Conducting the Programmer Job Interview: The IT Manager Guide with C, C++, Cobol, UNIX Shell, and Oracle Interview Questions

Rating:
Summary: Excellent book for preparing for a programmer interview
Review: I bought this book to prepare for my interview as a C programmer. I got the job, but I can't blame the book entirely for this, since I did a lot of other preparation too.

The book was great for preparing though especially the telephone screening questions which werfe eeriely like the ones in the book. The sample C questions were also very useful and I was asked very similar questions to see if I "knew my stuff".

Don't let the title fool you, this is a good book for the interviewee too!

Rating:
Summary: Some good advice
Review: Quick review:

Job Hunter: For you I call this 4-star; get this book so you know what to watch out for.

Hiring Manager: Give this book a try, but be sure to give it a critical read and don't take everything you read for gospel; use some common sense.

Full review:

Let's see, this isn't a bad book, nor is it a good book. It's middle of the road. It has some good advice, but it relies on a lot of generalization in helping you (the manager) identify a "good programmer." To her credit the author sometimes will step outside her generalizations to say something like "Appearances can be deceiving" alluding to the old adage of don't judge a book by it's cover, but they she digresses back to something like (not a direct quote here, but you get the idea) "if the candidate doesn't have enough appreciation to dress up for the interview, then what kind of employee will they really be?" This seems to fly smack in the face of the previous statement.

There are several edits that were missed that sometimes interrupts the flow of reading. Some of the sample questions (particularly in the C/C++) section are given low/high difficulty ratings that I would argue about.

Overall, if the above represented the only issues I had with this book then I would have rated it 4 stars. As it is, if you are looking for a job, then I do give it 4-stars in helping you prepare for the tactics that some hiring managers might employee at your expense.

For the targeted audience though, I can only rate this a 3 star effort. The extra star downgrade comes from the short-sighted hiring practices that this book perpetuates. Throughout the text the author routinely warns the reader about legal pitfalls regarding certain questions given their obvious discriminatory factor, but then the author turns around and suggests subtle ways to get the candidate to volunteer such information. These suggestions obviously condone the use of discrimination in the guise of "getting the best employee." The demeanor and suggestions continue to impart that "us vs. them" mentality when it comes to management and employees. The focus here is purely bottom line: get the most skilled employee for the lowest cost that will work the most overtime with complaining period.

This approach breeds a mentality that tends to overlook the benefits of developing a relationship with employees that respects their needs both in and out of the office. Just look at the companies rated "best to work for" and you'll see that there are intelligent people out there that realize there is more to how you hire and treat an employee and the consequences of those actions.

The "get the most skilled employee for the lowest cost that will work the most overtime with complaining" type of hiring that this book preaches will work in the short term, but will do nothing for generating a culture of low turnover, high loyalty, and high productivity for years to come.