[wiz21c]

When hiring, besides other things I asked for some test code. The test was to code a recursive ls from scratch but in a professional way. The candidate was put inside our team, had access to all our tools and the web and had 45 minutes to do the thing. We specifically told him that he can ask question whenever he wants. Admittedly, that test was not intended at PhD's in CompSci.

You'd be surprised at how many people fail that test.

Things we were looking at:

- is the code correct

- can the code be explained clearly

- does the code scale (memory / speed)

- is the code portable (Solaris was still at thing) ?

- how many external resources were used (copy pasting code from the web is a perfectly acceptable solution)

- unicode support ?

- automated tests ?

[TruthWillHurt]

I don't mind whiteboard tests, or tests in general, but that is an example of a terrible test.

You want production grade code delivered on the spot? AUTOMATED TESTS?!? I wouldn't want to work for you.

[wiz21c]

it's more like how far the guy goes. Admittedly, an auto test is quite above the average :-) I've never put someone aside because of that.

Production grade code is, in a big part, a matter of good habits. There's no reason those habits can't show up during a test. Especially when the test is very easy.