Ask HN: Questions to ask when hiring a windows developer? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Questions to ask when hiring a windows developer?

We need to hire a windows developer for our startup. As the tech guy, I'll be taking the tech interview. Problem is I (and no one else in the team) is familiar with any windows programming (most of us haven't used windows in years!). We are not fans of asking puzzles in interviews to judge a candidate. Though they help to gauge the calibre of a person, we are more interested in figuring out how familiar the person is with actually programming for windows (.net, c#, COM, etc.) and how fast can the person deliver on the product.

So what are some windows-programming questions that I can ask him/her to figure out the depth of their knowledge of windows programming and judging their technical skill? We will of course ask generic programming questions as well.(We will also probably ask them to code something over the weekend).

Thanks HN!

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When timetotrade were hiring we needed a Java developer. We created a Java program that would compile and even run, but was horrifically inefficient. First task for the interviewee - how would they rewrite it. It had spelling mistakes, a mixture of variable naming schemes, differences in syntax ( brace inline, one true brace ). If just you as the tech guy leading the interview create that test and hand it to the rest of the team you'll have a benchmark. We gave a programming task before the candidate got their foot in the door. I believe we did generation of Pythagorean triples. Once again, we wrote one internally for comparison. Grab the latest version of mono and write something similar in C#.

I don't have any experience with COM objects, I imagine the above would work for them too.

Ultimately it's going to depend on what you want from a successful candidate. If you want someone who lives and breathes work then it's going to be attributes A, B and C. If you want someone outgoing, active, social then you want attributes D, E and F. There might even be some overlap.

Basic questions are going to be - development environment, source control preference, latest languages dabbled with, interests outside programming. Don't think I've had an interview where I haven't been asked at least them.

Hi, thanks for your suggestions! I'll look at some of these things myself like you said. Maybe a generic discussion on programming would help in judging the candidate as well. I'll keep your points in mind. Thank you.

Recognizing you aren't qualified to gauge someone's experience is a crucial first step, now take the next one. A "cheat sheet" of questions isn't going to help you either. Find an senior Windows developer you know/trust and have them talk to your potential candidates. They should be able to weed out the bozos quickly so you can focus your energy on candidates with real potential.

Hey, we will be starting the interview rounds soon and I don't know if I'll be able to get someone on such short notice. Though I'll try my best! Thank you for your suggestions.

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