in reply to Technical Interview

You should read JoelOnSoftware's page on interviewing The Guerrilla Guide to Interviewing
It doesn't give specific technical questions, but it will point you in the right direction.

Here are some questions that I have used in an interview:
What techniques do you use for security in your CGI script?
When reviewing someone else’s code what do you look for?
What are 2 necessities for all perl development code? (if you do not know this you should leave PM now :) )


grep 
grep> cd pub 
grep> more beer

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Re: Technical Interview
by clintp (Curate) on Dec 27, 2001 at 23:52 UTC
    With such open-ended questions, don't count as wrong answers which aren't exactly what you're looking for.

    What techniques do you use for security in your CGI scripts?
    Common sense simplicity and tightly control user input's affect on data and the system. (You were looking for Taint and CGI.pm weren't you? Sorry, they're not the be-all and end-all of CGI security. CGI.pm doesn't replace #1 and Taint doesn't fufill #2.)
    When reviewing someone else's code what do you look for?
     Reviewing someone else's code for what? Style? Conformity to customer's standards? Security? Speed? Memory?
    What are 2 necessities for all perl development code?
     Documentation and consistancy. (What? You were expecting warnings and stricture? Warnings and stricture are both encouraged by the standards here but not necessary in all cases...)
[reply]
      Ahh.. the point is to leave them open ended, at least with the first 2. It not only sees how some one thinks on their feet but, I can hear if they have a passion (or lack of passion) about security or good style. People feel free to go into stories. You don't get this with a "So you have HoA how do you extract the 5th element of 'foo'".
      I do not count "wrong" answers against people (unless they are just plain wrong. i.e. all you need is SbyO solutions).
      The warnings and strict question, I personally think is a leading question. IMO, as I interviewed perlers it really did help pick out the better programmers. The programmers that had passionate responses to the other questions almost always got warnings and strict right off the bat. They also elaborated on other things they think were important.

      grep 
      grep> cd pub 
grep> more beer
[reply]
Re: Re: Technical Interview
by Hanamaki (Chaplain) on Dec 28, 2001 at 00:04 UTC
    What techniques do you use for security in your CGI script?
    It may be a taint of morbidness, but I do not do any CGI.

    When reviewing someone else?s code what do you look for?
    I am looking for an ashtray and the coffee mug.

    What are 2 necessities for all perl development code?
    (1) The code has to be written. (2) You have to find a way to stuff the written code in some kind of computer.

    Do I get the job?...or are you that strict to fire me without a warning?

[reply]

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