We have been interviewing for entry level positions and the new grads know less than ever before. I don’t really care what they know, I am looking for evidence that they can think, but I usually ease them into thinking scenarios by asking easy foundational questions like how many bits in a byte. You would think I was asking for them to explain the Shrodinger wave equations… One candidate was waivering between 13 and 17…
Yeah… let’s obscure the inner working of computing and make the process as opaque to the user as possible. It’ll be fine… no negative consequences at all.
Colleges do not matriculate anymore (that’s in the British sense of the word, where one has to show actual knowledge in the degree field one is seeking before enrolling, and TBH, they haven’t done so for a very long time, actually…) so this is what we get.
It is ridiculous. I am interviewing for embedded systems development where we frequently write to specific bits in a register. I am sure these kids have had to learn something, but I can’t figure out a polite way to ask them to give me some examples of what.
There was a series of questions I heard in a political discussion about whether or not any given politician understood what the internet was, and if they really had any idea of how to regulate it.
They are… “Explain the differences between, the internet, the world wide web, a search engine and a browser.”
If the person could not answer those 4 questions , well… they shouldn’t have been trying to write legislation about it. I think that still stands as a basic foundational step to start from
Pleas tell me that’s a joke. Or were they trying to switch fields and were a baker or something before? I just can’t accept that someone that would struggle with that question, even in a stressfull situation, ever took a single comp science class.
I wish it was a joke. Maybe they were deliberately getting the answer wrong to waste our time, but the body language was not consistent with someone fucking with me.
We have been interviewing for entry level positions and the new grads know less than ever before. I don’t really care what they know, I am looking for evidence that they can think, but I usually ease them into thinking scenarios by asking easy foundational questions like how many bits in a byte. You would think I was asking for them to explain the Shrodinger wave equations… One candidate was waivering between 13 and 17…
Metric or imperial byte?
It all depends on whether the CPUs kibibyte flag is set!
You say that, but that is (or at least was) a real problem: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_(computer_architecture)
Two nibbles is an acceptable answer.
I have two nibbles. My cat had six.
That’s half a word.
Computers famously love prime numbers greater than 2 as a foundation for structure and logic.
Right?
GTFO.
I mean, yeah… perhaps it’s to be expected. https://www.theverge.com/22684730/students-file-folder-directory-structure-education-gen-z - if this is true, it’s as the methods of using computers and various devices has been infantilized and made too easy.
Yeah… let’s obscure the inner working of computing and make the process as opaque to the user as possible. It’ll be fine… no negative consequences at all.
Colleges do not matriculate anymore (that’s in the British sense of the word, where one has to show actual knowledge in the degree field one is seeking before enrolling, and TBH, they haven’t done so for a very long time, actually…) so this is what we get.
Higher ed in the US is just about da moneys…
It is ridiculous. I am interviewing for embedded systems development where we frequently write to specific bits in a register. I am sure these kids have had to learn something, but I can’t figure out a polite way to ask them to give me some examples of what.
There was a series of questions I heard in a political discussion about whether or not any given politician understood what the internet was, and if they really had any idea of how to regulate it.
They are… “Explain the differences between, the internet, the world wide web, a search engine and a browser.”
If the person could not answer those 4 questions , well… they shouldn’t have been trying to write legislation about it. I think that still stands as a basic foundational step to start from
There are internets, but there is only one Internet.
I miss the Internet. Frankly, I find that the web blows balls now. :(
Dead Internet is a thing for a reason. :(
Well, I for one am delighted to find lemmy and in a small way, do my bit to resurrect a miniscule, tiny bit of it.
It’s mandlebrot patterns, all the way down… right? Smaller iterations of the larger seed.
Best we can do…
You are absolutely correct!
Knowing this is my competition makes me feel much better about myself
My company probably doesn’t get the best candidates (defense contractor that pays somewhat less than market rate), but yeah.
Pleas tell me that’s a joke. Or were they trying to switch fields and were a baker or something before? I just can’t accept that someone that would struggle with that question, even in a stressfull situation, ever took a single comp science class.
I wish it was a joke. Maybe they were deliberately getting the answer wrong to waste our time, but the body language was not consistent with someone fucking with me.
No…