Hello Programmer,

There is a question I want to ask.I called for Interview as a programmer. Getting there we are given questions to solved. Call programmers are not more than 6. After that we are to wait for sometime. Later we were called one by one for oral interview. I left the venue 3:15pm and the interview commenced around 9:30am. The question we are to solved on paper is there main operation.
Three days later, I was called again for another 2-day interview. Time 9:00Am-4:00PM in each of the day.
On getting there, I was given a question to work upon.
To develop an application to solve that there major operation.
Input specifications & output specifications were given.

Programmers, I want to ask. This is my first interview as a programmer, is that the way an interview is being conducted for programmer?

Please I 'm waiting for your contributions.

u r funny - is there a special way interviews are conducted for a particular profession? They ave given you the interview/task, instead of you to focus on that, you are here asking if it is the way it should be done or not. Na wa o-

So if we tell u its yes/no what has that got to do with you passing and scaling through the interview?

I would say from experience that if you were given a simple program to write, or implement in pseudocode, then that's very normal. If on the other hand -- from the way it sounds -- you're required to build a full-fledged application that would qualify as a project in your dictionary, the odds are ten to one you're being used. . . under the pretext of 'being interviewed.'

Thanks for your contributions,
This is not a pseudocode at all. what they are after is to build full-fledged application. With my own experience, if I work on the project for two days, I will have covered 2/3 of the work.
Though I did a day work, but not whole heartedly. Because, I met 3 programmers before sometime that have similar experience . They developed application but no work at the end.
My question is that, is that the method employers want to be using in exploiting people?

I think the sole purpose of such interviews (at least from a US context) is to see how you reason. In other words, there is no one true answer to such questions, or at least there shouldn't. For example, I could ask you to write me a program in JAVA for an elevator. While I wouldn't expect you to start cranking out code, I would expect you to think like so:

[list]
[li]"How many floors does the building have (if just one, then there's no need for an elevator )[/li]
[li]If more than one floor, is there an existing elevator currently?[/li]
[li]Are there any special features (accessibility for the disabled) you want the elevator to have?[/li]
[/list]

I would just be looking for your ability to think. Once you pass that step, then I could tempt you with a few JAVA code questions, after drilling you on the basics.

So in a nutshell: interview lasting more than one round/day is quite normal but making you write an actual program is something I am not familiar with. It almost seems as if they can't solve the problem and are looking for a cheap way to do so

The idea of being asked to write full fledged applications all in the name of being interviewed is wrong in my opinion.

I have seen big organisations do this before, I have been asked to do a complete online demo of what I think their website should look like (after having a lenghty discusssion) and my response is usually simple; No money, no demo as I do not have the time to be writing codes for someone when the money is not in the bank even if the money is for the demo itself.

The reason for this is simple, in most cases these organisations get 3 or 4 web designers/programmers and ask for demos and at the end of the day the organisation picks the best after going through all the free demos that must have been developed by the designers/programmers.

So, I will rather use the time to learn a new thing or watch cartoons, far better than doing a free job for oragnisations that do not offer free services.

Whilst I can't categorically say whether or not there is any exploitation intended in this case, in my experience, interviews take many forms and as wa_do_mi quite rightly said, there is no standard way to conduct an interview.  What i can say is I have on 2 seperate occasions for 2 different jobs been asked to develop an application during the interview process and my response in both cases was to say that naturally there wasn't enough time to complete the job however, I clearly stated how I would design the application and wrote high level pseudo code for the solution. In both cases, my response was exactly what they were looking for as I was employed on both occasions and this was confirmed to me after I started working there.

The point to remember is that an interview is meant to assess a variety of skills you posses and one of them is your self confidence in the sense that if you are asked to perform an impossible task, then you should say that it can't be done (or to be more precise, you can't do it).  Doing well in an interview does not mean always saying yes to whatever the interviewer may ask you and I also think it's counter productive to start the process with the view that the organisation in question is looking to exploit you. I have always treated every interview I have done as a learning process and even in the unlikely event that someone is trying to exploit me, I feel I always get something in return.

To those who suspect that the applicant is being exploited, let me ask you a few questions:

- If you were the IT manager of the organisation in question, would you use an application developed under such circumstances bearing in mind the developer is very likely to make several errors due to nerves?

- Even assuming you decide to use the code, who will support it if you don't employ the developer?

- If you have developers in house who are able to review the code and perhaps enhance it, then surely you would use them to develop the application in the first place.

Just a few thoughts,

- Fdeveloper

Well said

Absolutely Fdeveloper!

OP, They just want to test how you reason and what kind of problem solving skills you have. You are not expected to developa full fledged application, but you should be able to pseudocode how it will be done. There is always going to be a technical interview, since that's the nature of the field. It's just that different companies present it differently.

Like I always say, application development/programming is one field that you can not lie your way through an interview. And if you happen to get by doing that, they will find out quickly on the job. You just cannot get by without actually knowing it period!

It happened to me, i think with FirstInland bank (Flash Me Stuff). Now know the reason those people did not call me further, I tried to flex muscle, but I know in me i will never get anywhere, Ok for example I use Data Class Generators for my CRUD operations, it made things easy for me, that I have forgotten about DataReader, DataAdapter etc even ConnectionStrings, so what do you expect from such interview? .

Thanks, Nairalanders, I know what to do next time.

Thanks

Once again Fdeveloper well said.

if they tell me write a program there & then, that's okay. but go home, take a week or something & write a full-fledged application? na lie o. big lie. most likely, they might just want to use u.
true that interview methods vary but i believe u can tell if somebody's got the talent u require without giving 'em a project to write.

@Fdeveloper

- If you were the IT manager of the organisation in question, would you use an application developed under such circumstances bearing in mind the developer is very likely to make several errors due to nerves?

- Even assuming you decide to use the code, who will support it if you don't employ the developer?

- If you have developers in house who are able to review the code and perhaps enhance it, then surely you would use them to develop the application in the first place.

- Some IT manager would do so, in the belief that they would enhance the code. Not everyone who can enhance codes can develop from scratch. I tell you, there are some pros in re-using open source codes / applications, but cant develop one.

- You might say, why not go to freshmeat.net or sourceforge.net . But remember, in Nigeria, there some needed solutions that aren't on sourceforge or freshmeat.

- And again, like Afam rightly said, they might want to exploit you by using your work as a demo for some other clients, and when their contract gets approved, they'll patronize an Indian written application!

@Naijaguru

naijaguru:

- Some IT manager would do so, in the belief that they would enhance the code. Not everyone who can enhance codes can develop from scratch. I tell you, there are some pros in re-using open source codes / applications, but can't develop one.

I'm not sure about this as I think that it's often more difficult to take over someone's code and enhance it than to start from afresh.

@Naijaguru

naijaguru:

- And again, like Afam rightly said, they might want to exploit you by using your work as a demo for some other clients, and when their contract gets approved, they'll patronize an Indian written application!

I take your point but on the other hand, if the company gets a contract based on a demo you have developed then why wouldn't they employ you instead of going to India assuming you were still available of course?

@Fdeveloper

I'm not sure about this as I think that it's often more difficult to take over someone's code and enhance it than to start from afresh.

- Coming from my PHP background, its easier using Other Peoeple's Code than starting from scratch. Ask most peoeple you reuse codes from sourceforge or hotscripts. This is pretty time-saving, especially if the code is well commented and has an active community support

I take your point but on the other hand, if the company gets a contract based on a demo you have developed then why wouldn't they employ you instead of going to India assuming you were still available of course?

- Well, cos there is this mentatlity that software from Indian is better, and sometimes cheaper.

Its not an absolute conclusion that they wouldnt employ the programmer, its just a possibility so one has to be careful. If I was the smart programmer, and the application was to be web-based, I would try as much as possible to make some serious dependencies in the code that would require them calling me.

naijaguru:

@Fdeveloper

- Coming from my PHP background, its easier using Other Peoeple's Code than starting from scratch. Ask most peoeple you reuse codes from sourceforge or hotscripts. This is pretty time-saving, especially if the code is well commented and has an active community support

- Well, because there is this mentatlity that software from Indian is better, and sometimes cheaper.

Its not an absolute conclusion that they wouldnt employ the programmer, its just a possibility so one has to be careful. If I was the smart programmer, and the application was to be web-based, I would try as much as possible to make some serious dependencies in the code that would require them calling me.

You are very funny