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I have long left the intern market, but I had a phone interview yesterday to scope out potential iphone app dev work. I sent a list of websites that I created

I have long left the intern market, but I had a phone interview yesterday to scope out potential iphone app dev work. I sent a list of websites that I created and apps I have in the store, but the "interviewer" insisted that he quiz me on how I would detect a circular linked list and if I could describe the diamond problem. I took me a mere 20 seconds to recognize that the potential employer was just a programmer sweatshop. But, I was still struck by how out of touch with reality those kinds of technical tests have become in the past few years. edit: formatting fix

draebek 16y ago
Independent from whether or not this particular opportunity was a "sweatshop": you mention that you sent a list of web sites you've created and applications you have in Apple's App Store, but I didn't see anything in there about "code." Absent any actual code (not counting HTML, and assuming the web sites you mentioned weren't primarily JS) I'd certainly ask you coding questions as well. EDIT to add reasoning: I've seen people that can release applications and put up web sites, the code for which is unreadable, unmaintainable garbage. I'm really happy to see that you can ship, because that is important, but if we're going to be coding together I also need to see that your code is passable.
- epoxyhockey 16y ago
  That is a good argument to ask candidates to complete a written code test or to share their github page. That's still a bit different from quizzing on textbook concepts, but I will yield in the argument that a well-rounded engineer would probably be able to spout out answers to random CS trivia questions as well.
  - xenophanes 16y ago
    I mostly agree with you however quizzes are fun IMO. I hear "detect circular linked list" and I'm like "OHHHHHH ME ME ME I KNOW THAT ONE" lol... Maybe some of the better places that ask these questions are hoping to see your attitude and if you genuinely like this stuff.
HeyLaughingBoy 16y ago
I would welcome any candidate who could show me examples of past work, but I would still ask the normal tech questions in addition to reviewing and talking about that work. Why? I have to be fair, both morally and legally. If I decide that there's a set of questions that an applicant must answer correctly before I'll consider him suitable, then everyone has to answer them. If you get that right, and you have some impressive work to show me, you'd be way ahead of the pack.
- epoxyhockey 16y ago
  That is a great point. I forgot about the Equal Employment Opportunity laws since I mostly work on a contract basis. The interviewer was certainly setting me up for a full-time position.

draebek 16y ago

Independent from whether or not this particular opportunity was a "sweatshop": you mention that you sent a list of web sites you've created and applications you have in Apple's App Store, but I didn't see anything in there about "code." Absent any actual code (not counting HTML, and assuming the web sites you mentioned weren't primarily JS) I'd certainly ask you coding questions as well. EDIT to add reasoning: I've seen people that can release applications and put up web sites, the code for which is unreadable, unmaintainable garbage. I'm really happy to see that you can ship, because that is important, but if we're going to be coding together I also need to see that your code is passable.

epoxyhockey 16y ago
That is a good argument to ask candidates to complete a written code test or to share their github page. That's still a bit different from quizzing on textbook concepts, but I will yield in the argument that a well-rounded engineer would probably be able to spout out answers to random CS trivia questions as well.
- xenophanes 16y ago
  I mostly agree with you however quizzes are fun IMO. I hear "detect circular linked list" and I'm like "OHHHHHH ME ME ME I KNOW THAT ONE" lol... Maybe some of the better places that ask these questions are hoping to see your attitude and if you genuinely like this stuff.

HeyLaughingBoy 16y ago

I would welcome any candidate who could show me examples of past work, but I would still ask the normal tech questions in addition to reviewing and talking about that work. Why? I have to be fair, both morally and legally. If I decide that there's a set of questions that an applicant must answer correctly before I'll consider him suitable, then everyone has to answer them. If you get that right, and you have some impressive work to show me, you'd be way ahead of the pack.

epoxyhockey 16y ago
That is a great point. I forgot about the Equal Employment Opportunity laws since I mostly work on a contract basis. The interviewer was certainly setting me up for a full-time position.