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In the same interview I wrote about in this thread, I also had a computer question. Had an hour to complete it. I knew the answer from the outset, and just had
by vdnkh 11y ago
In the same interview I wrote about in this thread, I also had a computer question. Had an hour to complete it. I knew the answer from the outset, and just had to work out a few details (was working in Mono for the first time). And you know what? It took took me the whole hour. My solution worked great, but it wasn't my best code. I didn't leverage OOP enough and made it too procedural. On a whiteboard this would be fine; logic is really the only grading factor. But on the computer, you don't really have much more time but your answer has to be so much better. And the way it was done for me, I was alone on the computer, not able to give any rationale for my code. And when they reviewed it, they probably ripped it a new one without knowing why I did what I did. I could have easily explained why I made each choice and how to make it better. In the best case, a computer question would be much better. But done sloppily, it's pretty unfair. Reminds me of this Dilbert http://dilbert.com/strip/2013-02-24 http://dilbert.com/strip/2013-02-24
- mikeash 11y agoYou say that the result on a computer has to be so much better. Why? Why not apply the exact same standards as you would for a whiteboard question, but do it on a computer? It's not like typing out pseudocode is some crazy idea.
- vdnkh 11y agoThere's many more grading points to a computer solution. You're not graded for code style on the whiteboard; from what I've gathered, having an algorithm + code to implement is sufficient (not counting the verbal part). On the computer, however, you bet they're going to grade you on style, syntax, leverage of oop. etc. It's not something I realized when I did it which is why it probably (they never actually told me the result) failed. I just did an easy solution- I had good seperation of functions, leveraged access modifiers, etc but I didn't wow them. Right, I can't speak for my interviewers but I was given several whiteboard questions and a computer question. They probably wanted to see what my code was actually like on the computer, while they tested my problem solving skills on the whiteboard. I guess if you chose just the computer as an exam you'd treat it more like a whiteboard.
- mikeash 11y agoYou're talking about what people do, and I'm talking about what people ought to do. I accept that people might grade more harshly, but I'm saying there's no reason to do that, and if you want to apply whiteboard-style scoring to a typed solution, that seems like it would be a good idea and there's no reason you couldn't.