John T wrote:

One of the most useful items in our interview is a small 11-line method
pulled from our actual code base. This method came to my attention when a
critical defect was discovered in the code and I've been using in the
interviews ever since by asking the candidate two simple questions: Describe
the purpose of this method ("what does it do", not the "why") and describe
how you would unit test it to ensure proper operation.

Just out of curiosity, you wouldn't want to share that snippet of code
would you. I like a good challenge.

BTW, I agree that level of education is not a good indicator of how well
someone can do in their chosen field. Actually learning from the things
that are taught in college classes is only one of many ways to get a
degree. If you have attended college, you should know what I mean.

I disagree with your requirement that an applicant demonstrate
proficiency in the specific technology you are using in your business, a
talented software developer can learn a new technology easily. The only
exception would be if you need a people that can jump into a project as
quickly as possible. But if you are more interested in having a quality
employee over the long run, you would increase your chances of finding
top notch software developers if you didn't require them to have
experience in the exact tools you are currently using.

--
Chris W
KE5GIX

"Protect your digital freedom and privacy, eliminate DRM,
learn more at http://www.defectivebydesign.org/what_is_drm"

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