On Sun, Oct 1, 2017 at 12:48 PM, Alan Gauld via Tutor <tutor@python.org> wrote:
> But to address another issue raised by Mats: > > Probably the best programming test there is look at code > > that's already been developed, > > Very true and in an ideal world what you would do, but... > > It is what we did with the bug finding test. But, as alluded > to by Steve, it's really hard to do this for anything > significant in an interview, since you would need to be > familiar with the system's framework and libraries since > most code consists of calls to libraries. First off, a confession: I'm an English major, not CS or IT. But this conversation reminded me of my interview for (what turned out to be) my first-ever programming job. I'd been working as BOFH (operating a System/360) for a few months, and heard about a better job in an HP shop closer to where I lived. So I applied, and during the course of the interview I discovered that it was a blended position: programming during the day, operator in the evening. I kept a poker face, and when I was asked whether I'd written any COBOL I lied and said yes. (I knew the name, but had never seen a line of code - only BASIC and Pascal up to that time.) My test was, fortunately for me, not a start-from-scratch FizzBuzz problem, but debugging a report module that was on the department's "to-fix" list. It took me about twenty-five minutes to find the problem (it was an off-by-one bug, as I recall), most of which was taken up translating COBOL to Pascal in my head... I got the job, and went straight to the local university bookstore and bought every book I could find on COBOL. Good times, good times... _______________________________________________ Tutor maillist - Tutor@python.org To unsubscribe or change subscription options: https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor