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posted by martyb on Friday November 02 2018, @12:36AM   Printer-friendly
from the pi(x)=substr("3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105820974944592307816406286208",1,x) dept.

Recently there was an article discussing how poorly today's Silicon Valley approaches the question of testing their information technology candidates' intelligence.

If you were a hiring manager, how would YOU test YOUR candidate's intelligence?

I was mulling this over recently, when, for unrelated reasons, I found myself researching algorithms to be used in calculating 'pi' (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Pi_algorithms).

As it so happens, there are currently 15 known algorithms for pi. At least one of the algorithms can be used to generate arbitrary digits of pi (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bailey–Borwein–Plouffe_formula), and that might be relevant. (I'm not a mathematician, or a programmer, as such - I'm a sysadmin - but even those who are will likely be surprised to learn that such a thing is possible. For more information, please see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spigot_algorithm.)

And so I would ask my candidate to pretend that he was responsible for designing a library of math functions, and to offer me an opinion on which algorithm should be implemented, in our hypothetical library of routines, to calculate 'pi'.

Some prior experience in programming is required - you have to have written your own functions. No programming languages are required. No coding. Not even pseudo-code! No right answers. No wrong answers. Just pure thought.

You don't need to be a programmer to take this test and succeed. You don't need to do anything on a whiteboard. You just need to be somewhat mathematically inclined ... somewhat literate ... and, a nerd.

A real nerd. Not one of these fake Silicon Valley nerds. You need to have books on your shelves. Not DVDs.

Points for asking what the library will be used for. The value 22/7 might work great for roughing out the roof of a gazebo. Not so good for calculating orbits!

Points for implementing multiple algorithms and letting the user decide for themselves.

No time limit, no pressure ... but I would want to hear back from my candidates, within a day or two, via email.

Compare my test to the puerile tests involving balls, and strings, and calculating 2^64 in your head, in real time, and ask yourself which of these methods REALLY exposes intelligence?

Now, you're in charge.

What would you do?


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  • (Score: 3, Touché) by mobydisk on Friday November 02 2018, @01:56PM

    by mobydisk (5472) on Friday November 02 2018, @01:56PM (#756836)

    Now, you're in charge. What would you do?

    I would remove you from the interview panel because this approach is terrible. The very fact that you think you are measuring someone's "intelligence" by asking this, and the concept that "intelligence" is a valid measure of success in a business environment, shows you are not yet experienced enough to conduct interviews.

    Compare my test to the puerile tests involving balls, and strings, and calculating 2^64 in your head,

    Your question asks the candidate something that you yourself are an expert in, but few other people are. Such questions are designed to stroke the interviewer's ego rather than vet quality candidates.

    Those other questions are better. The "tests involving balls" that you insult are examples of problem solving and they are analogous to the kinds of problems we encounter in computer science. Calculating pi is not. Reversing strings is simple algorithm development and array manipulation. The "balls" usually involve optimization and recursion. Calculating 2^64 in your head is more relevant than calculating pi since it uses binary math and they are lots of approaches that don't require specialized knowledge.

    Stop looking for your clone. There's someone out there twice as productive as you who has no interest in calculating pi. Create a test that finds that person, and stop labeling them as "not intelligent."

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