Subj : Re: Reverse words in a string (Another Interview question)
To   : comp.programming
From : Scott Moore
Date : Thu Sep 29 2005 06:36 pm

Randy wrote On 09/29/05 15:59,:
> Scott Moore wrote:
> 
>>Jaspreet wrote On 09/29/05 09:36,:
> 
> ...
> 
>>Two classic interview stories of mine:
>>
>>One was a company that gave me a simple C problem about what result would
>>be returned from a function. I replied that the program was not valid C.
>>It wasn't, the guy was relying in an uninitialized local variable, which
>>is a no-no in standard C. He was relying on his on particular implementation
>>of C. The interview went rapidly south as you might imagine. I won't lie
>>to get a job.
> 
> 
> Of course, you had more than two choices.  If you had pointed out the
> semantic mistake, then immediately proceeded to say, "But on compilers
> that initialize such variables to zero, the result would be this...",
> you might have gotten the job.
> 
> 
>>Second was an assembly language job where the guy asked me to describe
>>accessing a table in a small microprocessor's assembly language. I
>>wrote a solution on the board, and he smiled at me much as you would to
>>a small child, then proceed to tell me how with "advanced thinking" you
>>could locate the table on a page boundary so that the lower bits were
>>zero, and simplify the code by relying on the lower address bits being
>>zero. It's a common assembly language technique.
>>
>>I told him that I knew that quite well, but I don't program using such
>>dependent tricks. They usually aren't worth the headache of having to
>>always keep that table specially aligned, in trade for an instruction or
>>so saved.
> 
> 
> Pretty much all assembly is CPU and O/S specific.  I don't think using a
>  "trick" is an unreasonable thing to do, especially unless the boss
> indicated that code portability was important.  And since a trick shows
> your familiarity with the subtleties of the ISA, it's probably to your
> advantage to be as clever as possible up front, and THEN say, "But if
> you wanted portability, I wouldn't do this, and here's why..."

Depends what kind of programmer you are. A professional is going to try
and run the procedures as near as possible to the way the employer
wants, but if someone is going to hire you, then tell you how to do your
job in a way that you feel is wrong, you are going to say, "sorry, you
need to get someone else". If you hire a plumber and tell him where
you want the new sink, he's going to do it. If you stand over him
and tell him you want teflon tape instead of joint compound, he's going
to tell you "you wanna do this Mac" ? If you tell an architect that
he has enough support in that building to meet code, and you want some
of the beams taken out, chances are good that he's going to roll up
his drawings and walk out.

> 
> It's the same phenomenon that make buzzwords a handy thing to put on
> your resume, (especially now that most resumes are digital and
> searchable for buzzwords).
> 
> 
>>By the time I left there, he was visibly angry. I didn't mind. I don't
>>want a boss like that in any case.
> 
> 
> If this is a representative sample, I suspect you've had a lot of
> unpleasant interviews.  :-/
> 

I've been in this business 30 years. You are going to get a few stories
in 30 years.

> Most bosses were once technical, but have since chosen to do more
> managing and less programming.  As such, it's hardly a surprise that
> your technical skills are more up-to-date, and probably more in depth.
> If you want a manager to hire you, you need to respond to their needs:
> in the interview, and later in the job.  If you refuse to "play the
> game" in the interview, when everyone is on their best behavior, that's
> a really good sign that you'll turn out not to be a prima donna after
> you're hired, and not a team player, which is what all bosses want.
> 
> IMHO, you need to keep your attitude to yourself during the interview
> (since you might be working with someone else in the company whom you
> like a lot more than this interviewer).  Later, you can choose not to
> take their job offer.  But if you give them attitude up front, the
> decision not to hire you has been made before you're even out the door.
> 
>     Randy

No. I made a conscious decision that it wasn't going to work out with this
guy. If you fault me for anything, fault me for not being brave enough
to just say, "this isn't going to work out, thank you for your time",
and leaving. I'm not sure that would have left him any less angry.

.