There was an ad in the latest Linux Journal for GoogleLabs, with a puzzle involving a vending machine. The bottom of the page said if you submit the answer with a resume, your resume goes to the front of the queue. I solved it with a few lines of Perl and submitted the answer that day:
Date: Fri, 16 Jul 2004 11:54:34 -0700 From: labjobs@google.com To: Brad Fitzpatrick <brad@danga.com> Subject: Re: [#12106644] vending machine problem
Dear Problem Solver,
Thanks for taking the time to play with our little brain-teaser and for sending us your solution. While you won't find a confirmation of the answer in this email, we did want to let you know that your message was received and that we'll be taking a look at it. If you submitted a resume, we'll be spending some time with that as well. If it seems like there might be a fit with a position we have open, we'll contact you within the next few days.
And as for the answer to the puzzle, we'll post the ads and the solution on our site within a couple of months, after those who are a little slower than you have had a chance to work on it a bit longer. Thanks again for your interest in Google.
