[AccessD] MS Access Skills Assessment and Testing

Andy Lacey andy at minstersystems.co.uk
Mon May 11 12:03:30 CDT 2009


Hi Max, how're you doing?

I used to set a couple of practical tests.

The first was to give them some Access code with faults in it and leave them
for a while asking them to critique it. You can throw in what you want, from
not Dim'ing vars or not closing recordsets to logic or calculation errors.
Whatever fits your bill.

The second was to give them an app which crashed when you ran it and tell
them to fix it. Nothing too trivial but it should show problem solving
capabilities and experience with debug. You could deliberately remove error
handlers and see if they put them in.

The tests didn't distinguish the good from the great, but they did get rid
of the blaggers. Had one guy who took exception to being asked to do such
menial tests when he had blah-blah years experience, but we insisted, put
him in a quiet room and when I went in half an hour later to see how he was
doing he'd legged it. Didn't hear from him again.

--
Andy


--------- Original Message --------
From: "Access Developers discussion and problem solving"
<accessd at databaseadvisors.com>
To: "'Access Developers discussion and problem solving'"
<accessd at databaseadvisors.com>
Subject: Re: [AccessD] MS Access Skills Assessment and Testing
Date: 11/05/09 15:15


Developer - definitely.

Max



-----Original Message-----
From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Susan Harkins
Sent: 11 May 2009 15:37
To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving
Subject: Re: [AccessD] MS Access Skills Assessment and Testing

I think it depends on how this person's going to use Access -- are they
going to be a user or a developer?

Susan H.


>I would start with a simple database with one form. Set the form up with
> some code that does a calculation but set the underlying data so that it
> causes an 'Invalid use of Null' or a divide by zero in the calculation
> code. Let the candidate debug it while you watch. You should be able to
> tell pretty quickly how familiar they are with Access.
>
> Doug Steele

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