Re: Testing job applicants

[Chris.omitthisbit.Brown@arm.andthisbit.com (Chris Brown)]

In article <g961r7.bq.ln@fenelon.com>, Pete Fenelon  <pete@fenelon.com> wrote:
>
>There's obviously something good going on in Cambridge, and has been
>for a long time, but it seems that at least in the recent past there
>was some tendency to deter people from doing Computer Science 
>at undergrad level.
>
>I had an offer from Cambridge, but at the time (86 entry) I got the
>impression that Computer Science, at undergrad level, was something
>regarded as a dumping ground for mathematicians, engineers and Nat Sci
>people who washed out in Part 1s. (I'd applied to go in via Part 1 Nat
>Sci). There wasn't a CS Part I at the time, and the admissions people I
>met seemed much keener to keep me as a scientist...

Fortunately this changed somewhat a couple of years before I arrived,
although it's rumoured that the maths department do still try and
poach the occasional compsci undergrad. The Compsci undergraduate
course is now a full three year course, although you must still take
one natural sciences subject (plus natural science mathematics) in the
first year (most people take physics). I think they've extended the
options for the first year since I graduated.

>I felt as though my chosen subject was something they'd rather not have
>in their nice old university. Kind of odd since I'd grown up reading
>about Turing and Wilkes and so on...

Sorry you had such a negative experience. I guess one of the
disadvantages of the collegiate system is that interview experiences
can vary greatly. As you say, there's a history of computing going
back a long way here (and inded, the Cambridge Diploma in Computer
Science is the oldest formal CS qualification in the World).

>Certainly over the past four or five years about a quarter of the
>calls I've had from recruitment agencies have been attempting to get me
>to defect to the Fens...

There's a lot of activity here, but the house prices are getting
stupid as a result. It's also difficult for employers like
supermarkets to find employees who can afford to live here on the
wages they pay. It's not as bad as some parts of London though.

-- 
/*  _  */main(int k,char**n){char*i=k&1?"+L*;99,RU[,RUo+BeKAA+BECACJ+CAACA"
/* / ` */"CD+LBCACJ*":1[n],j,l=!k,m;do for(m=*i-48,j=l?m/k:m%k;m>>7?k=1<<m+
/* |   */8,!l&&puts(&l)**&l:j--;printf("  \0_/"+l));while((l^=3)||l[++i]);}
/* \_,hris Brown -- All opinions expressed are probably wrong. */