[AccessD] MS Access Skills Assessment and Testing

David McAfee davidmcafee at gmail.com
Mon May 11 14:30:28 CDT 2009


I was given a test in one interview once and they gave me a paper and
pencil.

I didn't like it as I don't usually write my code down on paper. I tend to
type and copy paste stuff around a lot.

Stuff like connection strings I still don't know by heart, I simply make up
a udl and copy it over.

I also had an interviewer ask me to orally explain how I would select
customers from a displayed table into a combo box.
We were talking about ADPs right before this, so I confirm "Is this in an
ADP?". He said yes.
so I tell him set the combobox rowsource to "EXEC stpYourProcedureNameHere".

He tells me that I am wrong that I need to write VBA code to call a pass
through query.

I kindly explain to him that pass throughs do not exist in ADPs/ADEs, only
in MDBs/MDEs.

He didn't like that. :/

D



On Mon, May 11, 2009 at 11:13 AM, Andy Lacey <andy at minstersystems.co.uk>wrote:

> ROTFL
>
> You'd have eaten it and come back for more JC.
>
> Anyway in my book anyone who's arrogant enough to think he's above being
> tested can go jump. I should have shown him the door when he muttered about
> being asked to do it.
>
> Andy
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
> [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of jwcolby
> Sent: 11 May 2009 18:01
> To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving
> Subject: Re: [AccessD] MS Access Skills Assessment and Testing
>
>
>  >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.
>
> I'd plumb forgot about that interview.  So that was you guys eh?
>
> ;)
>
> John W. Colby
> www.ColbyConsulting.com
>
>
> Andy Lacey wrote:
> > 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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> >
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