Job interview questions
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Hi, We are currently hiring a C++/Windows developer, and I have some job interviews the coming week, with seemingly very competent applicants. Could somebody please help me to come up with some good questions, tests etc. that would make it easier to decide who to hire. More details about the job can be found at http://www.ingveon.com/job/job3.htm (new window) Naturally, you are more than welcome to apply for the job - even if that was'nt the purpose of this post, honest;-) Christian Skovdal Andersen Don't mention the war...
Here is what I do: 1) Show them the broken string class in effective C++. If they can't spot the problems, we don't hire them. This does two things: a) verifies minimum C++ knowledge and b) tests to see if they have read Meyers books. I haven't met a single good C++ programmer that hasn't read effective C++. 2) Ask them to do a high level design of a well known application that has some similarities to the projects they would be working on. For example, we develop client server applications so I ask them to design a web browser. I am not talking about inserting an IE browser ActiveX control into a frame, I am talking about the actual browser. This tests to see how they approach design issues, since it is a well known application they can't give an excuse of needing requirements to do the design. 3) Have them write some code for you. For example, if you write MFC applications, sit them down at a computer and have them write a quick MDI application that can read and write a text file and display the contents in a view. If they can't do this in 30 minutes, they probably don't know MFC well enough to do the job. 4) Ask them how they rate themself on a scale of 1 to 10 in C++ where 1 is a newbie at 10 is Stroustrup. If they answer 8 or 9, grill them on the most exotic details of C++ such as member function pointers, template specialization and diamond shaped multiple inheritance. If they can't answer those, they don't know how much they really don't know and I won't hire them for a senior position. [Note I personally rate myself about an 8 on the scale and I have met few people in real life that know C++ better than myself] 5) If the position involves multi-threading, I grill them on concurrency issues all the way down to the hardware level. If they don't understand how multiple processors handle concurrency on the bus, I don't hire them. Multi-threaded programming is black art and I can't afford to waste my time debugging concurrency design problems or redesigning inefficient locking strategies. Chris Hafey PS - We are hiring as well, if you are tired of working with half wit C++ programmers and live in the bay area, drop me a line.
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Here is what I do: 1) Show them the broken string class in effective C++. If they can't spot the problems, we don't hire them. This does two things: a) verifies minimum C++ knowledge and b) tests to see if they have read Meyers books. I haven't met a single good C++ programmer that hasn't read effective C++. 2) Ask them to do a high level design of a well known application that has some similarities to the projects they would be working on. For example, we develop client server applications so I ask them to design a web browser. I am not talking about inserting an IE browser ActiveX control into a frame, I am talking about the actual browser. This tests to see how they approach design issues, since it is a well known application they can't give an excuse of needing requirements to do the design. 3) Have them write some code for you. For example, if you write MFC applications, sit them down at a computer and have them write a quick MDI application that can read and write a text file and display the contents in a view. If they can't do this in 30 minutes, they probably don't know MFC well enough to do the job. 4) Ask them how they rate themself on a scale of 1 to 10 in C++ where 1 is a newbie at 10 is Stroustrup. If they answer 8 or 9, grill them on the most exotic details of C++ such as member function pointers, template specialization and diamond shaped multiple inheritance. If they can't answer those, they don't know how much they really don't know and I won't hire them for a senior position. [Note I personally rate myself about an 8 on the scale and I have met few people in real life that know C++ better than myself] 5) If the position involves multi-threading, I grill them on concurrency issues all the way down to the hardware level. If they don't understand how multiple processors handle concurrency on the bus, I don't hire them. Multi-threaded programming is black art and I can't afford to waste my time debugging concurrency design problems or redesigning inefficient locking strategies. Chris Hafey PS - We are hiring as well, if you are tired of working with half wit C++ programmers and live in the bay area, drop me a line.
Chris Hafey wrote: [Note I personally rate myself about an 8 on the scale and I have met few people in real life that know C++ better than myself] Sorry but, watch out for your ego, it's following you around the corner. Nick Parker
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Chris Hafey wrote: [Note I personally rate myself about an 8 on the scale and I have met few people in real life that know C++ better than myself] Sorry but, watch out for your ego, it's following you around the corner. Nick Parker
My intent was to show that I rate myself lower than most of the people that I interview who end up having inferior C++ skills. The point being that I know what I don't, but there are many people who have no clue how deep C++ is. Perhaps I should have worded it differently. Or perhaps you are bitter because you would have failed my interview? Chris Hafey
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Hi, We are currently hiring a C++/Windows developer, and I have some job interviews the coming week, with seemingly very competent applicants. Could somebody please help me to come up with some good questions, tests etc. that would make it easier to decide who to hire. More details about the job can be found at http://www.ingveon.com/job/job3.htm (new window) Naturally, you are more than welcome to apply for the job - even if that was'nt the purpose of this post, honest;-) Christian Skovdal Andersen Don't mention the war...
Christian Skovdal Andersen wrote: Naturally, you are more than welcome to apply for the job - even if that was'nt the purpose of this post, honest ;) OK lets see, I've been out of a job for 6 months and your looking for a programmer. Do you think this is a sign? Will the company fly me and my family over to Denmark and pay for all the beautiful Denmark beer that I can handle? ;P Christian Skovdal Andersen wrote: Don't mention the war... The War. :-D Michael Martin Australia mjm68@tpg.com.au "He orginally got the Tweezers of Destruction through the scanners but then popped back outside for a smoke." - Chris Maunder 26/03/2002
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My intent was to show that I rate myself lower than most of the people that I interview who end up having inferior C++ skills. The point being that I know what I don't, but there are many people who have no clue how deep C++ is. Perhaps I should have worded it differently. Or perhaps you are bitter because you would have failed my interview? Chris Hafey
Chris Hafey wrote: My intent was to show that I rate myself lower than most of the people that I interview who end up having inferior C++ skills. Ah, that makes much more sense now. I didn't mean to upset you about the ego thing, it just reads that way :) Chris Hafey wrote: Or perhaps you are bitter because you would have failed my interview? No, actually I don't believe that I would have failed your interview because the whole idea is to catch someone lying about their knowledge of C++. The only thing you are really accomplishing is keeping possible employees from exaggerating their knowledge of C++ to get employment. Though it is a noble cause and very ideal might I add, I would not fail this because I simply would show my true knowledge on the subject. You have to admit it really is interesting to see what a game interviews can be, they are played on both sides. I think I understand what you mean now in terms of your hiring practices. Good job. :) Nick Parker
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Ravi Bhavnani wrote: Are you also a Fawlty Towers fan? I am ! I can't even tell you my favourite episode because they are all too darn funny. Regardz Colin J Davies
Sonork ID 100.9197:Colin
More about me :-)
I agree, all 12 of them are wonderful! /ravi "There is always one more bug..." http://www.ravib.com ravib@ravib.com
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Christian Skovdal Andersen wrote: Don't mention the war... Are you also a Fawlty Towers fan? :) /ravi "There is always one more bug..." http://www.ravib.com ravib@ravib.com
Very much so :-) I think John Cleese does a wonderful job of actually making you feel sorry for a person as unsympathic as his character. Generally I think the english sense of humor is great, even the stuff that were made 30 years ago are hilarious today. Danish humor made 30 years ago are mostly toe-curling :-( Christian Skovdal Andersen Don't mention the war...
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Christian Skovdal Andersen wrote: Naturally, you are more than welcome to apply for the job - even if that was'nt the purpose of this post, honest ;) OK lets see, I've been out of a job for 6 months and your looking for a programmer. Do you think this is a sign? Will the company fly me and my family over to Denmark and pay for all the beautiful Denmark beer that I can handle? ;P Christian Skovdal Andersen wrote: Don't mention the war... The War. :-D Michael Martin Australia mjm68@tpg.com.au "He orginally got the Tweezers of Destruction through the scanners but then popped back outside for a smoke." - Chris Maunder 26/03/2002
Michael Martin wrote: Naturally, you are more than welcome to apply for the job - even if that was'nt the purpose of this post, honest OK lets see, I've been out of a job for 6 months and your looking for a programmer. Do you think this is a sign? Will the company fly me and my family over to Denmark and pay for all the beautiful Denmark beer that I can handle? The last thing I can handle - 6-8 Bjørnebryg shuld do the job ;-) About flying you to Denmark for an interview, we have actually done that in the past (the past=about 1½ year ago) and it just proved way too expensive. It proved to be difficult to pursuade people to stay because of our ridicoulous tax rules :-( At the time it was almost impossible to find a decent programmer. So afterall, the dot-com crash has been good for some of us ;-) Christian Skovdal Andersen Don't mention the war...
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Very much so :-) I think John Cleese does a wonderful job of actually making you feel sorry for a person as unsympathic as his character. Generally I think the english sense of humor is great, even the stuff that were made 30 years ago are hilarious today. Danish humor made 30 years ago are mostly toe-curling :-( Christian Skovdal Andersen Don't mention the war...
Christian Skovdal Andersen wrote: Danish humor made 30 years ago are mostly toe-curling :-D /ravi "There is always one more bug..." http://www.ravib.com ravib@ravib.com
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Chris Hafey wrote: My intent was to show that I rate myself lower than most of the people that I interview who end up having inferior C++ skills. Ah, that makes much more sense now. I didn't mean to upset you about the ego thing, it just reads that way :) Chris Hafey wrote: Or perhaps you are bitter because you would have failed my interview? No, actually I don't believe that I would have failed your interview because the whole idea is to catch someone lying about their knowledge of C++. The only thing you are really accomplishing is keeping possible employees from exaggerating their knowledge of C++ to get employment. Though it is a noble cause and very ideal might I add, I would not fail this because I simply would show my true knowledge on the subject. You have to admit it really is interesting to see what a game interviews can be, they are played on both sides. I think I understand what you mean now in terms of your hiring practices. Good job. :) Nick Parker
Nick Parker wrote: Ah, that makes much more sense now. I didn't mean to upset you about the ego thing, it just reads that way No problem, I should have rephrased what I wrote. Nick Parker wrote: No, actually I don't believe that I would have failed your interview because the whole idea is to catch someone lying about their knowledge of C++. The only thing you are really accomplishing is keeping possible employees from exaggerating their knowledge of C++ to get employment. Hah, good point. My post communicated a much harsher person than I really am. In reality, I am much more interested in those who are easy to work with and can learn quickly than I am with those who know it all. Know it alls typically come with an ego that can be more disruptive than their skills are beneficial. Besides, there is no room left for another ego when I am around! :) Chris Hafey
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Nick Parker wrote: Ah, that makes much more sense now. I didn't mean to upset you about the ego thing, it just reads that way No problem, I should have rephrased what I wrote. Nick Parker wrote: No, actually I don't believe that I would have failed your interview because the whole idea is to catch someone lying about their knowledge of C++. The only thing you are really accomplishing is keeping possible employees from exaggerating their knowledge of C++ to get employment. Hah, good point. My post communicated a much harsher person than I really am. In reality, I am much more interested in those who are easy to work with and can learn quickly than I am with those who know it all. Know it alls typically come with an ego that can be more disruptive than their skills are beneficial. Besides, there is no room left for another ego when I am around! :) Chris Hafey
Chris Hafey wrote: Besides, there is no room left for another ego when I am around! I should just leave this one alone :) Nick Parker