Comments on: Brilliant, yet simple technical questions, can be used for work interview

By: http://www.marcgunther.com/?p=557

http://www.marcgunther.com/?p=557 — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 00:23:25 +0000

I was trying to get the feed for the RSS for this blog but it is not showing up in Google Chrome. Any suggestions?

By: D.

D. — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 02:47:55 +0000

#10… I currently work as a Developer Liaison and mostly handle issues at higher levels of specification and testing.

My personal background in programming forced me to learn Hex, Decimal, and Binary.

Using the Microsoft Calculator in Windows 7, I was easily able to Q1 & Q2. I skipped Q3 because I didn’t understand the difference between the 16′ and 8.

In fact, I didn’t realize that the -4 in “+ 11-4″ meant that it was a signed integer.

That said, I think that companies feel really swell handing out idiotic formulaic tech tests. This is not the way professional work is ever developed. The most reasonable way to get to know someone is not to question them on syntax but to show application of information.

A great example comes from another post on this site regarding OOP programmers who should know “when it should be virtual and when abstract”.

By: Dario Fumagalli

Dario Fumagalli — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 09:04:28 +0000

When I had to hire developers I noticed a distinct difference between math geniuses and those who would produce working code with limited time-frames and budget. The latter also used to be more team players than the former.

Therefore, once a quick interview determined wether they were talking about something they actually know, I’d give them a sample application to expand with some new stuff (i.e. a new database based window, some graphing outputs) and I’d see what they’d produce and in what time.
The math geniuses were often still “planning” by the time the others were done.

Of course this won’t work if your company is heavily into astronautic calculations and similar, but so far it’s not been an issue here.

By: Switcher

Switcher — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 20:50:54 +0000

ushort a = 2;
ushort b = 6;

//please switch the value of a and b w/o extra variables or memory.

a = 6;
b = 2;

By: Aaron

Aaron — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 07:48:00 +0000

when i was hiring some devs for a networking prj. I asked like
ushort a = 2;
ushort b = 6;
please switch the value of a and b w/o extra variables or memory.(If someone make it, i will ask her/him to consider overflow)

By: TopDev

TopDev — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 08:40:05 +0000

If I was to be given these questions at an interview I’d just walk out.

Such stupid questions, they really are, they prove nothing.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 16:27:10 +0000

question 2: There are 119 participants in bicycle race. Special designed system registers cyclers passing waypoint by writing his serial number with minimum possible number of bits. What will be the size of temporary message, recorded by the system after 70 cyclers passed the waypoint?

best answer is to use a bit mask, one bit per cycler. Your message is always 119 bits.

By: peter

peter — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 18:03:04 +0000

Spoken like someone to whom math comes easily.

q1. Math
q2. Math
q3. Math
….

There is only a few questions there which don’t involve math, written or mental.

The .Net framework hides a lot of math and binary information from the developer.

I find questioning like this to be the equivalent of Red Brick university snobbery.

i.e. if your degree isn’t from a red brick university then it isn’t a true degree.

if you can’t do the math you can’t be a programmer? is a false statement.

I don’t know the mechanics of my car engine but I can use it.

Admittedly if the role is heavily math based then some warning up front would be required on the job posting which would deter the likes of me.

By: Tamir

Tamir — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 08:28:57 +0000

Peter,
All those questions can be asked also verbally and have nothing with mental math.
I’m sure, that you’re a good programmer, however I have two programmers, who have APD and dysgraphia. Me, personally, have phoneticized spelling (as you can see in this blog), but I’m good with it

By: peter

peter — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 20:38:21 +0000

If you were to ask me any of those questions at an interview I would walk out.

The reason why: I’m dyslexic, I struggle to perform mental arithmatic and especially so under pressure.

But being dyslexic doesn’t stop me from being a damn good developer, it just means I have to get better specifications which display the calculations! or alternatively not go down to such a low level, when it’s not necessary.