Job Interview In Two Days -- Tips?

[manasecret]

Yep, pseudo-code test. I was put at a whiteboard and asked to write some pseudo-code for some scenarios that three of the head software engineers came up with.

But it was pretty simple, and they made a point to tell me to describe what I'm doing as I go along. They weren't looking for exact accuracy, just that you have some knowledge of programming.

For example, I mentioned I had created an object-oriented style class for my current job, so one asked me to write a "dog" class. You know the drill -- start with something like an "animal" class and define some inherited variables like "int legs" or "bool fur" that classes underneath it could define as needed. I think I did pretty well with the object-oriented test, and I did mention the private and public and inherited style variables for a class. But I forgot to flesh out the part where most variables in a class are private, while you have public functions that interface to those private variables.

Another test they gave me, since I had done some embedded work, was to write a program loop that controlled the temperature of an animal cage using a temperature chip and a heater. So I got busy writing the algorithm that checked for a temperature that was too cold, and turn on a heater. The mistake was that I was thinking only about how to convert the exact instructions they gave me into code, and not the overall features needed for such an animal cage temperature controller. For example, they pretty much said "Imagine you had an animal cage and you wanted to keep it from getting too cold, write that program." So I got busy writing when it gets too cold, and did it pretty well. Then after a few other questions, one guy said, "Do you see anything wrong with this program?" And since the actual code was good as far as I could tell, I wasn't thinking about the overall function. "What happens when it gets too hot?" Duhhhhhhhh, I forgot to check when to turn off the heater... Following instructions too literally... but it was just a pseudo-code test.

And yes, it was a software engineer position. You guys didn't have to do anything like that??