Hi all I've been watching this thread and I thought I'd give my experience from the other side:

I recently had 2 interviews of which 1 I got the job and the other I am sure I didn't (I wasn't told because I'd already accepted this one).

For the job I didn't get (I assume): A new web startup company complete with Guitar Hero in their small office. Interviewed by 3 guys – founder, tech guy and another. I was asked questions relating  to the job in terms of business and marketing and then given a short paper test by the tech guy. It was very simple but for some reason I froze and couldn't write a very very simple program nor identify the output from an even simpler programming without looking incompetent. I answered his SQL questions but it seemed like
he was testing my memory ability rather than by general SQL knowledge (it's easy to forget the general order of syntax when you're not working in front of a text editor or a GUI!). For some reason this interview made me feel rather stupid and not very good at what I do.

For the job I did get: Again a new web startup company complete with funky flooring. I had 2 interviews. First with 2 ladies who were not technical. This was a complete barrel of laughs and I felt comfortable with them and they with me. The second interview was an hour long "discussion" with a developer who was assigned the task of establishing my identity. In both this technical interview and my failed technical interview the interviewer was in their late 20's with similar backgrounds and speaking styles. However I as a developer felt much more comfortable with this chap and his "discussion" approach. We covered many technical concepts and likes/dislikes. I
didn't have to prove I could write code because my past projects already established my competency. The interview culminated in a discussion about spell check implementations and speed issues so it wasn't as lightweight as you might imagine.

I've experienced many different interviewing styles over the years from being interviewed by a camcorder and an anonymous man to more friendly "chat" type interviews. The differences are stark and ultimately I believe the kind of people that usually get through the net are the one's that reflect the behaviour and attitudes of that particular interviewer on that day. It all seems a bit pot luck for both the interviewer and interviewee!

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From: Tim
Hawkins <[address removed]>
To: [address removed]
Sent: Monday, 27 April, 2009 13:18:07
Subject: Re: [entrepreneur-1056] How can we test a developer's skills?

when interviewing engineers and developers i tend to use the following rules of thumb. 

1. pose questions that show wether somebody is knowledgeable or deductive, knowledgeable people often appear to be very good, but are often not adaptable. you want deductive programmers. 

2. Im more interested not in what people know, but in how they fill in the gaps in their knowledge. a good engineer knows how to use resources, books, internet, open source etc to find a problem solution that they may not know. 

3. Look for generalists, people
who write code that solves classes of problems, not specific problems. 

4. look for people who show enthusiasm for the application, if they dont get turned on by your application then its just working for money, and they are unlikely to go the extra mile. 

5. dont be too driven by qualifications, most of the really good people i have worked with have been self taught, and motivated to keep current, see 4 above. 

6. look for people who will ask for help when they need it, there is nothing worse than an engineer that grapples with a problem for days when a simple question would clear it up. 

7. ask them to describe the most elegant thing they have seen, and tell you why it was elegant. 

For the reasons above, im not really keen on mechanical testing of skills, you need to just chat to the candidate and get a feel
for their approach to things. 

On 27 Apr 2009, at 13:00, iqbalgandham wrote:

Hi

Its actually not that hard, aside from there fitting into your overall company culture, which is something you can deduce yourself. What I always do (if I can meet the person face to face) is to give them a pen and a piece of paper, and then get them to write me 3 programs

1. A simple one which asks them to open, red, write etc from/to a file
2. Something which asks them to pull info or insert into a database
3. Something a little more advanced which asks them to carry out a calculation, i.e count the number of primes between 1-1000 etc etc

The key is the pen and paper, you will be surprised how many coders cannot do it with pen and paper, since they like to
code, run it, see if it works, then try again and again. If a coder can do it on paper, they will be on a diff level to most you will meet.

Also note, that you do not want to make the questions too difficult, since what you need coding will usually come down to working with a DB, inserting, deleting etc etc.

Also check out

http://www.techinterviews.com/perl-interview-questions-and-answers

they have segments for each language, and OS,
This is MS interview questions, they deal with OS, algos etc

http://halcyon.usc.edu/~kiran/msqs.html

Here are a few from google, MS , amazon etc

http://placementsindia.blogspot.com/

Also note, when stuck between two coders, who are equally as good, get them to
a) Write a paragraph of text explaining what they did last summer on holiday
b) Create a 3 slide ppt, showing what they do at work

Why? because whenever you are stuck between two people, the one who can write things down, and present them clearly and coherently and concisely wins

Iqbal Gandham
L: www.iqbalgandham.com/in/iqbalgandham
W: www.iqbalgandham.com
T: @iqbalgandham
S: feelin_tired

---

From: Tom Watts <[address removed]>
To: [address removed]
Sent: Monday, 27 April, 2009 11:55:03
Subject: [entrepreneur-1056] How can we test a developer's skills?

Hi everyone.

Long time listener, first time caller.

I was hoping that someone on this group could offer some advice…

We're in the business of building and running online communities for research and innovation, which we deliver to brands and agencys. Part of our proposition is the
delivery of our bespoke social network tool.

To date, we have been working with an external agency, who have done a good job at building our product to specification. However, as business ramps up, we are looking to refine the product and introduce new features and services. As such, it has become necessary to recruit a developer, who is versed in the use open source tools (LAMP).

We've looked around and have a good final list of candidates, who we feel could be a good 'fit' to our existing team.

The one area that we have yet to test for is the ability to actually code – including their approach to coding. Not having these skills internally, it is difficult for us to achieve this. As such we were hoping to find some form of test that we could give them.

In my mind, I thinking of a simple 1-2 hour exercise, whereby the candidates could make a simple web application/service/feature, which would demonstrate their skills. We
have a friendly developer who could then look through what they have made and give us an idea of their abilities.

Is there such a test that people know of? If not, perhaps there is a different approach that someone has used successfully?

Either way, I would very much appreciate any ideas people may have.

Thanks in advance

Tom
–
Tom Watts
Director

w: dubstudios.com
t: +44 (0) 20 8123 3452
m: +44 (0) 7791 163 866
skype: tomwatts22

dub I Communities for Insight & Innovation

Youmeus Ltd t/a Dub Studios is registered in England and Wales, Registration No: 6167745 and registered at The Pines, Boars Head, Crowborough, East Sussex. TN6 3HD

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