3 Gordon Drive, P.O.Box 1347 Rockland, Maine 04841 U.S.A.
Find Tools for Your Chip


 

© 2004 Avocet Systems, Inc.
Call Us Today at 207-596-7766 ("Picton Press")
Avocet Systems, Inc. : The Complete Solution for Embedded Systems Development Tools
Embedded Update
Interviewing Engineers - Part 2

A couple of weeks ago the Embedded Update asked "How can you tune the interview process to separate the wheat from the chaff?" This was inspired by a very active thread in comp.arch.embedded.

The biggest issue is that of testing candidates. It seems somehow degrading to test a professional... but in the interest of finding the best and the brightest, is there any choice? On the other hand, how can a candidate do well under that sort of pressure? On the third hand, isn't pressure an important factor in modern development environments?

Most of the folks who responded to our discussion agreed with the general consensus in the newsgroup that testing is acceptable, and even desirable. A typical quote: "testing gave a dramatic increase in quality of hire." WOW! What more could you want!

One reader commented "Keep screening but let them be objective to find out a person's strengths rather than weaknesses." Good point, but it is important to know one's failings.

Another response: "We also had the person describe the project they were most proud of, and why, and what their involvement was. We got some idea of what this person found rewarding, and whether their work matched what they claimed on the resume."

And so, since we at Softaid are interviewing for several jobs, we've developed a test. It's tough. It's long. It's split into two parts: a series of progressively harder questions that only a genius could ace, and a hands-on section: working with a scope (for hardware people), or writing a very short code fragment (for software types). The answers are less important than the thought processes; We hope identify the thinkers. Our plan is to administer the test orally, interactively, hopefully giving a subjective gauge of the person's performance.

Will it work? Will interviewees complain? Perhaps, though it's our intention to let them know what to expect before they come in. Expect a full report later on!