As part of an upcoming interview, I've been asked to create a PERL script to import a csv file and create two output files. WHY couldn't they have asked for the script to be built in SQL Plus? I've developed in SQL Plus and dabbled in other languages. I've never even seen PERL! I won't be developing in PERL...this is just a test! Part of the test is to see how I use resources to obtain the data/knowledge needed to simply get the job done - not that I even have to do it myself! So that's where you guys come in! Can you help? PLEASE???

Instead of complaining about how unfair the test is, consider it a challenge (although judged on this post, it looks like you've failed already). Give it your best shot. Approach it with humour.

Ten years ago, when I was hiring C/Pascal developers, I used the company-supplied programming test to winnow out the candidates. One of the questions asked the applicant to write a bubble sort in C.

I know, I can hear you saying "But the bubble sort's the least efficient!" and you can tell me it's O(n^2) in the worst case. Yes, I know that.

But that's not the point. Nor is it pertinent to point out that Linux/Unix has a sort command. I specifically asked for a bubble sort.

I really liked one applicant, but he'd coded up a quicksort solution. I was impressed, and I typed it in and it compiled and ran flawlessly. But I didn't hire him, because I'd specifically asked for a bubble sort.

An interview is a contrived social situation: when you're asked to do something in a particular way, my strong advice is to just do it the way the interviewer asks. Follow up with clever alternatives later.

Sometimes they're interested in your answer, and sometimes they just want to see how you react. Like asking how many golf balls fit into a station wagon. Of course it's a ridiculous question. Do you complain about it, or do you start with a joke about what a great prank that would be, then come up with some rough approximation?

So why the bubble sort? Because I can describe the algorithim quickly, and the code (two nested for loops) can be dashed off in about five minutes.

And the candidate who wrote that great quicksort routine? I didn't hire him - I knew that if I hired him and then gave him specific instructions to do something a particular way, he'd probably do it 'more efficiently' and therefore incorrectly for the required task, then he'd have to do it again, making us both unhappy with the outcome.

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