Technical Interview

[suityou01]

I have read about SOLID principles now, and all I have learned is that I already knew the principles from conventional wisdom and best practice, and that if anyone else asks me about it in an interview I can hog some air time rattling off the definition and opining about subjective design principles.

No, I suppose it's possible to be a good developer without being aware of the theory, but I would venture that there are more bad developers in the latter category.

Plus we know your history.

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[jamesbrown]

I have read about SOLID principles now, and all I have learned is that I already knew the principles from conventional wisdom and best practice, and that if anyone else asks me about it in an interview I can hog some air time rattling off the definition and opining about subjective design principles.

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I think you're saying you develop with "common sense" like, say, a brickie might develop code?

[NickFitz]

I have read about SOLID principles now, and all I have learned is that I already knew the principles from conventional wisdom and best practice, and that if anyone else asks me about it in an interview I can hog some air time rattling off the definition and opining about subjective design principles.

That's the way to do it. I try to keep up with the jargon, but nine times out of ten it's a case of finding out that somebody has given a fancy name to something blindingly obvious, presumably to make it sound more impressive than it is, or possibly because they only learned about it in some purely academic setting rather than by writing code in the real world

[vetran]

Last week for a company in London they provided a SQL test that you did at home it consisted of:

A couple of basic SQL queries to handle numbers & text with careful phrasing to catch you out.
Some indexing query optimisation on a large data set, fastest run wins. Would have been quick if they hadn't disabled the showplan and hence execution plan tool. I thought I was a gynaecologist.

Then they had how do we make this query faster? Answer don't use aggregate functions with varchar(1000) fields, the disk must have been going like Shakira's hips.

It was made unnecessarily awkward and took up too much time. Though it had merit, I did learn something because I had to use SQL 2000 type of toolset but that was a bit of a waste as who wants SQL 2000?

I aced it of course

and the visual for your delectation, I believe Wyclef Jean appears as well but I didn't notice.

Next one was for a consultancy 50 questions in 45 minutes before the first interview with HR is even scheduled,I am waiting for the second interview with a consultant before the panel interview & MD.

The test was across a broad range and asked for definitions, problem solving etc.

I got through to the HR interview despite not answering all the questions in the allotted time. I'm just that good.

Exhausting but I imagine they manage to exclude a good portion of chancers with that by taking 5 minutes to send out a test on each CV that gets past the bin.

I thought that test was entirely appropriate and would gladly take that sort of screening test again because it makes sense.

I have had a few face to face tests about modelling or situations and normally manage to find something they have missed, those make sense because you get to see how your prospective colleague's brain works and how well.

In a final interview I was asked to effectively interview my prospective new reports to see how they would work with me and if they liked me. That was fun, even if I don't take the job their next level manager now knows what they want to do technically in the next 5 years and what is broken technically.I wasn't cruel and encouraged their enthusiasm. It took some time to gain their confidence but it was worth it.Watching the bosses eyebrow rise and realisation dawn was priceless, having spent about 4 hours talking to him in the process I was certain he would see it as an opportunity I suspect both of them will soon have a new personal project to complete.


I think its useful to use some standardised tests and techniques as part of the recruitment process but they need to be relevant and quick. If they aren't then they tell you a lot about the company if they aren't respectful of a candidate's time.

[jamesbrown]

That's the way to do it. I try to keep up with the jargon, but nine times out of ten it's a case of finding out that somebody has given a fancy name to something blindingly obvious, presumably to make it sound more impressive than it is, or possibly because they only learned about it in some purely academic setting rather than by writing code in the real world

And one time out of ten it isn't.

[NickFitz]

And one time out of ten it isn't.

And that one time, it's a term dreamt up by Marketing that doesn't mean anything at all

[TestMangler]

Second one I've had where it's an endless barrage of esoteric technical questions, the likes of which I honestly don't believe anyone I have ever worked with or anyone in my network would be able to answer.

I got around 80% of them right but the remaining 20% were in serious wft territory.

Seems to be the new norm, in which case studying up on deliberately arcane interview questions is a must for survival.

Anyone else had this?

Flame away, you can't make me feel worse.

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You have to take a marble statue (1000 kg) from one side of a swimming pool to the other using a rowing boat.

half way across, the statue falls out and sinks to the bottom. At the point the statue falls out of the boat, does the water level in the pool rise or fall ?

[suityou01]

What is the surface area of the hull that was submerged before the statue fell, the dimensions of the boat, the total dissolved solids measurement of the pool water and does the leisure centre have fernox in its radiators?

You have to take a marble statue (1000 kg) from one side of a swimming pool to the other using a rowing boat.

half way across, the statue falls out and sinks to the bottom. At the point the statue falls out of the boat, does the water level in the pool rise or fall ?

Sent from my CLT-L09 using Contractor UK Forum mobile app

[vetran]

You have to take a marble statue (1000 kg) from one side of a swimming pool to the other using a rowing boat.

half way across, the statue falls out and sinks to the bottom. At the point the statue falls out of the boat, does the water level in the pool rise or fall ?

supplementary question What do you do after this?

Call the interviewer a muppet & leave the room.

[jamesbrown]

And that one time, it's a term dreamt up by Marketing that doesn't mean anything at all

Are you in marketing?