#125820 - keldon - Tue Apr 17, 2007 9:23 am
#125860 - Ant6n - Tue Apr 17, 2007 5:34 pm
I had some interview at some place; my resume/cv didnt say i know c++ (only like c,java, some asm,delphi,sml,scheme etc); but they ended up 'testing' me on c++, only to find out that hadn't learned all the wierd stuff about it yet. i think this is stupid - what do a couple of random odd case c++ questions tell you about an applicants ability to quickly adapt or to come up with good solutions to difficult programming problems (i.e. algorithms)?
#125868 - josath - Tue Apr 17, 2007 7:12 pm
| Ant6n wrote: |
| I had some interview at some place; my resume/cv didnt say i know c++ (only like c,java, some asm,delphi,sml,scheme etc); but they ended up 'testing' me on c++, only to find out that hadn't learned all the wierd stuff about it yet. i think this is stupid - what do a couple of random odd case c++ questions tell you about an applicants ability to quickly adapt or to come up with good solutions to difficult programming problems (i.e. algorithms)? |
They tell you how much C++ experience you've had, perhaps they wanted someone that already knew C++ well, they didn't want to spend the time/money training that person in C++.
I don't see anything wrong with that personally, you'll just need to find a place that doesn't want someone with good C++ experience in advance.
For example, my company would probably consider hiring you, we need Flash programmers, and they are hard to come by, so we usually end up hiring people who already have good programming experience, and then train them in the inner workings of Actionscript / the flash runtime.
#125879 - sajiimori - Tue Apr 17, 2007 9:24 pm
Programming language details tend to be overemphasized in the hiring process, partly due to ignorance, and partly because it's easier to measure than the ability to write good code.
Still, C++ is a beast all its own. There are some design principles that only apply to C++, and some that apply in other languages but not C++.
Getting a reasonably complete understanding of C++ takes a long time, even for programmers who are already familiar with other languages. Depending on the position I'm hiring for, I'd be likely to test for familiarity with the language.
#125916 - Ant6n - Wed Apr 18, 2007 6:54 am
i dunno, 3 questions in c++, and in the end they probably ended up hiring a good c++ programmer, but possibly not somebody who knows consoles very well (where c++ is probably used mostly to modularize c code better). I am not saying that i would've been perfect, but the way the 'test' was designed didnt really give me much of a chance, which I find infortunate for me, and possibly not the most efficient for the company. It was internship with EA Montreal, btw.
Some friends told me Ubisoft (also in Montreal) tests more broadly, also some algorithms and logic and stuff.
At the end of the day I guess that means i suggest reading over keldon's links is probably not a bad idea; if companies tend to prefer people with good knowledge of very specific details of c++/java over people with good prerequesite knowledge in the hardware they are going to work with.
#125975 - Miked0801 - Wed Apr 18, 2007 7:01 pm
Don't feel too bad. I would have missed half the C++ questions on those pages being a C++ newb myself. I did get all the stupid C questions right on the "hard C questions" link though. Of course, anyone foolish enough to code like that wouldn't have a job too long :)
#126074 - sgeos - Thu Apr 19, 2007 8:57 pm
Keep in mind that as an applicant, you should walk in armed with one or two pages of questions for the organization you are applying for.
-Brendan