Tough Tests Flunk Good Programming Job Candidates | Slashdot

Tough Tests Flunk Good Programming Job Candidates - Slashdot

"Fatal Exception's Neil McAllister discusses the use of quizzes and brain-teasers in evaluating potential software development hires, a practice that seems to be on the rise. 'The company best known for this is Google. Past applicants tell tales of a head-spinning battery of coding problems, riddles, and brain teasers, many of which seem only tangential to the task of software development. Other large companies have similar practices — Facebook and Microsoft being two examples,' McAllister writes. 'You'll need to assess an applicant's skill in one way or another, but it's also possible to take the whole interview-testing concept too far. Here are a few thoughts to keep in mind when crafting your test questions, to avoid slamming the door on candidates unnecessarily.'"

Coding Horror: Why Can't Programmers.. Program?

Coding Horror: Why Can't Programmers.. Program?

I'm more than willing to cut freshly minted software developers slack at the beginning of their career. Everybody has to start somewhere. But I am disturbed and appalled that any so-called programmer would apply for a job without being able to write the simplest of programs. That's a slap in the face to anyone who writes software for a living.

Some “Developers” Just Can’t Develop : Richard Banks - Agile and .NET

Some “Developers” Just Can’t Develop : Richard Banks - Agile and .NET

I’ve been interviewing candidates for developer positions for over a decade now. In my early years I was very much hit and miss in terms of finding the right people and it wasn’t until a horror hire that I realised what I was doing wrong.