RE: /400 skills test -- MIDRANGE-L

Lance,

As an RPG developer I've had to sit through skills tests on many occasions. 
The British Computer Society have one that's widely used here in Ireland and 
also in the UK. Their site is http://www.bcs.org.uk/
I've had a quick look but couldn't find it. Perhaps you might like to 
contact them. I'm sure they still have one for RPG3 and an up to date one 
for ILE.

However, I agree with Buck Calabro, these tests are generally a waste of 
time. I've done the BCS one so many times it's more of a memory test than a 
skill test.

The best interviews I've ever done (either as interviewer or interviewee) 
have been informal and chatty. It's the best way I know of opening up and 
imparting your knowledge (or lack of it).

Good luck,

Kevin.
IBS Lockheed Martin.


From: Buck Calabro <buck.calabro@aptissoftware.com>
Reply-To: MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com
To: MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com
Subject: RE: /400 skills test
Date: Tue, 16 May 2000 17:37:57 -0400

Lance wrote:

 >We are going to be hiring someone soon.  This will
 >be our first new hire in 13 years, so our evaluation
 >skills are a bit rusty.  Is there an as/400
 >skills test out there, either on the 'net or
 >commercially?  We would like to be able to
 >get an objective understanding of the candidate's
 >knowledge of Os/400 commands, CL, RAG,
 >DDS, etc., as one of our criteria.

This has become a personal bugaboo for me, so take an extra grain of salt
with this post!

Let's start with the controversial stuff straight away:  Generalised testing
is worthless at best and misleading at it's worst.  (Read on before
responding!)  The skills you need and want should be intimately connected
with the work you want to get done.  This means that the candidate you
eventually hire should have at least those skills.  What generalised test is
going to weigh the tested skill set the same way you will?

Sorry, more controversy: Here's the wrong way to hire -- place adverts,
interview/test; pay according to seniority in the marketplace; hire; find
some work for the new hire.  Right way -- analyse outstanding tasks,
including the future for a year or so; determine skills needed to accomplish
those tasks; determine pay/benefits needed to get a candidate to hire on;
place adverts; interview/test; hire.

The dynamic changes somewhat if you are willing to hire a green person,
either out of economic reasons or because you want to grow your own person
exactly the way you want.  You still need to analyse the tasks you want
done, and the skills needed to accomplish them.  The person you ultimately
hire might have none, some, most or all of these skills.  Testing may help
you determine if the candidate has those skills, but beware that you use a
test that lets you see the detailed areas of the candidate's score.

My advice: for experienced people, pick an outstanding task and ask them how
they would deal with it.  Testing them will show that they are either
experienced or have had a crash course in "how to pass a Technical
Interview."  Green people must be eager to learn (not just willing.)
Testing them with a generic test will show that they are green.

Bottom line: Don't test to see if the candidate knows what MLLZO does.  Test
to see if they can translate business problems into programming solutions.

Buck Calabro
Aptis; Albany, NY
I chopped a lot off, so let me know if I need to expound a little more...
:-)
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