Slides for a session done for Testausyhdistys ry on December 16th 2021.

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Programming Assignments
in interviews
by Maaret Pyhäjärvi

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… from a job interview recently ☺
* Turning a failure into a learning blog post
https://visible-quality.blogspot.com/2021/12/tdd-makes-bad-programming-test-for.html

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Step 1. Prepare: Roman Numerals Kata

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Step 2. Surprise: Numbers to Text

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#function to convert integer to English for values from 0 to 999

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https://gist.github.com/maaretp/cf9b1b0c6d385578a048258394697b5b

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“The interviewer expecting aTDD exercise
might have been equally overwhelmed with
showing all this.”
→Github copilot – “AI Pair Programmer”
→ApprovalTesting, generating range of values

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Observations
• TDD isn’t really testing while it is testing
– Focus on teasing out a solution vs.
– Focus on teasing out problems in a solution
• What was chosen for implementation would have impact on
how you would test it
• Internal vs. external focus
– Aspiring to “automating” to discovery
– Domain constraints, environment, time dimensions … Givens of the
world around rather than our choices in the moment.

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Testing Programming
TDD
Programming
test systems
Exercises in Recruiting

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The Modes
• Homework
• Interview time
• Open book exam
Candidate
time
Applicability to
work expected of
you
Preparing vs.
cheating

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How To do Interviewing with Code Problems
Better – Brainstorming Results
• Ask the interviewee on how they would best showcase their
technical skill
• Give feedback within the session (esp. when doing exercise in
the moment)
• Diverse group of interviewers over single interviewer
– People who will work with the candidate if chosen
• The right kind of assignment

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2020 2016
MIATPP
Most Influential Agile Testing
Professional Person
#PayToSpeak #TechVoices
#EnsembleTesting #EnsembleProgramming #StrongStylePairing
#ExploratoryTesting #TestAutomation
#ModernAgile
#AwesomeTesters
Maaret Pyhäjärvi (from Finland)
Email: maaret@iki.fi
Twitter: @maaretp
Web: maaretp.com
Blog: visible-quality.blogspot.fi
(please connect with me through
Twitter or LinkedIn)