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Testing IT Professionals On Job Interviews?
An anonymous reader writes "After having my university degrees, a couple of IT certifications, and over ten years of work experience in the industry, with 2-4 years of verifiable employment with each employer, working with a wide range of technologies, is it reasonable to ask me to take some test on a job interview? The same companies don't ask other professionals (lawyer, accountant, sales, HR, etc.) to submit to any kind of in-house tests when they are hired. Why are IT professionals treated differently and in such a paternalistic way? More importantly, why do IT professionals accept being treated less favorably than members of other professions? Should IT professionals start to refuse to be treated as not real professionals?"
If you just want code-monkeys then yes. If you want someone who will say to you "we could replace all this procedural logic with a call to a rules engine and half a dozen rules" then you are more likely to find them as CS graduates.
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Completely agree. At my current job, which I've been at for going on seven years, I remember my initial interview quite well:
Future boss: Do you have your MCSE?
Me: No sir, I know what I'm doing.
Unrelated: Years ago Cable and Wireless used to give a technical test (maybe displaying programming skills? I don't recall) to job applicants, to include the CTO position.
Bark less. Wag more.
> Getting a well rounded computer scientist is better than getting > someone who knows the buzzwords and can code a bit in one language. *cough* fizzbuzz
"Bi-la Kaifa"
Other professionals are constantly tested. Engineers, Doctors, Lawyers, etc are constantly required to validate their skills, why should IT people be any different, programmers or otherwise? I can't tell you how many guys I've ran into that feel they are "certified" just because they can use a wizard to configure a server or to generate code, it's silly and makes people with actual talent feel insulted.
The licensing process is what prevents there from being any reputable rent-a-coder type sites for these professions.
The risk of loss of license also keeps practitioners in other professions somewhat on their toes more so than fear of loss of employment. Correspondingly, employers cannot so easily hire and fire licensed professionals as they can with us code-monkeys.
IMHO, US corporations will do anything and everything to prevent regulations requiring licensing of IT professionals. Their fears might be well founded: Next thing you know, we'll want to unionize!
It's very simple why people choose to interview IT people, and test them.
IT is one of the only professions left that calls themselves 'engineers', without ANY Engineering background or schooling.
Lawyers. They take a test, it's called the BAR Association.
Doctors. They take a test. They also spend years honing their skills and being 'interviewed' by their peers (hear of a internship or doing 'your residency').
Engineers. They have their own schools of thought.
None of the major, high paid, engineering or other type jobs let you get away with calling yourself whatever you want in a title... They require more than a "diploma and a couple certs". Try becoming a real Electrical Engineer, or a Nuclear Engineer, or a D.D.s. Or any other type of doctor.
It's simple. People in IT lie, cheat and steal to get a better job. Too many people have been burned by self-titled "engineers" and professionals, and honestly, all those certifications you have mean little to shit to the average hiring manager.
Seriously, as a Fortune 5 level IT manager, I found that most of my problems came from my "certified" employees, whereas the self-taught ones that didn't have the "I have an ***insert_title_here*** cert, so I know I'm right" usually got it wrong.
That's the reason behind testing. Too many people in IT either lie about their skills, lie about their person, or simply embellish the truth to the point of where it makes no semblance of sense as to what they are trying to convey.
--Toll_Free
Doctors, engineers, surveyors, lawyers and similar professionals have state boards that require examination and certification in order to practice those trades, whereas I.T. does not. Additionally, given our wonderfully lawsuit happy society, I can ask my HR staff to truly probe your employment history and even if they were to do so, your previous employers are very unlikely to provide more than "yeah, you worked there during those dates and you weren't fired." So, what other choice do I have as a I.T. manager but to test you? Take your word, not likely... a good manager has probably been biten by that one or two times and is not likely to fall for it again. If you don't like that, you're perfectly welcome to look elsewhere but don't whine about it.
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