It technical tests

[BrilloPad]

I never bother with gigs that require these. It means the gig wants a newly qualified junior.

[MyUserName]

I have had a couple.

I applied for a perm position about 5 years ago and they gave me a phone interview and then asked me to write a program which could take in a chessboard size and a list of pieces on the board. I then had to write a program which outputted every possible permutation of positions they could be in without being able to capture each other. The kicker was that I could not use any language on my CV.

I phoned the agent and told him I would not be taking the application any further as it was too much hassle for a job which didn't really pay much more than average. He didn't even argue.

[OnceStonedRose]

What's the problem with em?

So long as they aren't asking you to build them an enterprise size system and it's just to prove you can wrap tests around code/use the tech they want or have solutions written in then cant see any issue.

The amount of contractor cabbages I've sat next to who don't know arse from elbow but have "exposure" to language because they've sat in same room as someone else coding in that language is beyond belief.

[jmo21]

The last 2 contracts I've got were a 45 min, and 1 hour coding tests on client site.

Nothing obtuse like chess in a different language, just simple test drive of the very basics of an app using the tech they and I both use.

I knocked back a Codility online test last year for a 3 month contract.

[SussexSeagull]

Just make sure whatever you are being tested for can't be used in real life i.e. free consulting.

Must confess a four hour test would probably put me off regardless.

[oliverson]

It's quite prevalent in the London IB market. It depends on my own situation at the time. If I'm still in contract I'll pass it by but if I'm on the bench I'll give it some consideration depending on how demanding it is. However, being a developer I like solving problems so I often find it hard to turn down the challenge. I'd prefer this kind of task to establish technical capability then having to sit down next to somebody who thrusts a piece of paper in front of me with a spec on it and then says get coding, I need to watch you and see your thought process. I find those situations overly stressful. The tendency is there to start coding before really understanding the problem. Each second that passes before you start coding seems like a minute, each minute seems like an hour. And of course, the older you get the ability to think on the spot becomes harder, even if you are a better developer. That memory recall just isn't as sharp as it once was and it's all down to all those beers you've put away. Yeah, give me the 'coding assignment' any day.

[Frames84]

I've just completed one for a company in the North West. It was front and backend. Needed to show AngularJs, WebApi, Social Media integration, database. Took me about 10 hours but wasn't really sure how long to spend on it and felt I left it half finished. Also got 15 random general questions in a word document which 99% people would just Google, I know I did

[VillageContractor]

I've just completed one for a company in the North West. It was front and backend. Needed to show AngularJs, WebApi, Social Media integration, database. Took me about 10 hours but wasn't really sure how long to spend on it and felt I left it half finished. Also got 15 random general questions in a word document which 99% people would just Google, I know I did

This place don't sound too smart if they're giving you questions that you can google

[NotAllThere]

Can't you find an offshore company to do the tests for you?

[WTFH]

Can't you find an offshore company to do the tests for you?

Good idea. Better yet, get a substitute in to do them.