That's an excellent point -- and one we did a variation of: I'm giving candidates a simple concept, but poorly written SQL stored proc actually build by the current reporting team and asking them what they think of it and how'd they'd improve it.
Again, goes to show essay questions (effectively) are much better than ABCDE or true/false. Regards, John Paul Ashenfelter CTO/Transitionpoint [EMAIL PROTECTED] ----- Original Message ----- From: "Matt Liotta" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "CF-Talk" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, January 07, 2003 1:41 PM Subject: RE: building cert tests (WAS Re: certification experiences/plans?) > My favorite interview technique is to provide the candidate with a > program written in a language they aren't familiar with and ask them to > debug a problem. Of course I don't expect them solve it, but I like to > watch how they going about attempting. > > Matt Liotta > President & CEO > Montara Software, Inc. > http://www.montarasoftware.com/ > 888-408-0900 x901 > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: John Paul Ashenfelter [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > > Sent: Tuesday, January 07, 2003 1:43 PM > > To: CF-Talk > > Subject: building cert tests (WAS Re: certification > experiences/plans?) > > > > Boy, do I agree. I took the Brainbench MS-SQL exams to asses whether > > they'd > > be useful for evaluating the SQL knowledge of some candidates for a > > enterprise reporting group. I distinctly remember that there were 3 > > questions on Oracle to MS-SQL migrations (out of 40), including "How > do > > you > > install it". What a waste. And then look at the statistics -- I scored > 3.7 > > out of 5 which was also the 89% percentile. Visualize a very steep > spike > > instead of a bell curve to understand what the distribution of scores > must > > resemble. > > > > I will say, having written exam questions for another online company > (hey, > > I > > was young and needed the money), that it is very hard to write useful > > questions within the parameters these companies give you. You can > write > > some > > good ones, no doubt. But if I remember, it was something like $500 for > 100 > > questions and each question had to have a right answer, 3 wrongs, and > a > > "close" answer that got partial credit. And then there's the whole > fitting > > it into the domains of knowledge that the test developer designed. Oh, > and > > it's plain text and the potential for one image, but you have to > create it > > yourself (me!=artist). I thought it would be a good review for me, and > it > > was, but it's not easy to write a *good* exam with only multiple > choice > > questions for a topic that's much more essay/practicum oriented. Thus > the > > move in several high-level certification worlds towards hands-on > testing > > (Cisco, Oracle for example). > > > > Regards, > > > > John Paul Ashenfelter > > CTO/Transitionpoint > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: "John Wilker" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > To: "CF-Talk" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > Sent: Monday, January 06, 2003 10:10 PM > > Subject: RE: certification experiences/plans? > > > > > > > That's one thing about on the spot tests and certifications and what > > > not. I keep a lot of junk rattling around in my brain some useful > some > > > not, but there's just no way I can remember all the attributes of a > > > given tag. I just can't. I know where to look to find the > information > > > though and can get the answers pretty darn quick. > > > > > > I think having instant recall on such things as all the attributes > of a > > > tag or all the cgi server variables is not that impressive but that > sure > > > makes it easier to take the cert exams. I usually don't take those > tests > > > when interviewers ask. When I'm in my cube I won't be being timed > and I > > > will have my books, notes, listservs and whatever other tools I use > > > available. So the, "how would I...?" exams right there with x number > of > > > people staring at you is just frustrating. > > > > > > J. > > > > > > John Wilker > > > Web Applications Consultant, Writer > > > Macromedia Certified ColdFusion Developer > > > Founder/President IE CFUG > > > www.red-omega.com > > > > > > Whatever is wrong it is better than a poke in the eye with a sharp > > > stick. Unless of course you just got poked in the eye with a sharp > > > stick. > > > > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > > From: Jeffry Houser [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > > > Sent: Monday, January 06, 2003 6:51 PM > > > To: CF-Talk > > > Subject: RE: certification experiences/plans? > > > > > > > > > At 06:18 PM 1/6/2003 -0800, you wrote: > > > > Some haven't > > > >cared and some have wanted me to take a brainbench exam on the > spot. > > > > > > I took one such of these test ( Not BrainBench, but a company that > > > escapes me ) and the questions asked were so vague / detached from > real > > > development it was very frustrating. One question I remember was > "How > > > many > > > possible values are there for the X attribute of Y tag?" In what > real > > > world situation would that come up? Never! For example, I may > know > > > that > > > the cfobject tag can be used for creating an instance of specific > > > objects > > > (COM, Corba, Web Service, etc.. ) but that doesn't mean I know ( or > even > > > > > > need to know ) how many valid values there are for the type > attribute of > > > > > > the cfobject tag. > > > > > > > > > -- > > > Jeffry Houser | mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > DotComIt, Putting you on the web > > > AIM: Reboog711 | Phone: 1-203-379-0773 > > > -- > > > My CFMX Book: > > > <http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0072225564/instantcoldfu-20> > > > My Books: http://www.instantcoldfusion.com > > > -- > > > Ask me how to get a free recording of your band > > > -- > > > Original Energetic Acoustic Rock: http://www.farcryfly.com 80's, > 90's, > > > and Now: http://www.mtmexperience.com > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?forumid=4 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?method=subscribe&forumid=4 FAQ: http://www.thenetprofits.co.uk/coldfusion/faq Structure your ColdFusion code with Fusebox. 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