I have some 5 post in drafts as they are connected and should be released with details. Just got back after a long 12 hrs work (interviews and CV short-listings). Preparing technical papers (we call it Tech Tryouts) is a big ask esp when people pass on the papers.
This time I decided not to waste a complete paper unless the person is suited for the post. I have divided the question sets into 3 parts – 3 marks, 5 marks and 10 marks sections. Obviously, level of difficulty is proportional to its weight. Then I made 3 paper bags for each section and put the resp questions (each question on a piece of paper) in it. Now people can take it one by one, some who starts with 10, generally ends up exchanging it with a 3 marker. One who is not able to solve 2 consecutive problems is not selected. I generally have a lot of fun during this phase making few friends as well. One of the candidate (who was not selected) asked me few questions related to web architecture (may be to test me :)), we ended up with another typical AjiNIMC short lecture (but it was fun, hope he was helped).
Some (not all, may be 30%) interviews remind me of the post entitled “199 out of 200 programmers can’t program“. Generally the first bag (3 marker) contains very basic questions with switches, recursions and basic logical problems. Sometimes it surprises me when experienced people are not able to solve FizzBizz problems. With experienced lot I generally ask about basic web architecture, DNS systems etc.
I will be having few more interviews tomorrow and then I will get back to server auditing and ofcourse blogging, till then you can visit my daily recommended posts.
Thanks for the daily recommended posts as extension of your blog.