4 ms·
This appears to be a fairly arbitrary list of questions, and the categorizations (including the Junior and Middle lists linked at the bottom) are similarly arbi
by merlincorey 8y ago
This appears to be a fairly arbitrary list of questions, and the categorizations (including the Junior and Middle lists linked at the bottom) are similarly arbitrary.
For example, some of the Middle questions seem to me more things a Junior should be asked, and vice versa.
Specifically, it asks about modulus operator in Middle but expects a Junior to identify the key features of Python.
I would seriously expect most beginners to have some idea about modulus, but next to no idea about key features.
At any rate, I very much prefer a short list of very open ended or very focused questions with lots of room to grow.
Like 3 to 5 questions should be able to fill an hour if they are good questions by my metrics.
For general questions, I like things like "What are the key features of the language?" but I phrase them as "What are your favorite parts of the language? Least favorite parts?"
Those answers are often very telling -- often Juniors will have very shallow answers or none at all for "least favorite".
For specific questions I like things like "reverse a string". Not so difficult that it's a brain teaser, but plenty of room for diving into different approaches and discussing idioms of the language.
Again, these answers are very telling -- often Juniors will only be able to write one very simple version, but a Senior can write several and talk about the trade-offs.
- luminousmen 8y agoOf course it is, I think developer's paths are different and these questions are for MY expectations from the candidate. I know that they are not easy, and of course, I do not expect from candidate to answer all of them. But I'm sure if you don't know your tools(Python just a tool, favorite tool, but tool anyway) then you can't call yourself a senior
- yellowbuilding 8y ago>I would seriously expect most beginners to have some idea about modulus, but next to no idea about key features. As someone who began learning with Python, I knew many key features before learning modulus, and I don’t think I have even used modulus in a project yet. >For general questions, I like things like "What are the key features of the language?" but I phrase them as "What are your favorite parts of the language? Least favorite parts?" And, picking up where I just left off, this change in phrasing would have made a world of difference at the time haha.
- golergka 8y agoModulus is middle school math; surely, you would expect a developer to be familiar with at least high school math as theory base?
- tarboreus 8y agoI think it's more the framing. Most devs would understand a remainder conceptually but it's conceivable that they might not know the mod operator in practice.
- luminousmen 8y agoThe question from the article is tricky because the Python modulus implementation differs from, for example, Java. See discussion https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2215318/difference-between-modulus-implementation-in-python-vs-java https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2215318/difference-betwe...