Hi Yossi, * Yossi Kreinin <[email protected]> [2007-06-14 13:45]: > That FizzBuzz silliness, which for some reason spreads like the > plague (where did it start - on some uberpopular blog or > something?),
yes. Jeff Atwood from codinghorror.com started the meme a while ago: http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000781.html > is apparently quite hard for people to get right; do you think > it's because they are under stress? That is one half of the reason, yes. The other half is that it’s hard to devise a problem that doesn’t just *look* simple, but also actually *is* simple. Even a trivial task almost inevitably has subtle edge cases that aren’t apparent in its description. Unfortunately, the person who devises the test is generally the least able to judge how hard it will appear to other people. Usually they’re either themselves unaware of the subtleties, or the subtleties are blindingly obvious to them because they’re too familiar with the problem. Now put together surprising (if few and minor) subtleties with a stressful situation and the outcome should be obvious. > I agree with your original message, especially if you consider > code written especially for the occasion legitimate (which you > didn't mention in your first post, and which apparently wasn't > what people meant in their follow-ups about code written for > personal use and/or open source projects). Yeah, that was an ommission. I really don’t care whether they code in their spare time (although I will more easily be able to identify with people who do, admittedly). That’s elitism. All I want to know is that they are actually able to string together a coherent sequence of code, ie. that they pass the minimum competence requirements for the job. Plus, I don’t think programmers are interchangable code output machines. There are many more ways a programmer can contribute positively to the project he’s on than just being a competent code monkey who sticks to his job title role. So I want to learn about the person. They might have an aptitude that might help make the other members of their team more effective in general, f.ex., even if their own work doesn’t look that impressive. You can’t ask for such qualities in the job description, and FizzBuzz tests don’t just fail to tell you anything about them, they also introduce a blanket bias against candidates. Asking for code written outside the interview situation acomplishes the same thing, keeps the interview much more neutral, and provides more insights as a bonus. Regards, -- Aristotle Pagaltzis // <http://plasmasturm.org/>
