Help me get a programming job?

[spokenrope]

Hey. If anybody out there has a job as a programmer (or, hell, just if you do it as a hobby), I'd really appreciate it if you could take a couple of minutes to help me out.

I've always been interested in computers but never really taken the time to learn any programming. However, I did have a job opportunity fall into my lap recently, and since it seems like a great deal for me, I think that I'm going to take it. It's a programming job for people who have no experience with programming at all.

It's a training program for people with college degrees who haven't programmed before, but still have computer skills and a desire to learn. I seem to fit the bill pretty nicely. And after I complete the 3 month training program (paid), I receive a full time position with the company, as well as a raise. I seem to fit the bill pretty nicely. If you'd like to see more details of the position it's right here.

All I have to do pretty much is pass the aptitude test on Monday, and I'm in. The description that I received today says this about the test:

The sections are as follows:

    Verbal Meaning-In this section, you will find the word that is closest in meaning to the word         Â

    given.

    Reasoning-This section tests knowledge of algebra (mathematical symbols) to includeÂ

    division/multiplication of algebra problems.

    Letter Series-In this section, you will find the letter that should come next in a pattern or

    sequence of letters.

    Number Ability-This section tests knowledge of rapid numerical calculations to include

    division/multiplication of fractions/decimals/percentages.

    Diagramming-This section involves flow charts (schematic diagrams). You will need to find

    the correct statement or question (out of a list) that will fit into the missing slots in the

   diagram.

Anyway, if anybody has any advice on the sorts of questions that get asked in a "Programming Aptitude Test," it'd be pretty cool if you could clue me in on some tips. Do they suck? Are they pretty much common sense?

And, for a more long term question, what's it like having an IT position like this for a living? Is it super fucking hard? Does this seem like a good opportunity to you? What do you wish that people had said to you before you started out? Etc?

Thanks guys.

 

[Trune]

It seems that your programming course covers mostly OOD (Object Orientated Design) programming such as Java, I suggest you go out and buy a "learn to java" kinda book and start getting the basics down pat right away.

(Amazon is the cheapest of all these places funnily enough - even for me in Australia with the shipping costs).

Thankfully Java is a nice language, but it does have its quirks and problems. Still 3 months full time programming will be hard but mind you, it's a mental strain. I just spent 3 full -morning to night- days programming an assignment for Uni --___--''

Thankfully your teachers sound much better than mine =]

Btw. I think your test is more of a 'moron' test than related to programming. lol. You know, "How long is a piece of string?"

 

[Azimuth]

Im just a noob like you, making some effort to program but I still got a long way to go. I know MATLAB pretty well and im learning ruby at a very slow pace, so I have pretty much no programming knowledge since MATLAB is useless to me.

Verbal: Synonyms? should be something similar

Reasoning: logic, a =1 b=2 is a>b?, such things

Algebra: self explanatory

Letter Series: self explanatory

Number Ability: rapid arithmetic

Diagrams: understanding basic flowcharts, you need very basic programming knowledge for this, you need to know such things as loops.

As the poster above me mentioned, this is a pretty easy test. Maybe just brush up on flowcharts and your basic math skills and you will be all set.

good luck!

 

[Psyfira]

There's a tonne of practice aptitude tests online. Try google, or graduate jobseeking advice sites (I think Prospects.ac.uk has links to some, but not knowing what country you're in they might now help)

 

[Trune]

I think he's in Lansing (Michigan, USA) it's where the job is =]

 

[pacha69]

Nothing difficult to programming, all you have to find is the way to think like "an informatician". It's another way of seeing the things. You'll know what I mean when you think like that :-)

 

[phuzzz]

I agree with Azimuth, study up on flow charts. Make sure you can follow them correctly. And if Azimuth is right on the rapid arithmetic, just play some Brain Age.

 

[spokenrope]

Thanks for the help, guys. I was kinda thinking that the aptitude test wasn't going to be a problem as well, so thanks for the reassurance.

@Trune: I might just take that advice. I'll probably go to the library though to check out a book or two. Anything in particular you'd recommend?

@psyfira: Yeah. I've actually been doing that a bit already. Some of the ones that I've come across have been pretty easy, some fairly difficult. That's probably where most of my practice is going to come from.

I agree with Azimuth, study up on flow charts. Make sure you can follow them correctly. And if Azimuth is right on the rapid arithmetic, just play some Brain Age. wink.gif

I fucking rule at that part of brain age.

 

[Suranwrap]

When I interview programers, I always ask questions like:

Why are manhole covers round?

and if they dont have a good reason for picking their answer, its No Dice for them.

 

[bladetears]

They might mention some algorithms, I suggest you go out to a book store and look for some Introduction to Algorithm books.

 

[blade85]

When I interview programers, I always ask questions like:

Why are manhole covers round?

and if they dont have a good reason for picking their answer, its No Dice for them.

So you can roll them and move them faster lol

Why are they round? lol

 

[Azimuth]

When I interview programers, I always ask questions like:

Why are manhole covers round?

and if they dont have a good reason for picking their answer, its No Dice for them.


So you can roll them and move them faster lol

Why are they round? lol

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhole_cover...e_they_round.3F

wikipedia has everything!

 

[deathfisaro]

I major in computer science, and such university cs majors are more weighed towards program designer, opposed to programmer.

Program designer (or maybe designers) set up the relationship between classes, what methods each class has and what the method should do.
And programmers read the design and program the details.

And in order for right communications to take place between designers and programmers, there's thing called UML (stands for Unified Modeling Language, it's basically a diagram). Since you're more of programmer job, I believe you don't need to know how to set up such designs and draw UML, but you'll still need to be able to read the UML and figure out what's going on.

I'm not sure wether that'd be included in the training or the test, but I guess it doesn't hurt to learn it now what you'll eventually learn it anyway.

 

[Dragonlord]

Erm... okay... the academic people have spoken. True programming is though a bit a different cake. UML is one tool to talk about design ( completely overrated though ) but not the holy grail. Furthermore a programmer not knowing the design of what he's programming results in bad crap like windows hitting the market :/ ( or with other words: programmers and designers are the same person... separate them and you have a bad soft in no time ).

This test seems moronic to me. That said I've not seen one useful aptitude test at all so far. What goes for me I would not take somebody who has not at least seen C++, SmallTalk or Python from the inside ( or preferable more than one so you know what types of languages there are and when to use which ). What kind of job is this supposed to be in fact? Without knowing what you get into you can completely run into the wrong direction. For example learning Java while C++ is used is like learning how to drive a car while diving is asked for.

 

[nintendofreak]

Good luck!!

I just finished a 11 Hour straight programming spree (in java)
Procrastination != good.

Man, im done for!! Its due in like7 hours... HAH. Just enough time to sleep

EDIT: 900 FTW

 

[ryohki]

I can't stand coding.
it makes my head hurt.
I'm perfectly capable, hell, I have a Bachelor of Computing.
but spending an hour to find a missing semi-colon != fun

 

[deathfisaro]

I can't stand coding.
it makes my head hurt.
I'm perfectly capable, hell, I have a Bachelor of Computing.
but spending an hour to find a missing semi-colon != fun

Shouldn't find missing semi colon take a minute?
It will say it won't compile because of syntax error in line xx...
Finding a logic error when you're supposed to do B and then A, but your program does A and then B, might actually take hours..

One time I was programming multiplayerable, self-evolving AI, everything from scratch GUI chess, and after about 8 thousand lines of code, something went out of sync and I dumped the whole thing =P Now !(that.equals(fun))

 

[spokenrope]

Hey guys. Thanks for your help. I nailed my aptitude test, which I hear is no small feat for the company that I'm applying at.

Now I have an interview coming up in a couple hours. Do any of you guys know what kinds of questions might be asked? I've been grilling myself of real life examples of times that I've been analytical and had to problem solve, as well as some of the basics of Java. I actually got a "Teach yourself Java in 24 hours" book and I'm currently on hour 15.

Is there anything else that you'd recommend? Like I said, the interview is in the next couple of hours, so if you want to help out, you've got to make it quick.

 

[AeroScap]

Good Luck XD

 

[spokenrope]

^ It's like Zach Braff is personally wishing me well on my interview. Much appreciated.