I write c++ high frequency trading systems, but I think I'd have to look up the answer to most of these. I've heard of all of them, though, and I know roughly what the point of them is.
Your problem when interviewing someone is that in real life, you are relying on the person being quick to learn, since they are unlikely to have the answer in cache. Maybe if they'd just read Stroustrup they'd know some of the specifics, but most coders would know what the point was and google it.
You have to wonder that a fair question is. I supposed you should know of a bunch of things about c++ (why you're using it, major features like templates), without knowing all the specifics (SFINAE/CRTP examples). For instance it's fair to ask someone what a memory barrier is. But not to list all the varieties (relaxed, acquire, etc).
I've hired a number of c++ devs in the last few months, and all of them have turned out fine. I never asked anything particularly specific like this list of questions, just poked around the very large house that is c++. What does the candidate think changed in c++11? Why are we using it for HFT? What kind of thing will slow us down?
I think if I'd asked these questions I'd have dropped a lot of perfectly fine candidates.
I'm glad to see this as I'm interviewing for c++ dev position after working with it non-commercially for years and I didn't even recognize a couple of the questions and wouldn't have any idea how to answer several of them off the top of my head. Certainly I could look any of them up and implement them if necessary, I really rarely code without having a book open next to me to look up the finer details of things I haven't memorized yet.
Glad to see this as well. I'm about to hire some C++ developers for embedded work and have never been a fan of this type of interviewing, if only because I know I personally don't excel at this style and consider myself extremely competent. I'm hoping to find ways of assessing incoming candidates along the lines you've briefly touched on in this thread!
There’s HFT systems in Java, and OCaml. I’m not an expert in these domains but since markets are only open for certain hours of the day, you can pre-allocate enough memory and just not collect till after the bell rings. In my understanding.
Your problem when interviewing someone is that in real life, you are relying on the person being quick to learn, since they are unlikely to have the answer in cache. Maybe if they'd just read Stroustrup they'd know some of the specifics, but most coders would know what the point was and google it.
You have to wonder that a fair question is. I supposed you should know of a bunch of things about c++ (why you're using it, major features like templates), without knowing all the specifics (SFINAE/CRTP examples). For instance it's fair to ask someone what a memory barrier is. But not to list all the varieties (relaxed, acquire, etc).
I've hired a number of c++ devs in the last few months, and all of them have turned out fine. I never asked anything particularly specific like this list of questions, just poked around the very large house that is c++. What does the candidate think changed in c++11? Why are we using it for HFT? What kind of thing will slow us down?
I think if I'd asked these questions I'd have dropped a lot of perfectly fine candidates.