Re: How many levels of pointers can you have?

Malcolm McLean wrote, On 09/06/07 08:49:

"Charlton Wilbur" <cwilbur@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:87wsyevy3q.fsf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"MML" == Malcolm McLean <regniztar@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:

MML> However remember that the interviewer isn't really interested
MML> in technical ability - he knows that from your CV -

Er, you haven't seen some of the resumes I've seen, then, and
subsequently interviewed the candidates with the same name at the top
of the resume. The technical ability described on the resume may have
nothing at all to do with the technical ability possessed by the
candidate, and it is an irresponsible interviewer who does not
evaluate the candidate in front of him separately from what the resume
claims.

Maybe that says more about the interview process than the candidate. That is particularly true of computers. Put someone in front of an unfamiliar system and he won't even know how to log on. That doesn't mean that within a few days he won't be perfectly competent and productive.

Questions like "how many levels of indirection does C allow?" tell you a little bit, but not much. Some programmers don't even use the term "indirection", though they know what the concept means. An experienced programmer might say "I don't know", because it is just a bit of trivia of no real interest to anyone not actually implementing a compiler.

It is not a question I would ask, but I would never just answer "I don't know."

If people are coming to you claiming two years' experience as a C

Actually *having* X years experience does not mean that someone is any good.

programmer developing desktop apps with Blogg's corps, or possessing a degree in computer studies, and seemingly now knowing basic things, then you really need to look at what is going on.

Whatever the candidate you need to evaluate whether they have the ability to do the job. This includes their problem solving abilities, learning abilities, how much they already know about appropriate subjects and whether they will fit in as a person.

> Whilst the candidate is
trying to sell himself and put a good gloss on his achievements, outright lying is relatively rare, and in Britain at least is illegal.

It has cost the company I work for money. The company I used to work for has also let someone go within a few months. In some other countries (no, I won't say which) it seems to be far more common and/or more extreme based on my real world experience.

It could be that people are elevating trivial exposure to something into wide experience, but then you might be making the mistake of saying "we need someone who knows how to log on to Unix".

My experience is that most companies are not making that mistake. I once failed to get a job because I was "too good" despite 90% of my answers being of the form, "well, I've not done that sort of thing before but I would check in this sort of book and approach the problem like this", and other interviews where the company has had my *real* CV and I've come close to getting the job despite obviously not having some of what they wanted.

I am in Britain.
--
Flash Gordon
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: How many levels of pointers can you have?
    ... MML> in technical ability - he knows that from your CV - ... and it is an irresponsible interviewer who does not ... An experienced programmer might say "I don't know", because it is just a bit of trivia of no real interest to anyone not actually implementing a compiler. ... It could be that people are elevating trivial exposure to something into wide experience, but then you might be making the mistake of saying "we need someone who knows how to log on to Unix". ...
    (comp.lang.c)
  • [OT] Re: How many levels of pointers can you have?
    ... MML> in technical ability - he knows that from your CV - ... the Nth question in a row with "I dunno," the interviewer asked me ... on the next morning fired the headhunter -- but the damage was done; ...
    (comp.lang.c)
  • Re: How many levels of pointers can you have?
    ... MML> However remember that the interviewer isn't really interested ... MML> in technical ability - he knows that from your CV - ... Charlton Wilbur ...
    (comp.lang.c)