I have an interview with a possible employer next monday, I'll code friday, saturday and sunday, just because I need the job (first one) and I like to code. The thing is I need a good project idea that I could show to him. I know OOP, design patterns, good practices, etc., but I have not a portfolio since it is my first job; most of my code is for learning purposes. Any suggestions in what a programmer could show to an employer to get the job? A PHP minimal framework (MVC)? A simple CMS? What do you evaluate when hiring a new php programmer?
A:
A simple CMS should do the trick. Personally, I would look at source code (variable names, exception handling, comments, enough abstraction, extensibility, ...), and demand a good understanding of what the user would want - often this means using AJAX to keep the number of post-backs low.
Spikolynn
2009-01-23 04:24:01
Yes Ajax is something that they want from me, and also I suppose great code. Thanks
Movaxes
2009-01-23 04:54:37
A:
A recommendation would be libraries. Something that would help you on other projects and also looks good when you can think about more than just the project at hand. Maybe using other libraries to create some addons of your own.
Darryl Hein
2009-01-23 04:29:14
Yeah I have a MySQL DAO I did, probably I'll use that, and using libraries I suppose helps so I don't look like a Lone Wolf that does everything from scratch http://www.boringguys.com/2008/05/20/beware-the-lone-wolf-php-developer/
Movaxes
2009-01-23 04:57:29
A:
A couple of ideas:
A blog engine (Wordpress clone).
A task management system (Fogbugz clone).
If you're not very good with HTML/CSS and Javascript (although you really need to be), then as someone else suggested, it might be better to write a library.
too much php
2009-01-23 04:30:52
+5
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I'd recommend something related to what your employer does- show them that your skills can be applied for their business.
Sukasa
2009-01-23 04:30:52
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An alternative would be to make contributions to a PHP open source project if you can't think of a project to start on your own. You can talk at your interview about the features you worked on, or parts of the design/code you could do better. Though it could take time for you to get recognition and start checking things in.
Good places to start:
Marcel Tjandraatmadja
2009-01-23 04:30:54
A:
Most likely your employer will not ask to see a demo. Typically employers will line up some engineers that will ask you technical questions, design as well as development methodologies questions.
The tech questions might require you to write some code (on a computer or whiteboard).
You might also get to talk with managers that will typically evaluate your ability to work within a team and your fit with the existing team.
That scares me a little, I'll probably read a little before the interview to have my mind fresh. Thanks, really helpful to know how its going to be, this helped also:http://stackoverflow.com/questions/329289/really-wow-them-in-the-interview
Movaxes
2009-01-23 05:02:08
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If I was interviewing, I'd much rather see real code written for a real client than something you just whipped up quickly for the interview. If you haven't had a job before, and no side projects to show either, then I'd certainly consider a programming project from uni/college.
Programming is not just about what code you can write, but also about how well you can translate real-world requirements provided by another person into code.
TimB
2009-01-23 04:44:13
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A minimal microblogging/Twitter-clone app could be a good idea. A lot of interviews have you program on the fly, though. In this case, you'll have to rely more on your off-the-cuff proficiency, without having a weekend to build something fancy.
Evan Meagher
2009-01-23 04:59:13
True, they could ask me to code in the interview, I'll be prepare for that ;)
Movaxes
2009-01-23 05:05:28
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The app you do is irrelevant. The cool thing will be to hit a project for three days straight and be able to talk about what kinds of challenges you faced and how you managed to work around them (or not). Plan the coding and see how close to your timeline you can get. If you're far off and very far behind (most likely), this would be very interesting to talk about the interview.
Make interesting, risky architectural choices to see how they work (e.g., a new AJAX framework), what kinds of advantages they give you, etc. The point is to have stuff to talk about that will make you sound like you are interested in coding and can handle problems as they come up.
Yar
2009-01-23 05:12:15
I like your approach :) I'll have fun that's for sure, and I'll talk about it in the interview
Movaxes
2009-01-23 05:16:14
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Just find some code that looks good and claim it as your own.
They'll never know the difference!
GeoffreyF67
2009-01-23 05:18:45