Page 1 of 2
[Advice Wanted] PHP Technical Knowledge Test
Posted: Fri Aug 18, 2006 8:36 pm
by RobertGonzalez
I have a second interview with a company on Monday. There is a strong chance that if I pass the technical knowledge portion of the interview that I may be made an offer for the position. My question/request...
If you have ever A) Sat through a technical PHP knowledge test, or B) administered a technical PHP knowledge test, what are some of the things I can expect to face in this type of test? Any and all help would be appreciated. Moreso if it is first hand knowledge.

Posted: Fri Aug 18, 2006 10:20 pm
by feyd
Take the Brainbench PHP test.. it drills down into pretty odd details at times. Not sure if it's free right now, but it's also a nice thing to have on one's resume.
There was a thread somewhere around here about testing.. I think it was in Enterprise.
Posted: Fri Aug 18, 2006 10:22 pm
by alex.barylski
Edit: I failed the HTML test when I took 3-4 years ago...
Some of these links may be of interest:
http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=bra ... test&meta=
I've take a few brainbench tests, years back now...but I must say...they were somewhat silly...
Asking questions like what would this code do? how do you dertermine the ordinal value, etc...
Questions which can be answered by simply using a search engine or manual and I personally never pay attention too...

Posted: Fri Aug 18, 2006 10:27 pm
by feyd
Hockey wrote:Questions which can be answered by simply using a search engine or manual and I personally never pay attention too...

Considering you're taking them on the honor system..

Posted: Fri Aug 18, 2006 10:41 pm
by Ambush Commander
Well, Brainbench permits the use of reference material (you just can't ask someone else)
Posted: Fri Aug 18, 2006 10:49 pm
by alex.barylski
feyd wrote:Hockey wrote:Questions which can be answered by simply using a search engine or manual and I personally never pay attention too...

Considering you're taking them on the honor system..

Thats not what I meant...I've never cheated in my life...if I had I probably would have passed highschool
I meant that, many questions they ask are the kind I don't personally try and remember, as their easily answered by looking up a manual or just testing the code outright...something you can't do during the test...
Personally, those questions are a waste of time...much like knowing the times table off by heart...considering we live in a society where I have a calculator at my disposal 99% of the time...it seems silly to waste time and energy on remembering such a thing...
That argument didn't work so well in high school...and I'm sure BB won't change their test format just for me either, but still

Posted: Fri Aug 18, 2006 10:55 pm
by Weirdan
Well, Brainbench permits the use of reference material
typical BB test intro wrote:...if its available (read permitted) in your test location
Posted: Fri Aug 18, 2006 11:02 pm
by RobertGonzalez
Thanks for the replies guys, but I get the impression that the interviewer (the MIS manager) will be administering the test from what I understand and I am just wondering what types of things I should know.
PS I have looked at the brainbench tests before. They are not free (at least not as of a few weeks ago) but I have looked into them. This is kind of a fast paced thing. I interviewed with a head hunter yesterday and I got an interview with the company today. The MIS wants me to come in for one last interview and a test before deciding whether I or another developer get the job. But thanks for all your input. It is much appreciated.
Posted: Fri Aug 18, 2006 11:09 pm
by Weirdan
Today I'm going to test a candidate. There will be only two assignments, one would be to write simple algorithm in PHP (process an array) and the other would be to write several SQL queries (inner join, left join, group by, having). This test is something like a quick check, just to filter out those candidates who aren't even worth a talk.
Then she will be given a real assignment (~1-2 weeks to complete) and will work with a real code. She would get paid for that, of course.
That's how
I test our applicants

Posted: Fri Aug 18, 2006 11:15 pm
by RobertGonzalez
Thanks Weirdan. I think it is going to be something along those lines. This company is not a tech company, but they are moving into a tech driven sector of their market and they have some pretty ambitious projects they want out of their developer. They have always contracted this work out to freelancers, but the amount of work to do now is at a point where they foresee their immediate projects needs to reach out at least a year, and that doesn't touch on their web site or smaller projects. I am so excited at the thought of putting their vision into practise that I am antsy at how I am going to break it to my current company.
I do know that they use a Sybase database backend for their mission critical stuff, so I am going to study some of the mssql and odbc connectivity stuff. All the other stuff they want is pretty straight forward authentication and identification stuff. Again, thanks for the replies.
Posted: Fri Aug 18, 2006 11:19 pm
by feyd
Care to let us in on the industry this company is in? I wouldn't expect to hear the company name until after you interview and junk or the NDA terminates.. but industry may suffice my curiosity.

Posted: Fri Aug 18, 2006 11:23 pm
by RobertGonzalez
They are a security company that monitors businesses and homes. That is probably as much as I can get into at this point, but I am sure after I start there (

) I will post more about them.
Posted: Fri Aug 18, 2006 11:30 pm
by feyd
Here's the free test list on Brainbench as of this month:
Accounts Payable Fundamentals
Adobe InDesign CS
ASP.NET
C#
Cisco Router Fundamentals
Cognos Development
Computer Forensics (U.S.)
Computer Fundamentals (Win XP)
Computer Technical Support
Dreamweaver MX 2004
English Vocabulary
Java 2 Fundamentals
Java 2 Platform Enterprise Edition (J2EE) 1.4
Listening Comprehension - Chinese
Listening/Reading Comprehension - Chinese
Math Fundamentals
Medical Transcription (U.S.)
MS Office 2003 Fundamentals
MS Windows Server 2003 Administration
Network Security
Novell NetWare 6.5 Administration
PowerBuilder 9.0
Project Management (2005)
RDBMS Concepts
Reading Comprehension - Chinese
Struts 1.2.x
and the beta tests
Ada95
Check Point Firewall-1 NG Administration
Financial Accounting (UK)
Fireworks MX 2004
Human Resources Concepts (UK)
ICD-9 and CPT 4 Coding (Hospital)
Internet Research Techniques and Resources (U.S.)
ITIL Concepts
Java 2 (Refresh)
Macromedia Director MX 2004
MS SharePoint Portal Server 2003
Network Technical Support (Refresh) Beta
Payroll Fundamentals (UK)
Python 2.4
UNIX Programming (General) Refresh
Visual Basic 2005 Beta
Visual Basic.NET Fundamentals
Written Arabic
Posted: Fri Aug 18, 2006 11:31 pm
by RobertGonzalez
Thanks Feyd.
Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2006 2:08 am
by grudgeuk
So did you get the job?
