It is actually very hard to test the programming skill, some time the mechanical and physical knowledge is also required for a programmer. Funny ----- Original Message ---- From: Vitaliy To: piclist Sent: Friday, October 19, 2007 1:04:34 AM Subject: [EE] Test for embedded developer candidate Four years of going through resumes and conducting interviews convinced me that tests are the best and the most objective way to judge a candidate's qualifications. Here's an example that tests basic electronics knowlege: http://scantool.net/pub/electronics_test.pdf This particular one was put together back in 2004, right now I'm working on updating it to make it more relevant to what we do (feedback is welcome). I'm thinking about putting together a couple more tests, to test math and software development skills. While math test is easy to write, I'm having difficulty coming up with specific problems to evaluate programming skills. Joel Spolsky has this to say on the subject: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000073.html Specifically, he suggests the following exercises: 1. Reverse a string in place 2. Reverse a linked list 3. Count all the bits that are on in a byte 4. Binary search 5. Find the longest run in a string 6. atoi 7. itoa (great, because they have to use a stack or strrev) The exercises are followed up by a design problem (design a house or a trash can or ...) What do you think of those? In your opinion, what skills are essential for embedded developers? What sets them apart from desktop app programmers? Best regards, Vitaliy -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist