Want a Software Job? Finish This Test .... Part 3

For the last two entries, I detailed how a candidate for a software job was sent a coding test before he was personally contacted.

Coding tests are quite common, and can be quite onerous. A web design company sends this one out. This is quite a test, requiring a database, OAUTH to Twitter, and creates a marketable app. Here are the instructions to this test:

This test was created in an effort to gauge a candidate’s capability as an ASP.NET developer. The primary skills we are reviewing are: knowledge of C#/ASP.NET, MVC, knowledge of database design and implementation, usability, attention to detail and ability to interface with public APIs.

As with all code, there is no single correct way to build this web application. We will be looking at your submission to better understand your thought process when writing an application. Although this test must be written without any other person’s help, any standard reference material that is used during a normal programming cycle may be used (such as online help or books). No third party class libraries or code snippets may be used.

Overview

The purpose of the application is to allow end-users to search Twitter for topics of interest and

determine which users they might want to follow based upon the number of times tweets by that user appear in search results.

The Task

Create an MVC ASP.NET web application written in C#.

Required Features

1. Connection to Twitter (uses OAUTH)

2. Perform search against keywords supplied by end-user

a. Display tweets matching results, with profile photos

3. Collect profile data on everyone sending those tweets

a. Store in database, relate to tweets by that profile

4. Rank users whose tweets appear in search results most often – sort by # of matching tweets

descending

a. Tweet counts persist across multiple searches

b. If the same tweet appears in two separate searches, it is count as a single hit against its

author, not as two

c. Every time a tweet is recorded, the search terms should also be recorded

5. Click on the list of twitter users to display all tweets that have appeared in search; for each tweet, indicate which search terms caused it to appear

General Information

Make any modifications/additions you feel are necessary to enhance the usability of this application. Keep the code clean, well organized and well commented. The quality of the application should be at the same level that you would create for a paying client/employer. If you have any questions about the description of the application please feel free to ask.

Submission

Your submission must be in the form of a zip file containing a fully working solution that can be compiled and run without any further external requirements aside from those listed below:

External Requirements

Include a script file that can be run to generate the required SQL data store.

Now, isn't that quite the task to get a job.

In the previous example where the applicant complained about the impersonal test, he received the following reply:

I'm a member of development team. I was forwarded me your comments about our hiring process. I want to thank you for your feedback, because I've been thinking something along those lines myself and have been pushing for some change here recently. Your response is the first concrete evidence I have that our process is flawed. I'm not officially in any kind of HR position, I just stepped in very recently due to my own personal concerns about how it is being done.

We do get a lot of coding exercise responses doing it this way, including from each of us when we were hired, so I guess that makes us think it is an appropriate process. My primary concern was that the best people are probably a) already employed, so don't have a ton of free time to put into the exercise, and b) likely have numerous offers on the table, and so putting the time into the exercise just to possibly get another interview is just not worth it to them. But beyond that, you're right, it's not a very person-oriented approach.

What I have just recently started doing (unfortunately a few days after we asked Tara to send you the coding exercise), is reach out via email to candidates and offer to answer any questions they might have about the company.

If you are still interested, please fire questions my way. Either way, please accept my apology for the way we have approached you. I will be sharing your comments with the team and will hopefully affect change as a result.

So, there you have it. I think that coding exercises are here to stay for developers, but the way that they are administered has to change.

Want a Software Job? Finish This Test .... Part 2

In yesterday's blog entry, I detailed a new paradigm where developers and coders who applied for a job, were sent back a programming test by email, without any personal contact at all. One developer that I know, took umbrage to the system and sent back the following response:

I was dismayed at your hiring process. I don't think that I am interested in your company based on this approach. It reminds me of outsourcing to India, where software tests are sent to coding monkeys without any personal contact first to determine if the person is a fit.

I submitted a resume that was incredibly deep in rich, eclectic experience and was asked to submit a trivial poker game example of code before any face-to-face discussions ever take place. So much for putting the personal element first.

Based on this formulaic, lazy way of recruiting, I don't think that your company culture is for me. It reminds me of a burn and churn outfit.

He didn't think that he would get a response. He was truly surprised that he did get a response. Here it is:

Thank you for your reply and your candid comments. We apologize for the impression that we have given you by sending you a coding exercise before contacting you. We understand that the personal element is important and this is why we contact candidates after they have submitted the coding exercise, however I can certainly see your excellent point of engaging candidates before that step.

Just this week one of our developers - Allan - said that he thinks it might be best for us to contact impressive candidates directly prior to the coding exercise to add in a more personal element (and to allow the candidate the chance to ask technical questions right off the bat). You have proven that Allan is right and that candidates need to have that personal contact before committing to a coding exercise.

I am going to pass this along to Allan for follow up and I want to thank you again for your valuable insight.

Thanks again,

And the head of programming did send back a response, which I will post tomorrow. I will also post a solution of testing programmer applicants that truly exercises their thinking ability, not their ability to remember syntax.

It may be that skilled knowledge workers have more power over the hiring process than they think.

Want a Software Job? Finish This Test .... Part 1

There is a relatively new paradigm for hiring software developers and coders. It consists of an applicant sending in his resume online. Before there is any initial contact at all, the applicant is sent a coding exercise. Reprinted below is one such:

We have reviewed your resume and would like to move forward in our interview process with you! In order for us to understand how you approach your work and to move to the next level of our process, please complete the following coding exercise.

Using Java/Python, please design and implement the classes for a card game (pick any game, Poker for example), which uses an ordered deck of cards, containing 52 cards divided in 13 ranks (A, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K) with four suits: spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs. The cards can be, at a minimum, shuffled, cut, and dealt (feel free to implement additional ones that are required by the game).

* You do not have to model the gameplay, but include code required for the different stages of the game (e.g., evaluating player hands)
* You do not have to model any player bidding
* List any assumptions you make

Thanks again for your help in streamlining this process and we look forward to reviewing your code!

The Engineering Team

This seems rather cold to me, but that is the way software development companies are operating these days.

I will examine this phenomena in three parts. This is the introductory part. Would you do this to get a job? Do you think that this is a fair thing to do before being contacted by a human being and evaluated personally? This is a lazy, shotgun approach to recruiting where the applicants do all of the work. It is rather Darwinian, but I will have more on this in part 2.