[Chicago] Sanity Check

[Samir Faci]

It really depends on the tasks they gave you to do.  If the code is
just some simple exercise to
prove you coding ability, then its perfectly reasonable.  If the code
is a coding project disguised
as a test, then I'd say no thanks...and walk away.

Though, usually when you get to the point where they ask you to do a
programming task,
its usually because they have a pending job offer they want to present to you.



--
Samir

On Wed, Dec 1, 2010 at 8:55 PM, Dan Krol <orblivion at gmail.com> wrote:
> "Sanity Check" may in fact be an appropriate phrase for the situation. My
> personal (mostly uneducated) guess would be that they really do want to just
> do a quick check to make sure you're who you say you are. It doesn't take
> too long, and it saves them the hassle of an additional hire. I think I've
> heard that some people do weasel their way into a position they are
> unqualified for just to gain a little bit of experience.
>
> On Dec 1, 2010 8:38 PM, "Peter Fein" <pfein at pobox.com> wrote:
>> Hiya-
>>
>> Need to sanity check with a broader group... I've had a few phone
>> interviews lately, which have been followed by demands for programming
>> tests. I am THIS CLOSE: || to telling the next company that asks to
>> shove off.
>>
>> The actual content of the tests has ranged from the trivially easy to
>> straightforward but annoyingly difficult. The former at best indicate
>> whether I'm totally lying about knowing the language at all. Most of the
>> later have been ripped straight from Code Golf or a sophomore algorithms
>> textbook. In no case has the test had anything discernible to do with
>> the actual job. Being a person of integrity, I don't just go look up the
>> answers.
>>
>> I'm particularly ticked off because:
>>
>> * I have ample open source code, which I've pointed people to. In fact,
>> one company got in touch with me because THEY LIKED MY OSS CODE, then
>> demanded I do a coding test anyway.
>> * Some of the companies are startups, which have explicitly prided
>> themselves on their low-bureaucracy/bullshit factor. Hypocrites.
>>
>> I've been coding in Python for eight bloody years already. Marketers
>> don't take marketing tests, do they?
>>
>> Should I tell them to bugger off? Am I on crack?
>>
>> --Pete
>>
>> PS - I have a blog post on this and other frustrations titled: "IT
>> Hiring: You're Doing it Wrong (or) The Author Sinks His Career Prospects
>> for Fun and No Profit"
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>
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>



-- 
--
Samir Faci
*insert title*
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