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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: 2) by acid andy on Friday November 02 2018, @07:50PM (1 child)

    by acid andy (1683) on Friday November 02 2018, @07:50PM (#757032) Homepage Journal

    Doesn't it defeat the purpose of giving them a break, to put in a window and expect them to keep watching?

    Yes. Stagger their break times instead. You might need to hire an extra person but if so, you didn't have enough to begin with.

    --
    If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
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  • (Score: 2) by toddestan on Saturday November 03 2018, @07:41PM

    by toddestan (4982) on Saturday November 03 2018, @07:41PM (#757365)

    That's the right answer. If you only have one security guard, what happens when he has to go to the restroom, or he's dealing with some situation and there's no one to man the desk? So you really need at least two security guards on the premise, which means you can now stagger their breaks. Problem solved.

    Or if you're like a lot of places, like where I work where security is more about making people feel good rather than any actual security, a window would work fine. People can see the security guard through the window so the station doesn't look unmanned, the security guard look out the window and see what's going on, and everyone is happy.