Great Interview Task
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A couple of days ago I had a really great interview, I figure that I am due one after the long series of horrible candidates that I had recently. Anyway, I did a couple things there that I think that I will carry on to the future interviews. I gave the guy a laptop, and the following excersise, given the follwoing object model:

public class Customer
{
  public List<Order> Orders = new List<Order>();
  public string CompanyName;
  public string Id;
}
public class Order
{
  public int Id;
  public Customer Customer;
  DateTime ShippedAt;
  DateTime OrderedAt;
}

And the following SQL Statement:

SELECT  Customers.CustomerID,

        Customers.CompanyName,

        Orders.OrderId,

        Orders.OrderDate,

        Orders.ShippedDate

FROM    Customers

INNER JOIN Orders ON Orders.CustomerID = Customers.CustomerID

The task is to give me a list of Customers with their orders collection filled. No duplicate customers are allowed. I think that you can see why this is a subject that is near & dear to my heart ;-) Anyway, this is a task that test several distinct parts of the candidate's knowledge, SQL/Database, ADO.Net, minor data structure, logic, etc. It also says a lot about the background of the candidated as they approach it.

Another thing that I thing that I'll keep is asking them what they don't know and then give a task in that area. The task is neccecarily trivial, but it shows how the candidate can learn and think. I don't want co-workers that needs step-by-step instructions.

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