Need help devising interview questions for a junior
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Need help from people with experience of interviewing, rather than being interview. I have been tasked with creating some .net question for the interview for a junior and I have no idea where to start and would love to have some sensible and as well as wacky (because I know here I'll get some!) from people that have had such experience
As barmey as a sack of badgers Dude, if I knew what I was doing in life, I'd be rich, retired, dating a supermodel and laughing at the rest of you from the sidelines.
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Need help from people with experience of interviewing, rather than being interview. I have been tasked with creating some .net question for the interview for a junior and I have no idea where to start and would love to have some sensible and as well as wacky (because I know here I'll get some!) from people that have had such experience
As barmey as a sack of badgers Dude, if I knew what I was doing in life, I'd be rich, retired, dating a supermodel and laughing at the rest of you from the sidelines.
Just ask "Spoons or Chopsticks?". Watch their faces, it befuddles them. Then ask a technical question, see if their brains can swiftly recover, it is a good technique for whittling out the permanently bewildered.
------------------------------------ I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave CCC League Table Link CCC Link[^]
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Just ask "Spoons or Chopsticks?". Watch their faces, it befuddles them. Then ask a technical question, see if their brains can swiftly recover, it is a good technique for whittling out the permanently bewildered.
------------------------------------ I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave CCC League Table Link CCC Link[^]
Dalek Dave wrote:
Chopsicks
Dalek Dave wrote:
permenantly
Have another cup of coffee.
Go and never darken my towels again - Groucho Marx
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Dalek Dave wrote:
Chopsicks
Dalek Dave wrote:
permenantly
Have another cup of coffee.
Go and never darken my towels again - Groucho Marx
oops! Edited. "I am playing all the right notes, just not necessarily in the right order" Eric Morecombe.
------------------------------------ I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave CCC League Table Link CCC Link[^]
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Need help from people with experience of interviewing, rather than being interview. I have been tasked with creating some .net question for the interview for a junior and I have no idea where to start and would love to have some sensible and as well as wacky (because I know here I'll get some!) from people that have had such experience
As barmey as a sack of badgers Dude, if I knew what I was doing in life, I'd be rich, retired, dating a supermodel and laughing at the rest of you from the sidelines.
First of all, you haven't been tasked with. You've been asked. Tasked with is vapid management bull serving to make something sound much more dynamic and go-to than it really is. Second - the silly question; ask how many piano tuners there are in London - this should help you to see how they respond to odd requests, pressure situations and what their thought processes are like. Do they start by assuming that the population of London is x, and out of that population, y% have pianos and it takes z tuners to service that many pianos? Do they tell you that they'd Google it? (Ironically, Chrome's spellchecker doesn't recognise Google; it offers Goggle, Googly, Goodly and the rather fun Go ogle as choices). Third - test them on the basics (here I'm assuming the position is for a .NET developer with some experience). Do they know what an interface is? Do they know what an abstract class is? When would you use one over the other? Do they know how to get data out of the database using something other than a DataSet/DataTable?
I have CDO, it's OCD with the letters in the right order; just as they ruddy well should be
Forgive your enemies - it messes with their heads
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First of all, you haven't been tasked with. You've been asked. Tasked with is vapid management bull serving to make something sound much more dynamic and go-to than it really is. Second - the silly question; ask how many piano tuners there are in London - this should help you to see how they respond to odd requests, pressure situations and what their thought processes are like. Do they start by assuming that the population of London is x, and out of that population, y% have pianos and it takes z tuners to service that many pianos? Do they tell you that they'd Google it? (Ironically, Chrome's spellchecker doesn't recognise Google; it offers Goggle, Googly, Goodly and the rather fun Go ogle as choices). Third - test them on the basics (here I'm assuming the position is for a .NET developer with some experience). Do they know what an interface is? Do they know what an abstract class is? When would you use one over the other? Do they know how to get data out of the database using something other than a DataSet/DataTable?
I have CDO, it's OCD with the letters in the right order; just as they ruddy well should be
Forgive your enemies - it messes with their heads
-
First of all, you haven't been tasked with. You've been asked. Tasked with is vapid management bull serving to make something sound much more dynamic and go-to than it really is. Second - the silly question; ask how many piano tuners there are in London - this should help you to see how they respond to odd requests, pressure situations and what their thought processes are like. Do they start by assuming that the population of London is x, and out of that population, y% have pianos and it takes z tuners to service that many pianos? Do they tell you that they'd Google it? (Ironically, Chrome's spellchecker doesn't recognise Google; it offers Goggle, Googly, Goodly and the rather fun Go ogle as choices). Third - test them on the basics (here I'm assuming the position is for a .NET developer with some experience). Do they know what an interface is? Do they know what an abstract class is? When would you use one over the other? Do they know how to get data out of the database using something other than a DataSet/DataTable?
I have CDO, it's OCD with the letters in the right order; just as they ruddy well should be
Forgive your enemies - it messes with their heads
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Need help from people with experience of interviewing, rather than being interview. I have been tasked with creating some .net question for the interview for a junior and I have no idea where to start and would love to have some sensible and as well as wacky (because I know here I'll get some!) from people that have had such experience
As barmey as a sack of badgers Dude, if I knew what I was doing in life, I'd be rich, retired, dating a supermodel and laughing at the rest of you from the sidelines.
Think of a small program, that you could write in say, four hours. Give them VS2008 / 10 / whatever you use, four hours and a spec. See how they get on. Other ideas: We've previously interviewed for a C++ / Windows position, and asked questions like: C / C++ specific, testing basic knowledge of bit operators and pointers. 1. Write code do determine how many bits are "on" in a byte. 2. Write code to reverse a string in place in a buffer. 3. Write the standard
atoifunction from scratch Windows Specific 1. When do you put elipsis on a menu or button? 2. Why would you use threads in an application? (we look for three different scenarios) General software engineering What's the point of testing software? (you'd be amazed how many people say "to make sure it works") -
Need help from people with experience of interviewing, rather than being interview. I have been tasked with creating some .net question for the interview for a junior and I have no idea where to start and would love to have some sensible and as well as wacky (because I know here I'll get some!) from people that have had such experience
As barmey as a sack of badgers Dude, if I knew what I was doing in life, I'd be rich, retired, dating a supermodel and laughing at the rest of you from the sidelines.
Ask him as he ever been to a turkish prison or seen a grown man cry.
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First of all, you haven't been tasked with. You've been asked. Tasked with is vapid management bull serving to make something sound much more dynamic and go-to than it really is. Second - the silly question; ask how many piano tuners there are in London - this should help you to see how they respond to odd requests, pressure situations and what their thought processes are like. Do they start by assuming that the population of London is x, and out of that population, y% have pianos and it takes z tuners to service that many pianos? Do they tell you that they'd Google it? (Ironically, Chrome's spellchecker doesn't recognise Google; it offers Goggle, Googly, Goodly and the rather fun Go ogle as choices). Third - test them on the basics (here I'm assuming the position is for a .NET developer with some experience). Do they know what an interface is? Do they know what an abstract class is? When would you use one over the other? Do they know how to get data out of the database using something other than a DataSet/DataTable?
I have CDO, it's OCD with the letters in the right order; just as they ruddy well should be
Forgive your enemies - it messes with their heads
Pete O'Hanlon wrote:
Second - the silly question
I've found that even the fairly rubbish candidates recognise them now and have pretty much prepared stock answers. I stopped asking this type of question when I realised that it wasn't helping make a decision. Pretty much everyone could answer it. It doesn't show you have logical thought processes, it just shows you've read a few "how to interview" blog posts.
Simon
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Need help from people with experience of interviewing, rather than being interview. I have been tasked with creating some .net question for the interview for a junior and I have no idea where to start and would love to have some sensible and as well as wacky (because I know here I'll get some!) from people that have had such experience
As barmey as a sack of badgers Dude, if I knew what I was doing in life, I'd be rich, retired, dating a supermodel and laughing at the rest of you from the sidelines.
We ask two types of technical questions: First - Simple problems on paper. Something dead easy like sort this list, reverse this string or count the bits in a byte. We give them a pencil and paper and get them to write it in front of us. Syntax/spelling/language isn't to important. Principles and approach is. If they choose a real language, the method signature should be present and more or less correct. We also do a 'spot the bugs' style question and database or class design if its relevant to the position. All on paper/whiteboard. Second - A real programming task. We give them a laptop with the appropriate IDE/compilers set up. The problem should take around 1-2 hours. Try to give them a bit less time than it should actually take so you can see how capable they are at prioritising and describing the remaining tasks. past questions from Google code jam[^] is a good source of problems. The early rounds are pretty easy, the later rounds are much harder. Don't make it too hard. You then get them to present the code to you.
Simon
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Ask him as he ever been to a turkish prison or seen a grown man cry.
Have you ever seen a grown man naked? Have you ever hung out at a gym? Do you like films about Gladiators? Peter Graves at the height of his career!
------------------------------------ I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave CCC League Table Link CCC Link[^]
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Just ask "Spoons or Chopsticks?". Watch their faces, it befuddles them. Then ask a technical question, see if their brains can swiftly recover, it is a good technique for whittling out the permanently bewildered.
------------------------------------ I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave CCC League Table Link CCC Link[^]
Forks
"If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me
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Forks
"If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me
Fork off!
Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.”
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Have you ever seen a grown man naked? Have you ever hung out at a gym? Do you like films about Gladiators? Peter Graves at the height of his career!
------------------------------------ I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave CCC League Table Link CCC Link[^]
Or Russel Crowe ;P
xacc.ide
IronScheme - 1.0 RC 1 - out now!
((λ (x) `(,x ',x)) '(λ (x) `(,x ',x))) The Scheme Programming Language – Fourth Edition -
Pete O'Hanlon wrote:
Second - the silly question
I've found that even the fairly rubbish candidates recognise them now and have pretty much prepared stock answers. I stopped asking this type of question when I realised that it wasn't helping make a decision. Pretty much everyone could answer it. It doesn't show you have logical thought processes, it just shows you've read a few "how to interview" blog posts.
Simon
The point is; make your own up. You don't have to go for an obvious one.
I have CDO, it's OCD with the letters in the right order; just as they ruddy well should be
Forgive your enemies - it messes with their heads
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The point is; make your own up. You don't have to go for an obvious one.
I have CDO, it's OCD with the letters in the right order; just as they ruddy well should be
Forgive your enemies - it messes with their heads
The style is easy to spot though, and if you know the style, you can pretty much make up an answer to any of them.
Simon
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Fork off!
Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.”
For forks sake, is that best forking response you got? :)
"If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me
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For forks sake, is that best forking response you got? :)
"If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me
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For forks sake, is that best forking response you got? :)
"If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me