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How Should You Interview a Programmer?
Posted by
Cliff
on Thu Aug 22, 2002 02:15 PM
from the aspirant-firing-line dept.
from the aspirant-firing-line dept.
phamlen asks: "Having hired several programmers who haven't worked out, I'm wondering if other people have better success with interviewing techniques. Usually we have a two 'technical interviews' and a final interview. The technical interviews tend to be a combination of specific technical questions ('Is friendship inherited? How would you find out?') and algorithmic ('Given the numbers from 1-10 missing one number, how do you find the missing number?'). In addition, we essentially try to interview for: intelligence/performance. technical skills (algorithmic, etc.), and team compatibility. Unfortunately, we've been burned a couple of times by people whose performance didn't measure up to what we expected from the interviews. So I'm wondering if other people wanted to share their interviewing tricks - how do you find out if someone is a good programmer?" Surprisingly enough, we've done a series of these, so if you are interested in similar questions for sysadmins,
network engineers, or the one who will follow in your footsteps, then we've got it covered. We've also covered core IT questions as well. What special ways do you have of evaluating potential coders? How well have they worked out?
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Good question (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Good question (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:Good question (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
What I do (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:Good question (Score:5, Insightful)
These are the biggies, IMHO. This is what being a good programmer is all about.
And poetry.
-oakbox
Parent
Re:What to look for (Score:5, Insightful)
also, 90% of work is on the job training... do you expect people to be a perfect match walking in the door? wouldn't you rather have someone intelligent, adaptable and dependable, than someone who really really knows css and frontpage?
Parent
just out of curiosity (Score:4, Insightful)
wouldn't you rather have someone that can think on their feet rather than those that heard from a friend what your interview was like and studied to do well for that interview?
Re:just out of curiosity (Score:5, Insightful)
How about someone who answers a technical question, "I don't know off the top of my head, but that's what man pages are for."
I'd tend to hire someone who's willing to say "I don't know" over someone who tries to BS an answer.
Parent
Re:just out of curiosity (Score:5, Insightful)
People who have the certification and went to school plus have work experience (usually during school), reseach experience, personal projects, and possibly a track record of past successes can usually think well on their feet.
Personally, the ones that can't think on their feet are usually the ones that can't remember how to fix a customer's tech support problem even though they've been told how to fix it at least 3-10 times already. These are usually the ones that piss the customer's off the most and end up getting me involved in a pointless conference call with the customer due to some perceived "catastrophic bug."
The ones that think on their feet are the ones that use their own credit card to renew their company's $70 domain reg before millions of users of their free web-email service get locked out due to no resolvable DNS record. The same ones are those that pull a screw driver and make a tweak to your broadcast equipment 10 seconds after your first color TV broadcast goes live and everyone realizes all the color TVs everyone bought have a problem receiving 30 frames per second. (Now US TV gets 29.997 frames per second due to this same technical person.) Too bad there aren't more of these types of people out there.
Parent
Re:just out of curiosity (Score:5, Insightful)
Being a contractor for the past 7 years I have been to 100's of interviews and to be honest there comes a point when you realize that its normally the person doing the hiring that is kind of nervous or off thier game (they don't do interviews everyday normally).
I also don't tend to think about wheather im going to get the job or not, instead I think of them as a paying client already and I try to get them into discussions about thier current enviornment, issues, future plans etc. Then I provide advice and suggestions on these things. sometime if I steer it right I can go through the interview without ever having a formal tech-out or question anwser session becasue you show your skills right away.
Parent
My experiences (Score:4, Interesting)
It was really freaky how accurately it described me... the main point was to evaluate me with reference to the type of person that excels at my job (Programmer/Analyst with some support duties)
They also asked for source code I had written and numerous references.
THe problem with an interview is it's too easy to bullshit. You need to go beyond the interview, as my current employers did.
Clearly this is what Certifications are For (Score:4, Funny)
It is obvious that anyone with hiring expertise, such as human resource specialists, can most effectively hire potential candidates by insuring that they have MCSE (Microsoft) or Red Hat (Linux) certifications.
This removes the requirement for the interviewer to ask intelligent questions, and for the interviewee to provide intelligent answers, streamlining the entire interview process completely.
After all, how else is an interviewer going to be able to BS a potential candidate into believing they know what they are asking about, and how else is a potential candidate going to BS an interviewer that they know what they are talking about?
As Microsoft and Apple have been pushing for on the desktop for years now, it is time we removed the expertise and knowledge from the entire process altogether, thereby "enabling" and "facilitating" the hiring process.
[/humor]
Parent
Not freaky, it's called the Horoscope Study (Score:4, Informative)
I don't know what survey your employer used, but you spent some effort to complete the survey, expecting that a well-designed system would evaluate some qualitative aspects of you. When presented with results, you subconciously hoped to be:
- described accurately
- described favorably
This subconcious desire on your part made you willing to forgive minor points that didn't fit your desired outcome, and willing to magnify points which did fit the desired outcome.Again, I don't know what survey you used, and there certainly are valid personality tests out there, but don't get too freaked out when one seems to describe you to a T.
Parent
ask them to pick a number (Score:4, Funny)
My Mommy? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:My Mommy? (Score:4, Funny)
Parent
Show me the money.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Ask them if they write code as a hobby
What Open Source projects have they contributed to?
Ask them to bring some samples of source code they've written, and then do a walk-through
Ask them to solve a simple exercise with pseudo-code, then explain which language they would choose to implement it and why
Get them to find a known bug in some code that matches your "house style" (describe the unintended behavior)
Talk to their previous associates and boss....
YMMV....
Re:Show me the money.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Bad. Leading question.
It is likely that a coder who contributes to Open Source projects will have a true passion for coding, and probably producers better code for it, but it's possible to be an excellent coder and not participate in OSS projects.
In fact, it's possible to be an excellent coder while being morally opposed to the entire concept of Open Source...
Parent
Re:Show me the money.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Coding as a hobby definitely demonstrates a personal interest in programming, and a willingness to spend the time (my own time, no less) to learn whatever it is I'd need for that hobby (and, hopefully, the ability to use what you learn).
Samples of source code are sort of good, but the applicant might only be able to bring "hobby code" from home (because the 'good stuff' belongs to his current company), and that probably won't be as well refined as the stuff you do professionally. Though it also might be more cool, elegant, or just innovative, depending on what work's like (you're leaving, remember?)
Actually going to a whiteboard to solve a problem seems about the best way to gauge an applicant, in my not-so-complete-interviewing-experience. You're getting the most real-world example of the applicant, with peers, discussing and analyzing a problem, then sketching an outline for how to solve it. The details (which language, what modules, should you use pointers here, etc.) seem (to me) to be irrelevant. You're hiring someone to solve problems -- so, solve a problem, with the team, just like you would on a normal work day.
However, a couple of other suggestions seem like they wouldn't work. Asking about open source involvement just measures someone's interest in the open source community. Plenty of people (including myself) do a lot of programming at home, for fun, on projects that are primarily of interest to no-one but the applicant.
Finding a bug in sample code might work, if it's a small enough sample (like a simple routine), but there you're treading too close to testing for book knowledge ("Ah! You forget that the squiggle goes on the LEFT of the arrow!"), and book knowledge generally flees an interviewee at warp speed as soon as they set foot in your building. (Plus, that's why we *have* books, and man pages, and CPAN, and....)
Finally, talking to associates and bosses is tough, especially in a tight job market where someone might be afraid to even *suggest* that they're unhappy, for fear of being laid off and replaced with someone desparate for work off the street.
I don't know. I hate interviewing people. I hate *being* interviewed even more. I'm just not sure there is a good way.
Parent
Re:Show me the money.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Building on your ideas, I think it's important to avoid asking a question while simultaneously giving away the answer. Some interviewers might ask "Do you code as a hobby?" but I would rather say "Tell me about your hobbies", at which point I am listening for things related to coding. If I hear something interesting, then I ask a follow-up question, where I attempt to find out of the candidate has what I want. Along the same line... "Tell me about: "
- your past/current job
- projects you worked on
- your role in those projects
- a project that failed -- what went wrong? -- what did you learn?
The whole process needs to be more of a conversation, not a TV game show. The facts are to be extracted from what the candidate says. The most valuble information is what you get by reading between the lines.Asking for a code sample is a good idea, as is the debugging exercise. The pseudo-code exercise has merit, but it has to be simple enough to stay within time limits. None of these things will identify the best candidates, but it will surely identify the worst.
I am always amazed to see hiring managers that are over-relying on credentials and memorization-style questions. Some of the most talented IT people I ever met are those who came from non-traditional educational backgrounds -- essentially people who fought an uphill battle to get into the IT dept. and an even more uphill battle to get promoted.
Somewhere along the way, hiring managers forget that a good programmer is not the person who can memorize the syntax of a language, it's the person who can learn something new by spending 5 minutes with a manual and crafting a crude-but-workable piece of code that can be later refined and used in a project.
The programmer can be compared to a composer. Essentially, we want a person who can write a song, and play it for us on a piano. We want a good song; the ability to play piano is secondary. The hiring process tends to produce highly qualified piano players who have degrees in music and have memorized hundreds of other peoples' songs. It sounds great when they play, but they can't write a damn thing for themselves.
Parent
Re:Show me the money.... (Score:5, Funny)
With a pen, not a pencil.
Parent
What is a "good programmer"? (Score:5, Insightful)
There are, of course, a whole range of programmers from the code pounder to the system architect. Are you looking for someone who will produce tight code from a very well defined set of specifications? Are you looking for someone who can take a general "we'd kinda like this" and create code?
How were you "burned" the previous times? Did the interviewee misrepresent themself or did the project turn out to be different then what you were trying to fit the person into?
Another thing to remember when interviewing potential candidates is to look at your current staff and see if you can promote one from inside. That way you can interview for a more entry-level/well-defined position and increase morale by advancing your current employees.
The real answer (Score:4, Insightful)
The *only*, absolutely, unquestionably the *ONLY* way to evaluate a programmer is based on direct past experience with them. There is NO OTHER WAY!!! Everybody is completely fooling themselves with all the dumb little tests and riddles and IQ tests and evaluations. It is absurd. Hire programmers, evaluate them for a couple of months, and if they do not work out LET THEM GO. During this recession there are many more deserving programmers that need jobs. During an expansion is also a good time to let unproductive programmers go, since they can find a more appropriate position easily.
There are a few magical people who actually can evalute programmers based on an interview. These people do not use any tricks -- no tests or riddles or exams or anything. They just talk to the person for awhile, and they seem to always make the right decision. This is not a skill that can be taught or explained -- some people have it, the rest of us never will. If you can find a good manager like this, hire them, and your company will have guaranteed success. (There is a little recursion going on here, granted, but in the long run things either work out or they don't.)
All of these "interviewing methods (TM)" are arbitrated by people stoking and strutting their egos. Why can't you just admit that you don't know the answer sometimes?
Parent
easy (Score:5, Funny)
Programmer:
Interviewer: What do you do for fun outside of work?
Programmer:
Interviewer: Hmm. What do you look for in a woman?
Programmer:
Interviewer: Great then, one last thing we need to check...
Programmer:
Interviewer: Ok then, see you Monday.
Interviewing Programmers 101 (Score:5, Interesting)
The key to interviewing is to scope out the person's general work ethic, overall personality, and how well the person can do the job they have applied for. That's it!
In previous Slashdot threads we have learned that it's not wise to sit programmers down with a pen and paper and get them to write C code on the fly! Yet... the interview techniques you are mentioning are a lot like that.
Getting people to 'think on their feet' is good, if you're just talking concepts and ideas, but don't expect people to get things 100% right sitting at an interview table. These guys are programmers, not TV evangelists with all of the answers at the tip of a hat.
From the sound of your post it seems like you have interviewed people, found them to be great at algorithms and answering your questions, but then have found their work ethic stinks or that they're not as ingenious as you thought they were. That's because you assume that someone who can answer questions quickly and proficiently is a good programmer. Wrong!
Instead, look out for programmers who list extra-cirrucular projects on their resume. Look for programmers who have worked on their own projects, and can demonstrate them for you. Would you rather employ someone who coded a great deal of Gecko, or some gimp who can answer your algorithm questions?
Look for people who don't need incentives to work, but those who will program whether they get paid or not! Those are the people who will stick with you, and aren't just learning new languages to make a quick buck.
New Slashdot Section? (Score:5, Insightful)
It seems that we have a collection of these articles and comments in our little community. CmdrTaco, why not put together a new section with a theme of Technical Recruitment.
Perhaps this new section could include these helpful questions and resources following the current re-education and recruitment techniques of the industry.
Any thoughts?
You shouldn't. (Score:5, Funny)
-JDF
Re:You shouldn't. (Score:5, Funny)
Manager: Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
Programmer: On the other side of this desk, Bob.
Parent
Technical questions are irrelevant (Score:5, Funny)
And to be honest, most projects don't require skills nearly that nebulous. How many projects today are: get the data off the screen, validate it, then create the invoice.
The bigger question is whether they'll actually work hard on their jobs, or just play on SlashDot all day. And I don't know how to interview for that (and obviously neither do my employers).
.
Our interview process (Score:4, Interesting)
However, the one thing that is difficult to test but really seems to be the deciding factor of a new hire "working out" or not, is whether or not they have the "passion". One way we try to determine their take on programming (just a job vs. a fun hobby) is to ask them to describe one software project that they have developed on their own time (not on the job or necessarily part of schoolwork). It's amazing how few actually code for fun or just to continue the learning process.
We then ask them what their favorite joke is just to jolt them a bit and see if they have a sense of humor. Most people fail this question, unfortunately
Re:Our interview process (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re:Our interview process (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Check their grasp of reality. (Score:5, Funny)
Some example questions would be.
Which compiler do you prefer?
Complete the sequence. 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64
Are the voices in your head loud enough to disturb your coworkers?
Story about a guy at work (Score:5, Funny)
Well, 10 minutes later, the president came back in the room, and there was a web browser displaying his creation -- a single sentence, "Hi Tim, I wrote a web page" in bold and italics. Up on the screen were other web browsers containing internet searches about basic HTML, as well as the output of "view source" from one of our web pages.
Three years later, this guy is still with us, by far the best customer service manager we've ever had.
I guess the point is, give the person a puzzle that you know that they have no idea how to solve, and give them the resources to figure out how to solve it, and see what they do.
Re:Story about a guy at work (Score:5, Funny)
"Here's my computer. I'll be back in 10 minutes. I want my box rooted 10 ways from Sunday. Make me your bitch."
Otherwise, it's was pretty clever. I guess your boss was a bit shocked...
Parent
Re:Story about a guy at work (Score:5, Funny)
Does he get oral sex in the meantime?
Parent
Don't Focus on Quiz Questions (Score:5, Insightful)
I've been on both sides of the interview table, and from what I can tell, most interviewers fall into the same trap: focusing too much on detailed technical questions. In reality, your programmers are going to be involved in much more than writing eloquent solutions to programming problems. Your programmers will most likely be involved in project management, project design, project implementation, project testing, and project deployment. Be sure not to get wrapped up in asking too many questions like "how many bytes in a java int?" Instead, look for good all around problem solvers. Ask about their design experience and what tools or resources they have used in designing previous projects. Ask how they would handle testing when a project has been under-quoted. These are questions that good problem solvers will be able to answer quickly, and those who "studied" for an interview will not. It will give you a much better idea of how your potential employee would work out in your business. Be sure that your interviewee will not only be a good programmer now, but also in the future when your development tools change.
Another useful tool for an employee interview is to have a break for lunch with a group of your staff. This will give you and your staff a chance to meet the interviewee in a less structured environment. Many times, an interviewee will relax a bit during your lunch, and you get a much better idea of the person's attitude. Someone who answers technical questions very well may turn out to be a social dunce. Or you may find that the person doesn't share the goals of your company. It will also give your staff a chance to find out if they fit in with the group.
If you don't feel satisfied without asking some technical questions, be sure to ask questions which apply to your framework, and not necessarily the programming language you use to implement that framework. For instance, if you design using Object Oriented principles, ask about "has a" and "is a" relationships. The idea is to ask questions that are still relevant if you change languages from C++ to Java or to some other language.
Using some of these ideas, my company has been able to easily pick the good candidates from the poor ones. YMMV: good luck!
And the almost always overlooked flip question. . (Score:5, Insightful)
I'll bet the answer is well over 'one.'
You're looking for a magic bullet. A simple mechanical reduction of human issues. It doesn't exist.
The only sure fire way I've ever found of evaluating an employee is to give them something to do and see how it works out, bearing in mind that often times a person with mediocre skills turns out to be a very valuable employee and those with great 'creds' often turns out to be nearly worthless. That's why God invented the probationary period.
To get a better look at what I'm driving at here take a look at another flip side. *You* are asking this question because you are performing less than 'perfectly' at evaluating prospective employees. Why? Because you're humans. You yourself are too complex to easily reduce your performance to a repeatable, mechanical formula.
It is always, ultimately, no matter what interview and evaluation process you impliment, going to come down to what it has always going to come down to, an educated guess and a gut 'feel.'
And you'll make mistakes, you'll hire people you shouldn't have, and *you'll let go people you should have kept.*
Thus it has always been, thus it will always be, as long as it's people we're dealing with.
KFG
The problem appears to be... (Score:5, Insightful)
I worked for a startup company back when it was the cool thing to do. The nerds with titles were debating how to interview for a new position, and the battle came down to this essential problem - which is the best question:
1. What is java.lang.Thread.join()?
or
2. Tell me about how you start and stop different execution paths in a multithreaded application.
If you ask (1), you get a code monkey. He or she will write good code when given proper instruction because he or she has a minimum set of skills. Code monkeys can handle hammers and screwdrivers because they've used them before. Ask them to use, say, a quarter sheet finishing sander and they will be confused.
Ask (2), and you get an engineer or a scientist. Knowing that you can wait for the termination of a thread in java with join() is nice, but understanding the implications and uses of join() is ten thousand times more important. Understanding the concept is more important than perfect syntax.
My suggestions for questions are these two, because I think you are less likely to pick a code monkey and more likely to pick an engineer:
1. Tell me about a project you are particularly proud of, and explain some of the technical issues you faced in finishing it. (This is a good question for several reasons. First, you get a good sense of interpersonal skills, because they have to tell a story. You also can gadge a candidate's general interests in the larger field of computer engineering/science, and a feel for their particular strengths. Lastly, you get to see whether this candidate is a finisher or a ship-it-when-it-compiles person because you asked about finishing a project, which is never the most glamorous, but frequently the most important part of being a software engineer.)
2. Tell me about a project you worked on with a team. What kinds of challenges did you face and how did you solve them? (Again, story telling, this time with a definite bend towards interpersonal skills. You also get to assess team work skills, etc., in a technical environment. When I was asked about this question I talked about how my junior design project team needed to be more organized to meet our project schedule, so we got stricter about version control, documentation, etc. If the candidate tells you story about this irritating person or that jerk, you should consider whether or not you're going to be the jerk he talks about in his next interview.)
My top ten questions... (Score:5, Insightful)
2] How did it work?
3] What did you do on it?
4] At our company, we have this general problem X. What are your first thoughts on how to solve it?
5] How would you rate yourself in (language)?
6] A language specific question. For instance in C, what does "volatile" mean? For C++, write code whose meaning would change if you used the keyword "virtual" in front of a base class. (Note: passing the test is nowhere near as important as that it generally matches with the answer under #5).
7] (Note: several questions may be done in this area - again, it is more important that skills are accurate on the resume than everything is done exactly right.)
8] Say you have a technical disagreement with a fellow programmer, and you really think you're right. What are the steps you'd take to resolve it?
9] What sort of software tools are you familiar with? How to you coordinate development with other engineers?
10] What are the things you expect from the company for us to make you happy?
I have noticed in interviewing that engineers can easily spot other good engineers. If you can't, it's because you can't program yourself. So go get someone with the skills to do your interviewing for you.
DO's and DON'T's (Score:5, Insightful)
DO NOT make them solve brain-teasers on the spot, regardless of what joelonsoftware.com might say. I love brain teasers personally, but trying to get all the members of U2 across a bridge two at a time doesn't exactly translate. Reread number 1, and if they gave you their stuff, you're safe.
DO ask them to review code from your shop and tell you what they'd do differently. Whitespace, comments, logic that should be pulled into functions or other objects -- these are the kinds of things a good programmer will notice. A good potential team member will even point them out, point blank.
DO NOT discriminate because they haven't programmed in your particular programming language, unless the work is very short term. They're all dialects of the same language. Good code is good code, even VB! (Note that I didn't say "working code" -- I *mean* good, commented, well laid out, non-repetitive code) The only exceptions are pointers and object oriented code. Some people just can't get it. Test them [by showing them code to review] if you use either.
DO look for someone who gets passionate about a topic during your interview.
DO NOT for one second think that someone who claims they have 10 years experience in C, VB, Java, and FORTRAN means it. Ask what they've done which each language. If they can't tell you in enough detail that you can envision it, that's a "no hire".
DO, for heaven's sake, call their references.
And most importantly (and this is something olde Joel gets right), "Maybe" means "Don't hire". If you can't strongly recommend the candidate after the interview, don't hire him/her. Mistakes at hiring time will cost you for months and maybe years. It's worth spending the extra month or two to find someone worth their salt. Oh, man, it's worth it.
The 'Toilet Tank Test' (Score:4, Insightful)
The 'TTT' is designed to find out if the person thinks about programming off the job, if programming excites them and just doing it is enough to motivate them all by itself. It works like this:
(After technical, logic puzzle and attitude questions are dealt with)
-- First Interview --
INTERVIEWER "OK, so let's suppose I walk into your house and go into your bathroom right now. What magazines would I find on your toilet tank, or wherever else you keep magazines you read often?"
INTERVIEWEE 1 "Uh... Golf Digest, Sports Illustrated, People I guess." (Doesn't mention Penthouse.)
INTERVIEWER "Thank you for your time. Don't call us, we'll call you."
-- Second Interview --
INTERVIEWER (asks 'TTT' question)
INTERVIEWEE 2 "Uh... Linux Journal, Dr. Dobbs, Game Developer I guess." (Doesn't mention Penthouse.)
INTERVIEWER "When can you start?"
Jack William Bell
Don't Ask "What", ask "How" (Score:5, Insightful)
The old adage about "if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail" is what I'm going on about here.
If your candadate only knows one thing ( Java or Delphi, or C++) be wary.
If the candidate knows something useful about a wide variety of things (Java, Delphi, C, C++, shell scripting, XML, XSL, HTML, CSS, Perl, Python, Ruby, batch files, SQL, XQL, servlets, JSP, ASP, PHP
Before anyone chimes in with the old myth "you can only know one thing well" - I agree completely, you can only be an expert in one or two areas. But you CAN know a dozen (or two) things well enough to know which to use - one of the brightest developers I've ever met was a guy smart enought to say "I shouldn't do this - it needs X and I don't know it well enough. Give this to person A and I'll pick up what they are currently doing." This same guy scored 100% on the Java certification exam - he's that good.
Ask your candidate what tools they know - from what vendors. Don't settle for one or two - keep pushing for as many as they mention. Ask them to explain how they would choose between tools - if needed, give them a scenario or three.
One of the things you're trying to find with this approach is how well they might understand the principals that underly the languages - just as you wouldn't ask a fish about water, you can't ask someone who knows only one tool to critique that tool.
Another idea is to get your candidate to give a five minute off-the-cuff presentation on something interesting. Limit it to stuff relevant to the position you're interviewing for, but otherwise leave it open for the person to choose for themselves. They'll choose something they know well - look for how they speak, how well they explain, how well they teach. Also shows how they work under pressure.
pairing (Score:4, Insightful)
Then ask yourself (remembering that this is your first pairing with this person)..
Did I like this person?
Did he try to work with me or against me?
Was he technically capable?
Was his technique compatable with yours?
Could he adapt to your style?
Could I corroborate daily with this person?
Does he smell ok?
Did he offer to buy you lunch?
Was he enthusiastic?
If the answers were yes or mostly yes, then you've got a winner.
Knee-jerk responses... (Score:4, Funny)
1.
2. For myself, having hired several
bodybuilders who haven't programmed...
Re:well (Score:5, Funny)
I don't have anything against vegeterians either </in our "How to cover up a typo" series> ;))
Parent
Re:It's not all about ability (Score:4, Funny)
You MONSTER! Do you know how much it costs to care for and feed a puppy? And you'd inflict this financial burden on poor orphans?
You're sick SICK SICK!!!
Parent
Re:It's not all about ability (Score:5, Funny)
Didn't get the job, though.
Parent
Re:Get them to code... (Score:5, Interesting)
I hate, hate, hate, hate, *HATE* programming questions during interviews.
I'm nervous enough as it is without having to spew code on demand. If all you want is a mindless spewer, buy a coding-tool. They're cheaper and don't require benefits.
Personally, I'd rather be involved with design and architecture.
At one interview someone asked me about how I'd do something with a linked list or somesuch, and I asked him why was he using a linked list for something that'd be better off in an array?
That stopped him cold for a second... He asked why I'd use an array instead of a linked list and upon hearing my answer he put his list of prepared questions and put them aside. "Finally!" he exclaimed, "Someone who's *thinking*!"
Unfortunatly I didn't get the job...the company laid off 20% of its employees the next day.
In another interview, I was asked another coding question. My solution worked, but didn't match what the interviewer was looking for. In fact, I poked a few holes in their "correct" answer. Didn't get that job either. Rule 1: Don't piss off your interviewer...
Anyways, this is why I don't like having people write code for an interview. It doesn't tell you a lot, and usually just unnerves them even more.
Parent
Well (Score:4, Insightful)
Seems far too many people think it's about hotshot know-everything-instantly type of work, where you work when inspired or work when you are 'in the mood'.
What about those who can methodically and cleanly produce code day after day?
Parent