Thread

OK, I have a conundrum here. I’m a designer and front end coder, not a web developer. I’m capable of having an intelligent conversation with a developer about an application, discuss security issues, how business logic will work, etc. but that’s as far as it goes.

Next week I’m interviewing 2 candidates for a web developer vacancy, mostly working with CodeIgniter apps and ExpressionEngine CMS. They’re not expecting them to be CI or EE rockstars if they can learn quickly but I do need to get a fell for their general coding competency (as well as all the other important personality stuff).

So I was thinking of asking them to do a practical assessment such as debugging an html/css file combo and doing some php/CI coding - not using “exam conditions”, they’d be working at the desk next to mine. I’ve also asked them to bring examples of previous projects they’ve coded so we can take a look together.

I’ve seen some opinions that essential to know who you’re hiring by watching them code, while others think that’s totally demeaning and would walk out of an interview (leaving a torrent of abuse) at any mention of a test.

So I’m interested to hear people’s opinions on this - is a test necessary (providing it’s done fairly and with respect for the candidate) or is it possible to learn enough about a programmers skills by looking at past projects with them?

I was just hired as a web developer for a local company.  They had a two multiple choice quizes to access my general PHP and SQL knowledge.  In addition to that they had me write a sample code that did whatever I wanted.  It didn’t have to be elaborate.  Then he looked it over and made a few comments.

Personally I think if you get offended at taking a test, it probably means you aren’t as good as you think you are.  I mean half the time if you apply for jobs online you have to fill out a questionnaire about ethics, this is really no different.

Thanks for the reply Matalina, very helpful to hear of your experience - and congrats on getting hired!

Reading through code the candidate wrote as the basis for a conversation about different/better/worse ways of doing things is helpful.

you can ask him to speak or write in code :D $this->life->stay(array(‘hungry’,‘foolish’)); :D

In my opinion, I wouldn’t ask them to write code at the interview because the code they will produce in that short amount of time will not likely show their full capabilities. My suggestion would be to give them a scenario before they come into the interview and have them code an example and to also have them bring in previous examples of what they’ve worked on.

When looking at their code, analyze the following:
      - Code neatness/consistency
      - Logical separation and use of code
      - Use of code comments

A good way to weed out novice developers is to ask if they know about more advanced topics, such as security (Cross-Site Scripting, SQL Injection, etc.) or managing code with a version control system (Subversion, Git, etc.). Also, if you’re planning on hiring them for Codeigniter or EE development, make sure they understand the concepts of Object Oriented Programming (OOP) and the Model-View-Controller (MVC) pattern that CodeIgniter is based off of.

Also, if you’re planning on hiring them for Codeigniter or EE development, make sure they understand the concepts of Object Oriented Programming (OOP) and the Model-View-Controller (MVC) pattern that CodeIgniter is based off of.

Good point.

I’d add to look for use of (if not dependence on) native CI libraries.

I HATE seeing:

$q = mysql_query($query);

while($row = mysql_fetch_row($q)) {
// whatever…
}

The whole point of having the framework is USING the framework.

In my opinion, I wouldn’t ask them to write code at the interview because the code they will produce in that short amount of time will not likely show their full capabilities. My suggestion would be to give them a scenario before they come into the interview and have them code an example and to also have them bring in previous examples of what they’ve worked on.

This is spec work, and a lot of people won’t want to do this.

Google around, there are a lot of articles on this sort of thing. A lot of common things I’ve seen are:

- Create a hypothetical project, and ask them how they would develop it. You’ll learn about their thought process, problem solving, etc. This can even involve some coding (let them know that you don’t expect them to make anything fully functional, and they can take their time) - that way you can see their style. If you want them to work with a specific framework, tell them to develop it using that framework. Even if they aren’t familiar with that particular one, they should be able to tell you enough about how it SHOULD work. If they understand the concepts, then there’s only a small amount of learning curve for learning the framework’s structure and functions and stuff.

- The person means just as much as the skill. Make sure they are a right fit for you / your company. Even if they can code well, if they’re not suitable for the environment, they won’t last long.

- This should be done before any sort of interview process, but look at the history the person has. If they have examples of projects they’ve contributed to, useful scripts they’ve released for people to use, a Github account with a bunch of activity, etc., then you can gauge really well what kind of skills they have.

Thanks for all your suggestions folks, really helpful