[thelist] Good "tests" for prospective employees?

Matt Warden mwarden at gmail.com
Thu Jun 30 20:43:39 CDT 2005


ppk,

On 6/30/05, Peter-Paul Koch <pp.koch at gmail.com> wrote:
> I'm doing a bit of junior CSS developer recruitment on the side, and I
> test my applicants as follows:
> 
> 1) Ask for three portfolio pieces. If they don't have them, refuse them.
> 2) View source. Do they use tables for layout? Application refused.

Ouch.

You know, I would fail #2 outright, unless you specified to me that
you wanted 3 portfolio pieces that did not use tables for layout. Even
then, there are *still* audiences where using tables for layout is
necessary or at least more appropriate. And even then, developers
don't always have enough standing to convince the client to use
something other than tables for layout, especailly if (a) the client
has heard FUD about non-table design, (b) their knowledge of tableless
design is outdated (I can remember my reaction when I first started
hearing people talk about displaying a "upgrade or get out" message on
their sites for users that did not support the latest standards; so,
it wasn't that long ago), or (c) the developer is working with other,
less-skilled developers who only know how to use tables. I have run
into all three of these situations, by the way. Educating the client
is nice, if possible. But a lot of times it isn't.

> 3) Compare in several browsers. Does the site look (reasonably) the
> same in these browsers? If not, application refused.

This seems a little contradictory to #2, at least as much as I've
understood the philosophy behind it. If there were ugliness due to
browser differences, that's one thing. Or, if it impaired usability,
that's definitely something. But, who cares about differences
themselves?

> JavaScript is more difficult, and I haven't yet developed a standard
> test. If they claim to be very good at JavaScript, ask them to explain
> the difference between /this/ and /self/. That usually shuts them up.

And lord knows I visit your article every time I deal with such
situations. No matter how many times I read it, there are instances
where I still don't have it straight in my head (or, I don't recognize
that that's the problem).

-- 
Matt Warden
Miami University
Oxford, OH, USA
http://mattwarden.com


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