Screening MySQL/PHP Programmers

[ep2002]

Hi there,

I'm trying to screen some programmers I'm looking to potentially hire & I have a list of questions a previous programming consultant drew up, but I don't know what to do with them b/c he did the screening b4.

Can someone please help me determine if I place the answers below, who gave the best answers & coded the best?

Here are the questions...

What aspects of programming interest you the most?
How do you support your code?
Do you use open source code or is it all hand written?
What do you do if your open source code is suddenly breached?
Do you work alone or do you have a team of coders?
What have you done in the past when you have fallen behind on a project?

Sample Code
- write a script that will display a form and then when it is submitted it will write the info of the form to a text file in the form of date-last name so if today was June 12, 2005 and the last name was Smith the text file would be saved as 2005-06-12-Smith.txt. The fields of the form are First and Last name, Email address, and URL. Last Name and Email are required.

- write up the db layout for which you have the info below. The db should be normalized, but not over normalized. The example is that you have a movie review site. You will need the following info for each review. The name of the movie, the director, the type of movie (comedy, drama, etc), the review itself, who wrote the review, and the rating.

Thanks & I hope everyone is having a great night!

Michelle

[chizy2]

Hi there,

I'm trying to screen some programmers I'm looking to potentially hire & I have a list of questions a previous programming consultant drew up, but I don't know what to do with them b/c he did the screening b4.

Can someone please help me determine if I place the answers below, who gave the best answers & coded the best?

1. Examine the code, and see how they have commented or not commented. If they do not comment their code, then when they start on yours, it will be a mess.. it is a habit that must be learned for good programmers.

2. Note the speed ( fastest is not always the best ) - see if they figit when they are coding ( they might not know the code inside and out, or may take time in the help files ).

3. Not knowing your business or your background with programming. If you do not have a background with it, have someone from your staff check and give their opinion on the coding ( I always let a technical lead check and edit the test, while I handle the personall side of the interviews ).

[ep2002]

Thanks

I had some programmers on some MBs help me determine the person's code & then I had them take a test on Brain Bench.

Not great, but it's all I had.

So far the guy picked is ok, as far as I can tell. He is a little lax in his work at times not getting things done on time or having to be pushed to do things, but it doesn't take weeks to get something done.

Take care :)

Michelle

1. Examine the code, and see how they have commented or not commented. If they do not comment their code, then when they start on yours, it will be a mess.. it is a habit that must be learned for good programmers.

2. Note the speed ( fastest is not always the best ) - see if they figit when they are coding ( they might not know the code inside and out, or may take time in the help files ).

3. Not knowing your business or your background with programming. If you do not have a background with it, have someone from your staff check and give their opinion on the coding ( I always let a technical lead check and edit the test, while I handle the personall side of the interviews ).

[arun555_m]

Hi ,
I am a Web Programmer having 2.7 years of experience .
I would like to work as a freelancer .

Skills : PHP , MySQL , HTML , DHTML , JavaScript , Photoshop
Ajax.

Regards

Arun

[ep2002]

Hi Arun,

Thanks, but with only 2.7 years experience, something tells me you don't have the experience I need.

Take care

Michelle

[arun555_m]

Could you please , send me the details of work you need . i am sure i can do it with my experience .

Regards
Arun