Re: Re: Re: A Perl aptitude test

[logan]

Ah, but if you didn't know something about netstat or sar, you wouldn't be applying for a tool development job in a unix shop, would you? My point is that it's better to ask about the application of the skill than the syntactic details of the tool itself. If you were hiring a carpenter, you'd ask about how they would build different things, not the design of different types of hammers. Obviously, if you're applying for a postition in a Windows-based company or a development position where networking isn't an issue, the question would be different. The concept, however, remains valid.

-Logan
"What do I want? I'm an American. I want more."

[Jenda]

Why not? It's (should be) the programming skills that matter, not the knowledge of the tools in a particular version of a particular OS. As long as there is someone who can tell me about sar I don't really need to know about it myself. Tool developer != admin.

It takes no time to read the docs of such a tool, but it does take a lot of time to learn to design and write decent code.

The interview should include concepts like flocking, pipes, non-blocking IO, semaphores/mutexes, sockets, ...

If you were hiring a carpenter, you'd ask about how they would build different things, not the design of different types of hammers.

I agree completely with this sentence, I just think you ARE asking about the design of a hammer.

Jenda
Always code as if the guy who ends up maintaining your code will be a violent psychopath who knows where you live.
   -- Rick Osborne

Edit by castaway: Closed small tag in signature