Just to clarify: It was a 800*800 image (or there abouts), and the GIF was pictoral (it was actually lena). It wasn't a typical GOF board. The question even hinted that if you can't get an exact match, then return a board that "comes close as possible". Without posting the whole problem, it definitely seemed like the kind of problem that would take at least a few days.
On the other hand, I once had a company give me a problem that was essentially to build a page that displays products from an API endpoint, and have that page infinitely scroll. That was something interesting, because infinite scroll is a useful skill. I had never implemented infinite scroll before, so in order to complete the task, I'd have to educate myself. And infinite scroll is a skill that I can use again. Conway's game of life in reverse is not a skill I'm ever going to use again, except for the next job interview busy work.
> I once had a company give me a problem that was essentially to build a page that displays products from an API endpoint, and have that page infinitely scroll.
I'd probably have the same reaction to that as you did to the reverse-GOL. Sounds dreadfully boring, if that's the sort of stuff they do every day. I don't want to re-use old techniques over and over and over; I want to continuously discover new ones.
On the other hand, I once had a company give me a problem that was essentially to build a page that displays products from an API endpoint, and have that page infinitely scroll. That was something interesting, because infinite scroll is a useful skill. I had never implemented infinite scroll before, so in order to complete the task, I'd have to educate myself. And infinite scroll is a skill that I can use again. Conway's game of life in reverse is not a skill I'm ever going to use again, except for the next job interview busy work.