interview coding test question

bzeus

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Feb 22, 2005
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I'll be sitting for an interview test for a asp.net developer position, I'm curious to know what kind of coding test typically would be used for a .net position. Are the interviewers interested in your ability to write good code in a timely fashion using the tools of your choice (or similar), or are they interested in whether you've memorized every code that exits?
 
That would probably depend on the company.... But probably a bit of both.
 
Wow, I've had a few. Sometimes they give you a sheet of paper in code, and they'll ask you to change it. How would you make it better?. They may also ask you questions concerning the language. For example Classes, what is the difference between Friend, Public, Protected, Private. Same question but at the property and method level. I had a question where they threw in some sql left join versus right join. It truly does depend on the company, if is all development from database to the application they will ask you crazy questions. Also, if its entry level, they don't expect you to know crazy things, however if its 3 to 5 year experience position. THey will attack your brain and expect a good response. It truly does depend on the company. Microsoft for example is insane to get into.
 
Hi, I want to add few tips that I picked up.
Often you only get a brief description of what they are looking for, like X years of experience in some technology (ASP.NET, MS SQL, etc.).
So when I'm preparing for this interview I make a research about the company, what it does, what are their primary products, etc. and based on that I try to guess what exactly you will be developing. After that I do a little knowledge refreshing (if needed) and check out the unfamiliar technologies (if they use any) and also I do some coding tests, like these on online programming test site.

Now regarding the questions, most of the time it is the same approach, they ask some general questions about .NET and about the technologies listed in the requirements for the job.
Yes sometime you get a coding question, but it is because they want to see how good are your problem solving skills, so when you are writing a code you should talk about what you are thinking and what you would do to solve it.
But if they truly are checking a code memorising capabilities then I just leave.
Also some time ago I got quite a few silly questions from the recruiter, like what is the namespace of this class... I mean what's the point of that? They do not use any IDE? I asked him if they develop in notepad and then build with MSBuild from command line, because I really do not see a point in these questions...

Also few great questions that I encountered was, what was your role in last job.
This is a great question, note that they really are not looking for a short answer like developer, they are asking about your responsibilities and about your workflow.
Another good question is to describe the architecture of your last project that you have been working on and what would you change to make it better.
I believe these kind of questions matter the most.
 
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