[ Sajith M ]

Having interviewed many candidates for developer position at Stylus Systems Pvt Ltd, I think its probably worthwhile to discuss the questions I use to evaluate a candidate. Someone might find it useful, or you may be able to give me tips on how to do things better.

• How many languages do you know? Which is your favorite?
  The more languages the candidate knows, the better. There usually are always a few that both of us know and I tend to quiz the candidate about it - what you like, what you don’t etc.
  The favorite is usually C#/Java/C++ (95% or more time), and I tend to focus on this and see how well the candidate knows his favorite language.
• Which was the project, you learned the most from? Or Which was your toughest project?
  In both cases, a description of the project is asked for and also why it was a learning experience or why it was tough. While explaining the project, I tend to interrupt and ask specific questions about the project (exactly how or why was a particular functionality implemented) and the answer tells if the candidate knows what he is talking about.
• When would you call a function too big? How big a function is really big?
  Anything more than a page of print is way too big and should possible be broken down.

These are some of the questions I ask to gauge the candidate. I would love to hear from you about your favorite questions.

Posted under: Technology/Software Development