We use multiple tests.
On Wed, Jul 31, 2013 at 10:49 AM, David Brennan <[email protected]>wrote: > We interview more new graduates than experienced developers (just seems to > suit us to hire top graduates and ‘mould’ them to our way of developing) so > our tests are purely pseudocode and don’t require any Delphi knowledge. We > are quite happy to teach Delphi and in any case we believe that learning > our flavour of Delphi (ie all our library functions, form hierarchy, data > models, industry jargon, etc) is a rather larger job than learning the > standard VCL/RTL anyway so it isn’t a big deal if people don’t know it.*** > * > > ** ** > > We’re fairly careful about not posting our tests anywhere because we don’t > want them to somehow end up known by candidates (unlikely admittedly, more > the sort of problem Google has!). They are based loosely in our field of > expertise (ie calculating sizes and cutouts for glass structures) so for > example the first test is to position a handle on a door given a few simple > classes (eg THandle, TDoor, etc) and a short list of 3 or 4 rules which say > how the handle must be positioned. Half the people who fail this appear to > have just not read the whole question properly (despite bold warnings to > read everything carefully), the other half can’t get their logic or > arithmetic right.**** > > ** ** > > The second test is broader, it has a simple trig question, a ‘write a > customer support email’ question (even our developers need to be able to > communicate reasonably in English) and a couple of trickier pseudo-code > coding problems.**** > > ** ** > > Cheers,**** > > David.**** > > ** ** > > ** ** > > *From:* [email protected] [mailto: > [email protected]] *On Behalf Of *Jeremy North > *Sent:* Wednesday, 31 July 2013 12:27 p.m. > > *To:* NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi List > *Subject:* Re: [DUG] Average Salary**** > > ** ** > > I do a verbal (during the interview) and written test. The verbal are > things like explain the differences between the visibility specifiers, what > is notification used for, where is it implemented (what type). If they get > the notification stuff (there are some other questions about it) I ask if > they know what design pattern is used for the implementation of the > notification system. **** > > ** ** > > The written test has some short answer questions basically prodding the > knowledge of the RTL and VCL/FireMonkey (we are using FireMonkey on a > project atm). Then we have a larger design question where we give a > specification and ask them to detail classes to be written to implement the > spec. It gives us a big idea of their OO and design skills. We also ask > thread specific questions.**** > > ** ** > > The written test is about an hour. (we leave for 10 mins reading and pop > back for any questions). Test is written, no PC (although next time we > might supply a PC).**** > > The verbal I have about 10 questions, depending on how they answer this > can be cut down or added to. If they can't explain the difference in > visibility, the verbal question time is very short <g>. They are short > answer usually (depending on the candidate trying to "wing it") so doesn't > take long.**** > > ** ** > > All up, the interview would be about 1.5 hrs.**** > > ** ** > > I'd never ask a brain teaser or puzzle question either, in my eyes, that > just makes you look like a tosser - leave them for the Monday morning > meeting.**** > > ** ** > > **** > > ** ** > > On Wed, Jul 31, 2013 at 10:06 AM, David O'Brien <[email protected]> wrote:** > ** > > Just as a matter of interest, can you give an example of one of these > tests?**** > > **** > > *From:* [email protected] [mailto: > [email protected]] *On Behalf Of *David Brennan > *Sent:* Wednesday, 31 July 2013 11:58 a.m.**** > > > *To:* 'NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi List' > *Subject:* Re: [DUG] Average Salary**** > > **** > > Aye. We have what we consider to be a reasonably easy first test and we > only interview people with at least an A- average from University and yet > more than half still fail the test. Admittedly we are looking for 100% > correct but the test is simple enough that this shouldn’t be too high a > bar, the answer is less than a dozen logic and arithmetic expressions.**** > > **** > > After the first test we have a harder second test which has a few > subtleties which we don’t expect anyone to get in a test situation, this > provides a better gauge than the first test which is basically a boolean > gate, pass or fail.**** > > **** > > Back to Steve’s question, you have to qualify what you mean as it depends > on experience. A graduate developer worth hiring probably gets 45-55k in > their first year I would say, and then goes up from there based on how they > perform.**** > > **** > > David.**** > > **** > > **** > > *From:* [email protected] [ > mailto:[email protected]<[email protected]>] > *On Behalf Of *Jeremy North > *Sent:* Wednesday, 31 July 2013 11:23 a.m. > *To:* NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi List > *Subject:* Re: [DUG] Average Salary**** > > **** > > If you are looking to hire, I suggest you be prepared to pay for a good > one. Make sure you have a good test though, my experience is that there are > a lot of "guru", "expert", "senior" Delphi developers out there that are > absolutely useless. Drag and drop code zombies.**** > > **** > > The last time we hired (about 15 months ago) we sifted through about 50 > (sometimes questionable) resumes and interviewed 8. Three of those walked > out of the test at various stages (one read it and left - said we wouldn't > like the answer he would give WTF!) and the test wasn't super hard - I > wrote it :-) (we were looking to fill a senior level position). It isn't > always about completing the test, but having a candidate acknowledge they > don't know something is 400% better than them trying to talk around it and > guess.**** > > **** > > At the end of the day, I don't consider any of the people I work with > "average" developers. I wouldn't like to work with average people.**** > > **** > > **** > > **** > > On Wed, Jul 31, 2013 at 6:40 AM, Steve Peacocke <[email protected]> > wrote:**** > > Hi Everyone,**** > > **** > > I was just wondering, what is the average salary for a permanent Delphi > developer out there in the marketplace these days? > **** > > > Steve Peacocke > Mobile: +64 220 612-611**** > > Linkedin Professional > Profile<http://nz.linkedin.com/pub/steve-peacocke/1/a06/489> > **** > > > _______________________________________________ > NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi mailing list > Post: [email protected] > Admin: http://delphi.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/delphi > Unsubscribe: send an email to [email protected] with > Subject: unsubscribe**** > > **** > > > _______________________________________________ > NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi mailing list > Post: [email protected] > Admin: http://delphi.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/delphi > Unsubscribe: send an email to [email protected] with > Subject: unsubscribe**** > > ** ** > > _______________________________________________ > NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi mailing list > Post: [email protected] > Admin: http://delphi.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/delphi > Unsubscribe: send an email to [email protected] with > Subject: unsubscribe >
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