Steve Jones - SSC Editor (9/11/2013)
simon.crick (9/11/2013)
Why not base your decision on the candidate's academic qualifications?College and university exams are far more rigorous and comprehensive than any interview tests can ever be.
Choose a candidate with good exam grades in a relevant subject area from a reputable college/university and you can't go far wrong.
Base your decision on a small number of random interview tests and you will get random results.
Simon
Not sure I like this. College/University isnt' a training ground. There are plenty of people, for all I know the majority, that work in technology, but didn't major in CS/IS.
The college exams often don't translate to the real world. Even in closely aligned programs, like medicine, law, accounting, there is a good amount of training done for the candidates later. I do wonder, however, how often companies in those fields regret their hires?
I am one of them. I got my first job in computing before I went to college/university. After 5 years I realised I could never compete with graduates who had a deep understanding of the underlying concepts in computer science, so I went to college, got my A-levels, then went to university and got a degree in Mathematics. I then went back into computing and now work as a senior software engineer responsible for some very large and complex databases.
When I left university I would have certainly failed the SSMS test because I had never had any exposure to Microsoft technology. Therefore, I know from personal experience that rejecting someone based on an SSMS test would be wrong, and I'm pretty sure that positively choosing someone based on a limited SSMS test would also be wrong because it only proves a very narrow range of skills and doesn't really prove the deep understanding of the underlying concepts that is necessary for problem solving and innovation.
I'm not saying that academic qualifications are a 100% reliable indicator of ability, but based on my personal experience from both sides of the fence, I strongly believe they are the best available indicator, certainly for entry-level jobs.
Simon