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I once got a similar question, but with Battleship. I don't really enjoy these high-level design things, they seem silly and irrelevant to me, but I can see how someone with different interests would like it. (That particular place made me an offer, I'm not doing sour grapes.)
I generally went with a question my friend told me, "what was the last non-work, non-school program you wrote?". The theory being that a person who has used programming for something personal was probably a better candidate since they saw personal value in their profession.
I generally went with a question my friend told me, "what was the last non-work, non-school program you wrote?". The theory being that a person who has used programming for something personal was probably a better candidate since they saw personal value in their profession.
I once got a similar question, but with Battleship. I don't really enjoy these high-level design things, they seem silly and irrelevant to me, but I can see how someone with different interests would like it. (That particular place made me an offer, I'm not doing sour grapes.)
So what do you enjoy? "Implement a binary search algorithm for the following list in 10 minutes"? I find CS pop quiz-type questions to be next to worthless in assessing candidates.
The best interview question is "Why wouldn't we hire you?' You won't believe what people will say, in their urge to confess their sins.
True-est, and it's the perfect filter.
I generally went with a question my friend told me, "what was the last non-work, non-school program you wrote?". The theory being that a person who has used programming for something personal was probably a better candidate since they saw personal value in their profession.
I used to think this way, but one of the best programmers I work with basically refuses to even touch a computer outside of work. And yet he's extremely good at what he does, and you can figure that out within like 15 seconds of talking to him about a hard problem. As far as heuristics go I don't think this is a good one.
Heuristics are, unfortunately, quite valuable in hiring scenarios, especially for start-ups.
It's also just much more fun to work with people who love programming, and an easy way to tell (even if it's susceptible to a few false negatives like your friend) is to find out if they program in their own time.
I generally went with a question my friend told me, "what was the last non-work, non-school program you wrote?". The theory being that a person who has used programming for something personal was probably a better candidate since they saw personal value in their profession.
i HATE this question but its becoming more and more commonplace. I work hard, programming 40-70 hours a week, I solve all sorts of in work problems with ideas that I've come up with to make my daily work life easier. I barely touch a computer outside of the office. Does that make me a bad candidate for all programming jobs now?
I generally went with a question my friend told me, "what was the last non-work, non-school program you wrote?". The theory being that a person who has used programming for something personal was probably a better candidate since they saw personal value in their profession.
i HATE this question but its becoming more and more commonplace. I work hard, programming 40-70 hours a week, I solve all sorts of in work problems with ideas that I've come up with to make my daily work life easier. I barely touch a computer outside of the office. Does that make me a bad candidate for all programming jobs now?
First, I have a family now, and spending time with them is more important to me than any job. (And any company that has a problem with this is not a good fit.)
Second, I've been lucky enough to find jobs that are interesting and intellectually stimulating. My first programming jobs were kinda boring, so I had extra creative energy and learning and building things was an outlet.
Third, owning a home always involves upkeep and fixit projects. These can be fun and are generally easier get my kids to involved in than teaching them to program (going back to #1).
The problem with this question is that if you've asked someone who's played Monopoly a lot, also the old DOS version, and the latest EA versions - he/she might stick to concrete implementations and go in details how it could be done (since it's out there). http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/895/Monopoly+Deluxe.html http://www.textmodegames.com/download/monopoly.html And here complete list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki…
Back in my day there were no interviews like these. You just dropped your CV, had a chat with the guy and if it clicked you got a contract with a month on (paid) trial. When I hear things like this I am thinking about all the people who are investing an (unpaid) day (sometimes even recurring interviews, what!) solving questionnaires with no real context during the job.
Is it really this bad?