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0 pointsApolloFortyNine2y ago0 comments

The number of cs majors I've had fail a for loop function floors me. The company I was at was paying 105k starting at that time 4 years ago for junior devs fresh out of college, so not FANG tier but plenty good for the area.

At least 30% bombed writing a for loop and if statement though. And we let them pick any language they wanted, so that wasn't it.

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clusterhacks2y ago

I taught an entry-level programming class in a university setting. There were weekly programming practice "labs" and a more involved independent project with several check-ins with me over the semester.

I gave an open-book final exam that asked students to write a for loop on one of the questions. I would say around 20% bombed the question despite the very book sitting beside them having a chapter on looping. With examples.

After the class ended, I ultimately concluded a non-trivial number of students probably didn't do any of their own coding during the course. I'm pretty sure I have worked with at least two or three people in coding positions who couldn't actually code and relied on outside (spouse? out-sourced?) support.

toast02y ago

I've only done interviewing for high tier companies, so my bar was pretty high, I wanted candidatws to be able to demonstrate knowledge and ability of a loop with a loop inside.

Our screening was pretty good, so most (but not all) candidates could demonstrate one loop, but an unfortunate number couldn't do the nested loop. shrug

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