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Programming Job Skills Test?

Posted by Cliff on from the how-well-did-you-do dept.

eclecticgeek asks: "I've recently finished a CS/SD degree at uni and the interviews are starting to come thick and fast. I've yet to have a skills test for any of them, and it's only a matter of time before I do. I'm hoping to do one this week and I will get the choice of language. The position is quite broad and they're more after competent programmers in general, rather than any one specific language. So I'm wondering, have you done a developer skills test? What type of things did you get asked?"

7 of 189 comments (clear)

  1. Skills Test by moontumbohotmail.com · · Score: 3, Informative

    For my current job, the test was over C++, Java, Perl, and PHP. Some of the concepts that were covered included Linked Lists, Queues, Stacks, arrays, and general CGI knowledge. I think a lot of test will focus on a mastery of the skills that a person "should" take from a college education in CS.

  2. Interview questions by prostoalex · · Score: 3, Informative

    Not exactly a skills test, but on TechInterviews.com I collected a bunch of questions from recruiters and those who interviewed at tech companies. Since the site was up, there were a bunch of questions coming from people just sharing their job interview experience, but recently a lot of that is coming from India. I noticed that "fresher" type of questions used by some large-scale employers in India are pretty rudimentary, so I am not sure whether the applicant is expected to be a college graduate or just a high school diploma holder. So pick and choose, basically, should be a good way to refresh skills, if not self-test.

    1. Re:Interview questions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative
      [CMM 5] is the Holy Grail of software quality certifications.
      No, you are wrong. That is a fucking lie. CMM is about process quality. It is not about software quality. It is not about software engineer quality. Indian software companies have been spreading this bullshit for years in order to snow people into thinking that they know what they are doing. American companies have been doing it as well, but not nearly to the same extent as their Indian counterparts.
  3. zerg by Lord+Omlette · · Score: 2, Informative

    I'm guessing How Would You Move Mt. Fuji would be the definitive book on the subject. It's been covered here before. That review is from 2003, so it's not a stretch to suspect that it's filtered out to all the HR llamas...

    --
    [o]_O
  4. Re:Skills test...you get lots of interviews? by bladesjester · · Score: 2, Informative

    I find that kind of surprising too. Several of my friends are graduating this year and they are having problems getting interviews as well.

    There just doesn't seem to be a lot of positions that I've seen lately which aren't either senior level or "entry level" where they want 3-5 years of experience. There are a few exceptions, but not many (here, at any rate).

    --
    Everything I need to know I learned by killing smart people and eating their brains.
  5. Might never see one. by JVert · · Score: 2, Informative

    Skills test are somewhat uncommon, but the majority of those tests are given to people without degrees. Your skill level comes through in the verbal interview. A company wants someone who not only knows what they are doing but can tell you what they can do.

  6. Programming Interviews Exposed by psykocrime · · Score: 2, Informative

    The book Programming Interviews Exposed has a lot of info on some of the skills you might be asked to prove as part of an interview. I highly recommend this book to anybody who expects to be interviewing for a development job.

    Even if you don't get asked the specific questions they speak of in the book, the concepts will be of value to you.

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    // TODO: Insert Cool Sig