Pre Screening Questions for a C# developer

[M.Siler]

I'm using a few employment firms to assist us in locating a few WinForms
..NET 2.0 C# developers. They are sending us everyone that claims they can
program C# so my thought was to provide the firms with 4 questions that if
the candidate does not score 100% then don't submit them to us. I want the
questions to be black & white without any gray area -- meaning the questions
should only have one clear answer. Here are the questions that I've come up
with. If anyone would be so kind as to review them and let me know if they
are infact 100% blank & white, one clear answer questions.

1. Which method do you invoke on the SQLDataAdapter control to load your
dataset with data?
a) Update
b) Fill <-- correct
c) Gather
d) Load

2. When doing an Update, which method of the SqlCommand is best to use?
a) ExecuteReader
b) ExecuteScalar
c) ExecuteNonQuery <-- correct
d) ExecuteCommand

3. A class that can not be inherited is what type of class?
a) Sealed <-- correct
b) Static
c) Virtual
d) Abstract

4. Which of the following would you use to implement Polymorphism?
a) Shadowing
b) Overloading <-- correct
c) Constructor
d) Static Class

Thank you!

 

[Arie van Wingerden]

Hi,

now the candidates do know the questions and the answers ... ;-)

Grtz,
Arie

 

[Marina Levit [MVP]]

Anyone can just look this up even if they don't know the answers. I don't
really see how this will help screen anyone.

My feeling is these kinds of memorization things aren't the best way to gage
how good someone is. It might be a factor, but being able to memorize every
method in ever class doesn't mean you are necessarily a good programmer.

 

[Ignacio Machin \( .NET/ C# MVP \)]

HI,

I'm using a few employment firms to assist us in locating a few WinForms
.NET 2.0 C# developers.

Do you realize that people can claim just a few months of real Win 2.0 C#
experience right?

1. Which method do you invoke on the SQLDataAdapter control to load your
dataset with data?
a) Update
b) Fill <-- correct
c) Gather
d) Load

SQLDataAdapter is not a control, it;s a class.

2. When doing an Update, which method of the SqlCommand is best to use?
a) ExecuteReader
b) ExecuteScalar
c) ExecuteNonQuery <-- correct
d) ExecuteCommand

Not clear at all, what if you select to return the ID created ? You may use
ExecuteScalar

3. A class that can not be inherited is what type of class?
a) Sealed <-- correct
b) Static
c) Virtual
d) Abstract
OK

4. Which of the following would you use to implement Polymorphism?
a) Shadowing
b) Overloading <-- correct
c) Constructor
d) Static Class

Overload has nothing to do with Polymorphism , inheritance has.

 

[scott blood]

Hello,

What i personally would do and have done before is tell these annoying
employment agencies, that for the first three months, the member of staff is
there responsibility and at any time should they fail to meet your
expectations, it will be there responsibility to sack them and replace them,
otherwise they dont get there big fat introduction cheque.

Agencies are quite useless over here in the uk.

As a WinForms developer for over 4 years i can honestly say that i am
experienced enough, but how do you gave someone elses experience level
without actually seeing them on the job, its hard

Regards
Scott Blood
C# Developer

 

[Mehdi]

I'm using a few employment firms to assist us in locating a few WinForms
.NET 2.0 C# developers. They are sending us everyone that claims they can
program C# so my thought was to provide the firms with 4 questions that if
the candidate does not score 100% then don't submit them to us. [...]

1. Which method do you invoke on the SQLDataAdapter control to load your
dataset with data? [...]
2. When doing an Update, which method of the SqlCommand is best to use?

These questions have nothing to do with WinForms development or .NET 2.
This is ADO .NET programming and these have been around since .NET 1.0

3. A class that can not be inherited is what type of class?
4. Which of the following would you use to implement Polymorphism?

Once again, nothing to do with WinForms development or .NET 2. These are
general OOP questions (question 3 is actually just a C# syntax point of
detail)

As Marina said, just about anybody can look up the answers if they don't
know them already. And regardless of wether they know the answers or not,
this doesn't mean anything at all. It won't take long to a good programmer
to learn ADO .NET if they don't know it already. On the other side, a bad
programmer will make you loose your time and money even if they know all
the .NET Framework classes by heart. Don't get me wrong, i'm not trying to
be insulting or offensive but frankly, judging applicants by counting how
many classes of the .NET Framework they know by heart is IMHO completely
stupid.

 

[Marina Levit [MVP]]

There may be some things you can do during an interview - maybe show them
some code that has problems and have that person figure out what they are.
And ask them questions that focus more on knowledge of how to structure
programs then on encyclopedic knowledge of the framework.

I don't think a recruiter is going to be able to figure out how experienced
someone really is, or how good they are.

But I agree, in the end, the only real way is to see their work. I don't
think there is a way around that.

 

[Dan Bass]

As you've probably noticed from the responses following your post, a few
questions generally aren't going to find you a decent developer. You
may get developers who are excellent, and can't answer these off the top
of their heads because they're new to .Net for example.

Personally, I'd rather get someone who can think, problem solve and has
an understanding of OOP's in general. Being teachable is another thing,
I've found people difficult to work with who know everything and don't
want to take any advice on board. Decent developers will pick up .Net
2.0 easily (especially if they have .Net 1.1 experience). You may get
someone who's able to answer all these, but can't code, doesn't work in
a team, and doesn't know how to attack thought provoking issues.

 

[Mark Rae]

Agencies are quite useless over here in the uk.

I couldn't agree more!

As a WinForms developer for over 4 years i can honestly say that i am
experienced enough, but how do you gave someone elses experience level
without actually seeing them on the job, its hard

Very true. I find the best way to ascertain whether someone can walk the
walk as well as talk the talk is face-to-face. I usually ask about their
last couple of contracts or projects, and am really only interested in how
they've approached things, what techniques they've used etc.

I really cannot think of anything stupider than asking someone what method
to use to fill a datagrid with data...

 

[Mark Rae]

And ask them questions that focus more on knowledge of how to structure
programs then on encyclopedic knowledge of the framework.

Absolutely!

 

[Mark Rae]

but frankly, judging applicants by counting how many classes of the .NET
Framework they know by heart is IMHO completely stupid.

I couldn't agree more! I think that speaks volumes about whoever came up
with such an idea in the first place...