Hello all, I just went on an interview today for a programming job (really a paid internship is what it is) with a company in my local area (they also have other offices in the continental USA). I thought I would share some of what was discussed/asked of me during the interview, and also some information on the "test" that was given to me (which I found a bit strange). First, I happened to know this company was into application development for the financial/banking sector through previously seeing ads in the classifieds of my local newspaper. I have also applied for a internship position with this company last year, but never made it past the phone interview phase (I was not sufficiently prepared for any of the questions). Anyhow, a year later, and a little bit wiser, I submitted an email to the company again expressing my interest for an internship position with their company. This time around, rather than doing phone interviews, they had me do a Predictive Index Survey online first.....kind of strange what this survey actually was, but I suppose there are reasons for it..... About a week later, I receive a call that they wish to have an interview. Part of the interview process is a "short test" as the HR person described. Well, the short test was a series of 3 tests that were timed. From having previously applied to this company for an internship job, I had noted that they utilize Visual Basic for their UI and backend, so I figured I would brush up a little on my VB syntax. That was my first mistake. The test ended up being 2 tests of sequencing and 1 of basic math skills. Now, the math skills I can definitely relate to as far as this position goes, however I do not think I did too well as some were geared towards statistacal analysis, and I have only done college level algebra at this point. Seeing that they are in the financial and banking sector however, made me understand that it was a good idea to test someones math skills. The other two sections however were very different. Rather than asking you to right a function/sub routine to sort something, and blah blah, they instead had a series of sequences where you were to answer what the next logical sequence was. For example: a b c b c d c d e next is: ? Not exactly hard to figure out, but trust me, they got progressively harder as the test went on. It was also timed, I guess there is a reason for that also. The next series, rather than using letters/number combinations, they utilized pictures for the series, for example: [] (btw, thats an unshaded box there) [][] [][] [] next in series is what? Obviously [][] [][] Again, as the test progressed, the series and flow progressively got harder, and was also timed. Anyhow, point of the post....I am not sure. I am confused on why exactly I did a PI survey, though after a bit of research I guess I understand. However, the tests' that I took, well, to be honest they baffled me. I am a bit unclear as to how recognizing sequences for a pattern determines whether or not I know how to program in Visual Basic..... Anyhoot, I suppose I am venting a bit of frustration at the process that I went through on this interview, though I am catiously optimistic. I just wanted to share that with anyone who cares to see what an interview for a developer internship (at least for this particular company) was like for me. Of course, you should prepare for standard questions from the interviewer: Tell me about yourself? What is your greatest strength? What is your greatest weakness? Describe a time while coding that you had a problem and what you did to overcome the problem? You know, the standard stuff that you can find by searching the netz. One funny thing I did find out about the company, which I had gathered from this website as a good question to ask, was that they do not have a standard coding practice in place.....is that good/bad/indifferent, I am not sure. As I said, I was interviewing for an internship, trying to get my foot in the door after making a drastic career change from construction to programming. One odd thing that I find also. So called "entry level" programming type jobs expect experience, yet just getting a foot in the door for an internship (paid or even unpaid) is hard in and of itself. Thanks for any who read or comment! Shawn

Quote: Original post by shawnre
I just went on an interview today for a programming job (really a paid internship is what it is) with a company in my local area (they also have other offices in the continental USA). I thought I would share some of what was discussed/asked of me during the interview, and also some information on the "test" that was given to me (which I found a bit strange).

Many large companies have you sign an NDA at the beginning of the interview. I sure hope you didn't do that before posting their stuff to the world. [looksaround]

Quote: The test ended up being 2 tests of sequencing and 1 of basic math skills. ... geared towards statistacal analysis ... answer what the next logical sequence was ... I am a bit unclear as to how recognizing sequences for a pattern determines whether or not I know how to program in Visual Basic.

Even if they don't realize it with their questions and interview techniques, employers are ultimately interested in two questions:

1> Can you do the job well?
2> Will you fit in?

Based on your description, they were tests of your analytical skills as a part of question (1) above.

They were also testing how you react to situations you weren't expecting. I've seen high-strung programmers storm out of interviews when asked off-the-wall questions, and was glad to see them removed from the applicant pool. That is part of question (2) above.

You might want to consider what exactly they want from their programmers. Are they looking for people who just encode algorithms handed to them by senior software engineers? Or are they looking for people to whom they can give a problem and trust to construct a correct solution?

If it was the first type of job, you can hire a bunch of 14-year-old coders or offshore the work to the lowest bidder. In that case you just tell them "Implement this algorithm in code". Those jobs are dead-end and usually have bad working conditions; you don't want them.

For the second type of job, I can understand their desire to test your analytic skills. If you do not have the necessary skills at identifying patterns and discovering algorithms, you will not move beyond the role of human encoder.

They can infer your ability to program based on your stated experiences and talking to your references. As an intern or junior level programmer you will not be expected know all the details of the language. That is something that can easily be compensated for, or if you fail at it, they can just drop you after a month or two.

Quote: One funny thing I did find out about the company, which I had gathered from this website as a good question to ask, was that they do not have a standard coding practice in place.....is that good/bad/indifferent, I am not sure

Standardized practices are a sign of large mature companies, and they can both help and hurt development teams. I wouldn't be concerned about it.

Quote: One odd thing that I find also. So called "entry level" programming type jobs expect experience, yet just getting a foot in the door for an internship (paid or even unpaid) is hard in and of itself.

The advertisements are for what they ideally want to see, not necessarily what they expect to see.

Generally for employers there are a few hard limits that you must have, and everything else is negotiable. The employer will choose the best fit among the candidates available, even if none are ideal.