pastore: I'd like to see the program itself, or any one of them.
Mr. Rogers: We made a hundred programs for EEN, the Eastern Educational Network, and then when the money ran out, people in Boston and Pittsburgh and Chicago all came to the fore and said we've got to have more of this neighborhood expression of care. And this is what -- This is what I give. I give an expression of care every day to each child, to help him realize that he is unique. I end the program by saying, "You've made this day a special day, by just your being you. There's no person in the whole world like you, and I like you, just the way you are." And I feel that if we in public television can only make it clear that feelings are mentionable and manageable, we will have done a great service for mental health. I think that it's much more dramatic that two men could be working out their feelings of anger -- much more dramatic than showing something of gunfire. I'm constantly concerned about what our children are seeing, and for 15 years I have tried in this country and Canada, to present what I feel is a meaningful expression of care.
Senator Pastore: Do you narrate it?
Mr. Rogers: I'm the host, yes. And I do all the puppets and I write all the music, and I write all the scripts --
Senator Pastore: Well, I'm supposed to be a pretty tough guy, and this is the first time I've had goose bumps for the last two days.
Mr. Rogers: Well, I'm grateful, not only for your goose bumps, but for your interest in -- in our kind of communication. Could I tell you the words of one of the songs, which I feel is very important?
Senator Pastore: Yes.
Mr. Rogers: This has to do with that good feeling of control which I feel that children need to know is there. And it starts out, "What do you do with the mad that you feel?" And that first line came straight from a child. I work with children doing puppets in -- in very personal communication with small groups:

What do you do with the mad that you feel? When you feel so mad you could bite. When the whole wide world seems oh so wrong, and nothing you do seems very right. What do you do? Do you punch a bag? Do you pound some clay or some dough? Do you round up friends for a game of tag or see how fast you go? It's great to be able to stop when you've planned the thing that's wrong. And be able to do something else instead -- and think this song --

'I can stop when I want to. Can stop when I wish. Can stop, stop, stop anytime....And what a good feeling to feel like this! And know that the feeling is really mine. Know that there's something deep inside that helps us become what we can. For a girl can be someday a lady, and a boy can be someday a man.'

Senator Pastore: I think it's wonderful. I think it's wonderful. Looks like you just earned the 20 million dollars.

Complaint: Google Analytics - Demographics and Interest Reports - New Tracking Code

I was playing around with Google Analytics and stumbled across the Demographics and Interest Reports which seemed interesting at first but it brings me to a page to say that I need to make a change to the scripts to have this work.

Why didn't they just give me the proper scripts to begin with? I have the option already enabled. This is quite a hassle even though I know how to do the work. Then again, after trying to follow the instructions I could not find what they needed me to change.

The instructions is to change:

ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js';

To:

ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://' : 'http://') + 'stats.g.doubleclick.net/dc.js'; 

And no where in the script do I have these lines. The code surrounding the lines are not supposed to change but even those are not what the script was provided by Google Analytics. What is provided to me is the follow:

  (function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){
  (i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),
  m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)
  })(window,document,'script','//www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js','ga');
  ga('create', 'UA-xxxxxxx-x', 'xxxxxxxxxxxx.blogspot.com');
  ga('send', 'pageview');

Figuring what the changes are, I could deduce that I change google-analytics.com/ga.js to stats.g.doubleclick.net/dc.js. But then I checked the privacy policy and noticed that that this also required me to update my privacy policy. At this point, this is just too much of a headache so decided not to move forward this change until I figure out what to do about the privacy policy part. Whatever reason for not implementing the change, I find it odd that the instructions to update the script is not correct for me which I would expect from a company like Google.

Release Management

Who's responsibility was this issue? For my team, this would appear to be needed from our product team. It is also odd that no one has a checklist to make sure that documentation should be updated since the instructions appear to have been for an older version (here's an example to publish versions for those people who believe version numbers are practically obsolete due to new agile processes). None of the steps after product would really check on this change because it wouldn't exist in the requirements since it was missed. This wouldn't have a chance to be caught until much later in the process like User Acceptance Test (UAT)... possibly System Test (ST) if they did some free-style testing which I find unlikely since most corporations would have the team follow test scripts which would exist since there was no requirement. Also odd is that even after all that, a user like myself should have reported this by the time I got to this (although I am making a huge assumption that this feature has been out for while). But Google typically had something like a "did you find this helpful" and of course, it does not exist for the one time I looked for it.

So even after all that, there is a chance that I have missed a step somewhere. I am not sure where I skipped a step and if it wasn't that intuitive then something at least needs to be improved.

Reference
Instructions to change - https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/2444872?hl=en&utm_id=ad
Policy requirements - https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/2700409
Google Analytics - https://www.google.com/analytics

Interview: How would you direct someone else on how to cook an omelet?

How would you direct someone else on how to cook an omelette?

This seems like a rather boring question... this seems to have a mixture of figuring your attentiveness to detail while keeping it simple. There are probably some variations that you could consider depending on the role you are interviewing for. Less detail for management, more details for designers, more economical analysis for financial analysis, including hiring a chef, question all the requirements of an omelette... I decided on what I consider a simple, minimal style with some focus to details.

1. Ask the person if they already know how to cook an omelette
1a. If yes, then ask what the basic steps are to making an omelette. If it sounds reasonable, then I would just let them cook an omelette because it will be unlikely worse than my omelette. End
2. Make sure the person has all the necessary preparations, non-stick frying pan, stove, spatula, oil/butter, eggs, a bowl, plate, and something to beat the eggs.
3. Crack eggs into bowl
4. Beat eggs
5. Turn on stove to med/high
6. Put pan on stove
7. Add oil/butter onto pan
8. Wait 2 minutes
9. Spread oil/butter so that it evenly coats the bottom of the inside of the pan
10. Add the beaten eggs
11. Wait until you see the bottom layer solidifying
12. Use spatula to slide under the egg to test if the eggs are sticking to the pan
13. If sticking to the pan
13a. Lower the heat
13b. Keep sliding the spatula around the bottom of the eggs to keep egg from burning
14. When the eggs look 90% solid, tilt the pan slightly and slide the egg so that it is partially off the pan
15. Use spatula to fold the egg in half
16. Turn off the stove
17. Let omelette sit in a pan for about a minute
18. Lift pan, tilt slightly, and slide omelette into plate.
19. Place plate to the side
20. Clean all the used items
21. If omelette is presentable, serve omelette
22, Post-mortem - If omelette is not presentable, depending on blah, blah, and blah.... (ie common mistake guideline, seek second opinion, etc.)

You could add a step to add other things to the omelette. But given that I struggle making my own omelette, I would not be able to direct someone else to do it. Yes, it also happens to be convenient to shorten the answer for an interview but it happens to be the truth for me.

Assuming the person has no idea how to cook like myself, the key point is not make too many assumptions but also not to make it too long. The interviewer may interject so be ready. Some may do this to test your ability to multitask. Others to see how well you handle interruption. Also be ready to clarify on certain steps that you may have overlooked and why you thought certain steps were important to state. Don't make it overly fancy if you happen to be an omelette bistro. It is still an interview question so make sure you can finish within 2-3 minutes.

I recommend you to think through the main steps with some mental notes where you should clarify. This way you can get your preparations in correctly. Try to minimize how many times you need to backtrack when you realize you missed a step. If you realize you missed an important step, then do backtrack. If a minor detail, leave it to the end.

Some additional thoughts on other blog ideas... write a different set for different role types as mentioned above.