Yes I can do research. I will have 3 days to do whatever I can to solve the problem. You are probably right that it is 3 days because they may ask me to implement some obscure algorithm that I will need to read the research paper of first.
Programming test for Job interview
- Thread starter D.P.
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Yes I can do research. I will have 3 days to do whatever I can to solve the problem. You are probably right that it is 3 days because they may ask me to implement some obscure algorithm that I will need to read the research paper of first.
As much as I would want to I need to keep positive relations with any potential contacts. You never know what might happen, e.g. maybe they find out I am actually a poor programmer but they then realize my other attributes are important enough to them that they give me an offer any way -remote but plausible..
I just spent the best part of a week filling in an application form with competency questions.
It's not going to be 72hours of solid work, is it? It's a 3 day project which in the grand scheme of things is not a lot. If you cannot write off 3 days as a speculation on the position then you are likely not right for it in the first place, are you?
Beggars cannot be choosers.
It's not going to be 72hours of solid work, is it? It's a 3 day project which in the grand scheme of things is not a lot. If you cannot write off 3 days as a speculation on the position then you are likely not right for it in the first place, are you?
Beggars cannot be choosers.
The test will be an example of the type of thing they undertake on a regular basis. It's entirely possible that they're not looking for a solution (although of course that would be great), but rather they want you to demonstrate a systematic approach to the problem.
Several friends and former colleagues have moved onto think tanks, quant jobs, high frequency trading etc. and in each of the interviews they had before the job, they were given hard problems to look at. Only in very few cases did they solve the problem -- they usually got the job because they looked down several intelligent avenues of thought. This is especially important in smaller companies where you're likely to be solving problems with a small group of people. To this end, you should make sure you keep an eye of your failed attempts and let the interviewer know how what you learned from those failures. Also have in mind how you would continue to attack the problem, if you were given more time.
Good luck!
Several friends and former colleagues have moved onto think tanks, quant jobs, high frequency trading etc. and in each of the interviews they had before the job, they were given hard problems to look at. Only in very few cases did they solve the problem -- they usually got the job because they looked down several intelligent avenues of thought. This is especially important in smaller companies where you're likely to be solving problems with a small group of people. To this end, you should make sure you keep an eye of your failed attempts and let the interviewer know how what you learned from those failures. Also have in mind how you would continue to attack the problem, if you were given more time.
Good luck!
Semantics, you're doing 3 days of work for free during which time you could be earning money.
Really?
They are getting 'free work'?
Work they will have to dissect anyway if they wished to use it as it's from an unproven source. In which time they could have coded it themselves to a known standard using existing code snippets.
3 days is nothing. most people spend more time in the pub/clubs in a week. He is looking for a job. He won't find a properly decent position if he has this attitude towards being asked to spend 3 days illustrating what he is made of to a company based in the US.
I didn't say they were getting anything of value, but he will have to work for 3 days without pay. I personally would not do that for the chance of a job when I could earn a considerable amount from commissions during that time, nor do I think it's very respectful to ask for spec work, but each to their own.
Tis likely easy to attempt to make people feel silly if you're the one controlling the rules of the make believe game.
Thats a good way to look at it dude.
Regarding the OP, I don't see why you are bricking it. If it does involve complicated math that you could never do, whats the problem? Would you want a job that you're not capable of doing?
For the sake of things, you don't know what it is. What may be very hard for them, may be a lot easier for you.
End of the day, the job has to suit you as well as them.
That's not the point though. The pirate game sounds like a fun attempt at a case study interview question. The point is to get you to ask intelligent questions to solve the problem. This would include not making assumptions that aren't warranted.
To do it properly an interviewer doesn't make it up on the spot. They have a scenario in their head, or on paper, that they will answer questions about. Being on land was just the first opportunity to find people who understand how to investigate a situation.
I'm not complaining and I am fully prepared to send 3 days on the problem. Just I am quite busy at the moment and stressed out organizing other things in my life. I was just a bit surprised at a 3 day programming test.
Thank you for the advice, I hadn't directly thought about that. It could well be they merely want to analyse my approach rather than make sure I solve the problem.
No. This will be a test that they have sent off to dozens of applicants before.
I don't have a bad attitude to working 3 days on a problem. I have just spent 4 years working on a problem! The fact is in 7 days I am flying off to the US and wont have any computer access for a month and I have a lot of stuff to sort out here.
If anyone asked me a question regarding a pirate ship I'd walk out of the interview.
I had two days of interviews and code-writing for my current job, if you want my opinion there's no way I'd hire a developer without actually seeing them write some code.
I had two days of interviews and code-writing for my current job, if you want my opinion there's no way I'd hire a developer without actually seeing them write some code.
You seem to be missing the point, that's irrelevant.
Do you expect to get for an interview?
Just completed the programming test. In some sense it was easier than I expected but the test was a little open so i am sure they are more interested in the methods used than the fact that I have a solution.
For those interested, if you know the game boogle, the problem was to find which boogle board (in this case a 5x5 grid of letters) produces the best score (longer words score more points). Being that there are 26^25 different possibilities, exhaustive search was out of the question. One of the key components was a very fast method to check a word is in the dictionary (and a string is a substring of a word int he dictionary)- for this I used a Trie tree structure. I don't want to give details on my search method but it involved combining global and local search behaviors with some heuristics.
I had the base version in a day, spent the next day optimizing/improving, the 3rd day tweaking/cleaning/documenting code, I then ran the search algorithm for a few hours and found a board with ~2500 words and over 10K points.
For those interested, if you know the game boogle, the problem was to find which boogle board (in this case a 5x5 grid of letters) produces the best score (longer words score more points). Being that there are 26^25 different possibilities, exhaustive search was out of the question. One of the key components was a very fast method to check a word is in the dictionary (and a string is a substring of a word int he dictionary)- for this I used a Trie tree structure. I don't want to give details on my search method but it involved combining global and local search behaviors with some heuristics.
I had the base version in a day, spent the next day optimizing/improving, the 3rd day tweaking/cleaning/documenting code, I then ran the search algorithm for a few hours and found a board with ~2500 words and over 10K points.
