Programmers who can code well, but cannot handle paper test programming question
I interviewed a candidate for a programming position. He is a recent graduate from a college in computer science degree.
He has an excellent recommendation from his supervisor while he was interning for a programming job, and he had a string of programming side projects under his belt during his university time. Not very difficult kind of projects, but definitely self-contained and usable websites/mobile apps. Based on the resume he looks like a stellar fit.
The only problem is that when I gave him a paper test-- basically he has to use pen and paper to answer some programming questions, he struggled and couldn't get a single one correct. My questions all are very basic programming questions-- somewhere along the level of fizzbuzz, matching an element in the array-- the kind of questions that can be easily answered by those who take one semester of entry level programming course.
He requested to take the questions back for answers, which I agreed. The next day he sent me the fully corrected solutions. He did the assignments on an IDE and managed to get all of the answers correct.
This puzzles me-- if he is as good as his referral recommendation implies, why he can't handle the paper test? Is it possible that there are some people who can code well in front of a computer screen, but when comes to actually writing programming solutions down on a paper, they struggle?
interviewing software-industry software-development developer
add a comment |
I interviewed a candidate for a programming position. He is a recent graduate from a college in computer science degree.
He has an excellent recommendation from his supervisor while he was interning for a programming job, and he had a string of programming side projects under his belt during his university time. Not very difficult kind of projects, but definitely self-contained and usable websites/mobile apps. Based on the resume he looks like a stellar fit.
The only problem is that when I gave him a paper test-- basically he has to use pen and paper to answer some programming questions, he struggled and couldn't get a single one correct. My questions all are very basic programming questions-- somewhere along the level of fizzbuzz, matching an element in the array-- the kind of questions that can be easily answered by those who take one semester of entry level programming course.
He requested to take the questions back for answers, which I agreed. The next day he sent me the fully corrected solutions. He did the assignments on an IDE and managed to get all of the answers correct.
This puzzles me-- if he is as good as his referral recommendation implies, why he can't handle the paper test? Is it possible that there are some people who can code well in front of a computer screen, but when comes to actually writing programming solutions down on a paper, they struggle?
interviewing software-industry software-development developer
add a comment |
I interviewed a candidate for a programming position. He is a recent graduate from a college in computer science degree.
He has an excellent recommendation from his supervisor while he was interning for a programming job, and he had a string of programming side projects under his belt during his university time. Not very difficult kind of projects, but definitely self-contained and usable websites/mobile apps. Based on the resume he looks like a stellar fit.
The only problem is that when I gave him a paper test-- basically he has to use pen and paper to answer some programming questions, he struggled and couldn't get a single one correct. My questions all are very basic programming questions-- somewhere along the level of fizzbuzz, matching an element in the array-- the kind of questions that can be easily answered by those who take one semester of entry level programming course.
He requested to take the questions back for answers, which I agreed. The next day he sent me the fully corrected solutions. He did the assignments on an IDE and managed to get all of the answers correct.
This puzzles me-- if he is as good as his referral recommendation implies, why he can't handle the paper test? Is it possible that there are some people who can code well in front of a computer screen, but when comes to actually writing programming solutions down on a paper, they struggle?
interviewing software-industry software-development developer
I interviewed a candidate for a programming position. He is a recent graduate from a college in computer science degree.
He has an excellent recommendation from his supervisor while he was interning for a programming job, and he had a string of programming side projects under his belt during his university time. Not very difficult kind of projects, but definitely self-contained and usable websites/mobile apps. Based on the resume he looks like a stellar fit.
The only problem is that when I gave him a paper test-- basically he has to use pen and paper to answer some programming questions, he struggled and couldn't get a single one correct. My questions all are very basic programming questions-- somewhere along the level of fizzbuzz, matching an element in the array-- the kind of questions that can be easily answered by those who take one semester of entry level programming course.
He requested to take the questions back for answers, which I agreed. The next day he sent me the fully corrected solutions. He did the assignments on an IDE and managed to get all of the answers correct.
This puzzles me-- if he is as good as his referral recommendation implies, why he can't handle the paper test? Is it possible that there are some people who can code well in front of a computer screen, but when comes to actually writing programming solutions down on a paper, they struggle?
interviewing software-industry software-development developer
interviewing software-industry software-development developer
edited 7 mins ago
Graviton
asked 12 mins ago
GravitonGraviton
1,32752140
1,32752140
add a comment |
add a comment |
0
active
oldest
votes
Your Answer
StackExchange.ready(function() {
var channelOptions = {
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "423"
};
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);
StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
createEditor();
});
}
else {
createEditor();
}
});
function createEditor() {
StackExchange.prepareEditor({
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader: {
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
},
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
});
}
});
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fworkplace.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f126261%2fprogrammers-who-can-code-well-but-cannot-handle-paper-test-programming-question%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
0
active
oldest
votes
0
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
Thanks for contributing an answer to The Workplace Stack Exchange!
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fworkplace.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f126261%2fprogrammers-who-can-code-well-but-cannot-handle-paper-test-programming-question%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown