I would say that the questions should mimic a real situation as best as
possible, so use of a datasheet should be allowed. The alternative is
testing of the candidates memory, not skill. Personally I would select 5
candidates from a quick reading of the CVs and intervieuw those.

Wouter

----- Original Message -----
From: David J Binnington <david@DJBELECT.KEME.CO.UK>
To: <PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU>
Sent: Wednesday, January 09, 2002 11:52 PM
Subject: [PIC]: Programmer


> Apologies if anyone thinks this shouldn't be in the [PIC]: category but it
> does include code and I need to gain the attention of the gurus on this
> list.  You all know who you are ;-)
>
> My company needs to be able to select a suitable candidate for employment
on
> a short term contract.  The job is for an experienced MPASM programmer on
> 16F87* or 16F62* series micros.  The basic application includes real time
> control of high voltage DC, AC phase control, A-D, I2C and serial port
> communication, user interface, EEPROM etc.  The skill set basically needs
to
> include a good understanding of the Microchip parts and most of the
onboard
> peripherals.
>
> In order to aid the selection process it has been decided to ask the
> candidates to complete a questionaire containing around 20 multiple choice
> questions immediately before their interview. The whole questionaire
should
> take less than 30 minutes to complete.  Can anyone help me out by
suggesting
> a few relatively simple questions that would test the knowledge of a
> suitable candidate.  The sort of questions I have in mind might be:
>
> Question 1:
>
> A 16F877 is to be used with a 20MHz crystal.  Which of the following
CONFIG
> words would be the most appropriate?
>
> a)      __FUSES
_CP_OFF&_WDT_ON&_RC_OSC&_PWRTE_ON&_LVP_OFF&_BODEN_ON&_MCLRE_ON
> b)      __FUSES
_CP_OFF&_WDT_ON&_XT_OSC&_PWRTE_ON&_LVP_OFF&_BODEN_ON&_MCLRE_ON
> c)      __FUSES
_CP_OFF&_WDT_ON&_HS_OSC&_PWRTE_ON&_LVP_OFF&_BODEN_ON&_MCLRE_ON
> d)      Do not know
>
> Question 2:
>
> The following code extract from a 16F628 program does not work as
intended.
>
> ;PORTB Setup
> ;-----
>         clrf    STATUS,RP0                      ;Set BANK 0
>         movlw   B'11111111'
>         movwf   PORTB                           ;Set PORTB output latches
to all 1's
>
>         bsf     STATUS,RP0                      ;Set BANK 1
>
>         movwf   TRISB                           ;Set PORT B to all outputs
>
>         clrf    STATUS,RP0                      ;Set BANK 0
>
>
> What would be the result?
>
> a) Sets all I/O pins of PORT B to output 1
> b) Sets all I/O pins of PORT B to output 0
> c) Sets all I/O pins of PORT B to input or tristate
> c) The state of PORTB cannot be determined
>
> Question 3:
>
> A 16F877 has a 10MHz crystal.  What is the execution time for a single
cycle
> instruction?
>
> a) 100nS
> b) 4uS
> c) 250nS
> d) 400nS
> e) None of the above
>
>
> The idea is not necessarily catch them out with trick questions but to
test
> their basic knowledge of the parts and the sort of quirks or errors that
can
> occur. It should also catch those whose CV is less than truthful and are
> desperate for a job!  Most of us have to refer to the data sheets for
> setting up or using the more obscure peripherals so the questions need to
be
> kept fairly basic to be useful.
>
> For obvious reasons please do not supply the answers with any of your
> questions.  I will ask if I can't work them out for myself!
>
> Many thanks
>
> David
>
> --
> http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different
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>
>
>

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