I hate online testing.....

[poltr1]

Just finished taking two tests via ProveIt!. One was a 30-question test on Perl 5, the other was a 55-question test on C++. I think I got somewhere between 20 and 24 questions right on the Perl test, but I'd be lucky if I scored 50% on the C++ exam. It's been years since I've done any C++ or Java. And many of the test questions seemed to focus on minutia, like double pointers, arrays, and functions. Not only that, they're closed-book, which means I can't use any reference material.

My gripe is: Do these tests really reflect my ability in these languages? I know I'm good at looking at other people's code and making bug fixes, but I'm not as confident in my ability to write code from scratch. I dont know the code if I have to keep hitting the reference manual. And with Visual C++, I had to do that constantly.

My fear is: The test results will be used as a way to filter me out of a job opportunity. Five years ago, I took the same Perl test. I got half of them right. And the recruiter I was dealing with at the time dropped me like a hot potato.

At the start of today, I had 4 nibbles. I hope this doesn't reduce the total number to 3.

Comments

[tigertoy.livejournal.com]

A closed-book test on the picky details of syntax is pretty stupid, seeing as how any actual job won't care about whether you check references as long as you can confidently arrive at the right answer in a timely fashion. It doesn't matter whether you can write out the declaration for an array of pointers-to-member-functions; what matters is whether (a) you can recognize one when you come across it in the code, and (b) you can actually recognize an appropriate use for such a construct, should you ever come across one. Unfortunately, an HR drone can understand that you got 73% on some test, even if he can't understand any of the questions on the test or even have a basis to understand that the test has nothing to do with the job.

[athenawindsong.livejournal.com]

All will be as it is meant to be.

(but you can always study for the next opportunity when it comes along)