Interview test?

[Tenebrosity]

Have been in the IT field for 11 to 12 years, at least 10 years of that as a developer. Have interviewed with a few companies and normally land jobs pretty fast. Had the chance to run the phone interviews for some companies. Recently did a phone interview with a company (because I am looking to see whats around). They hit me up on many different technologies, and I feel it went well, but I could have been done better if I would have relaxed a little bit more.

Next day, they ask me to come in for a face to face interview for 4 to 5 hours, including lunch. They tell me that they want to interview and possibly give me an analysis test. To which I said, sure that sounds like fun and I lok forward to meeting with you.

Hang up the phone and came to the boards with these questions:

1. What is an analysis test?
2. Besides going to lunch to see how I interact with the team, and a few interview questions, what would they be looking for?

When I ran interviews, I made sure we did all the technical over the phone and then did some basic interview in person. Then HR would run a SAT type of test they needed to pass, but never had a need to test them past a tech conversation.

During my phone interview they hit me with Unix commands, Win NT and 2k server admin questions, VB6, ASP, ASP.NET, VB.NET, COM, OLE Automation, ADO.NET, app.config access, filestream questions, Class versus module, data normalization, SQL and TSQL, and HTML, CSS, and some more. Been working in all that for a long time, so I guess I did good enough to bring me in, but now what?

Thoughts?

[Hack]

I'm not sure what the analysis test is but I'll bet they want to take measure of you and your personality.

Often someone has the technical skills to perform the job, but if they don't fit in with the people already working in the department they would be going to, disaster can result.

[capsulecorpjx]

Google "Mount Fuji"
Some book has the kind of mind questions that companies like to ask during interviews, like "How would you move Mount Fuji"

[RobDog888]

An analysis test is probably like Hack suggests, but they will probably hit you up with some kind of hands on test.

Move Mt. Fuji by taking a picture of it, place it on the table, and move it from side to side.

[Harsh Gupta]

Google "Mount Fuji"
Some book has the kind of mind questions that companies like to ask during interviews, like "How would you move Mount Fuji"

ummmm, so would you like to share the answer? i want to learn what they (MS and other companies) look for in a candidate by asking such questions.

[RobDog888]

See post #4.

[Harsh Gupta]

See post #4.

good try Rob, but I am serious. i need to know it.

[RobDog888]

Me too as I really think that is the "type" of answer they are looking for as it is impossible to move a mountain. You could get some earth moving equipment and physically move the dirt but you can not reassemble the mountain as it would be impossible to put it back in its same condition.

This is a test of how you think. Do you "think out of the box" is what they want to know. If you reply to them and just say "Its impossible" then they know you have no imagination or creativity.

[Tenebrosity]

When running an interview, I like to ask the person the following question:

How would you write a class to define that clock on the wall?

This normally would toss them around, but its really a simple question if you think about it.

But what to expect for an analysis test is another story. I imagine it will be some code that is broken and I will have to write up an analysis. I might be making this more complicated then it has to be.

[Harsh Gupta]

Me too as I really think that is the "type" of answer they are looking for as it is impossible to move a mountain. You could get some earth moving equipment and physically move the dirt but you can not reassemble the mountain as it would be impossible to put it back in its same condition.

This is a test of how you think. Do you "think out of the box" is what they want to know. If you reply to them and just say "Its impossible" then they know you have no imagination or creativity.

ok, a friend of mine went fora job interview and was asked a similar knid of question.

but first plz note that we live in India if its correct in saying that they look for candidates' creativity and if s/he thinks out of the box then what would be your response to this question:

Taj Mahal is in Agra and Red Fort is in New Delhi. How would you move Red Fort to Agra and Taj Mahal to New Delhi?

really kinda question!!! but yes it is interesting.

[dglienna]

Rename the cities

[RobDog888]

No, renaming the cities is not a valid answer.

Write "Taj Mahal" on one piece of paper and "Red Fort" on another. Place them in two different envelopes and mail each to their destination city. Doesnt affect the rest of the world with the fiasco that would be created if renaming was even possible.

[Harsh Gupta]

No, renaming the cities is not a valid answer.

Write "Taj Mahal" on one piece of paper and "Red Fort" on another. Place them in two different envelopes and mail each to their destination city. Doesnt affect the rest of the world with the fiasco that would be created if renaming was even possible.

RobDog,

i appreciate your answer. even i thought of this when my friend asked me this. but talking on "think out of idiot box", even you give the same reasoning everywhere. like you earlier posted taking a picture and move it from one end of table to another. then mail the name of the tombs to the destination cities. doesn't this shows that actually candidate has a weak sense of creativity. if s/he can think out of box, s/he cannot think away from paper.

PS : Rob, sorry if you find me rude but this is how i can put my views to you. nobody on this forum can be rude to you.

[RhinoBull]

... Next day, they ask me to come in for a face to face interview for 4 to 5 hours, including lunch. They tell me that they want to interview and possibly give me an analysis test. ...

I would give a second thought about this "company"...

[dglienna]

Do they expect you to pick up the check?