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I had a similar assignment when I applied for a remote Clojure job at a startup in California. Create a REST API in Clojure (which I can do in my sleep at this

by jcadam 9y ago

I had a similar assignment when I applied for a remote Clojure job at a startup in California. Create a REST API in Clojure (which I can do in my sleep at this point). I decided to use a database (in my case, H2) along with HugSQL because it handled some of the requirements for me (unique constraints, etc.), and I'm comfortable with databases. I could have done it in code using a collection (and used filter/map/reduce/etc.), but just using a database and defining a schema seemed the simplest and most fool-proof solution (and I think the proper place for these sorts of checks is in the database, anyway). During the code review, the interviewer seemed surprised that I used a database, but didn't seem to have much of a problem with it ("you're the only one I've seen do it that way"). In any event, the 'code review' consisted of him saying "Well, um.... I can't really find anything wrong with this, you're definitely a good Clojure developer" And then they passed on me anyway. I wonder if they ever filled the position? P.S., not the first time something like this has happened to me, I've had nearly the exact same experience when I applied for a Golang job. P.P.S., Also I've got the "Pass. We think you'd be bored here." Which is aggravating. It seems I can only find employment at places with nearly non-existent tech screening that under-utilize me and don't care if I'm bored out of my skull.

scardine 9y ago
HugSQL is very handy - used it for my solution also. Coming from Django Rest Framework I felt at home with Compojure-API. Hearing "you are overqualified" is awful.
ajmurmann 9y ago
Not being a Clojure dev I'm curious: Wouldn't a database be the more scalable solution? How would multiple servers share access to the data of it's in memory? What about persistence?
- jcadam 9y ago
  It was an 'exercise' for evaluation purpose. In the instructions I was told that a database was not necessary (I'm assuming the interviewer didn't want to have to setup a DBMS just to evaluate my solution). The obvious solution to me in this case was not to eschew the use of a database. Since Clojure runs on the JVM, there are many 'embeddable' databases one can use (H2, Derby, et al) that do not place a burden on the person running your program. Hacking together a poor implementation of an in-memory database myself seemed silly. Indeed, a major use of embedded databases like H2 and Derby is in prototyping - with the intent of moving to a 'real' database in production.

by jcadam 9y ago

scardine 9y ago

HugSQL is very handy - used it for my solution also. Coming from Django Rest Framework I felt at home with Compojure-API. Hearing "you are overqualified" is awful.

ajmurmann 9y ago

Not being a Clojure dev I'm curious: Wouldn't a database be the more scalable solution? How would multiple servers share access to the data of it's in memory? What about persistence?

jcadam 9y ago
It was an 'exercise' for evaluation purpose. In the instructions I was told that a database was not necessary (I'm assuming the interviewer didn't want to have to setup a DBMS just to evaluate my solution). The obvious solution to me in this case was not to eschew the use of a database. Since Clojure runs on the JVM, there are many 'embeddable' databases one can use (H2, Derby, et al) that do not place a burden on the person running your program. Hacking together a poor implementation of an in-memory database myself seemed silly. Indeed, a major use of embedded databases like H2 and Derby is in prototyping - with the intent of moving to a 'real' database in production.