Press Release 2002
Win a Contest, Get a Job
By H. AMIR KHALID
Edited 2014 to update contact information
KUALA LUMPUR: Jonathan Searcy is a man with a
problem. But he has found a novel - or at least, not often used - solution
to it. He is a senior vice-president of E-Genting Sdn Bhd, the IT business
arm of Genting Bhd, and is responsible for hiring programmers. But he has
found recent job candidates wanting. "From 1996 to 2001, we had a more or
less traditional interview process for people applying to join us as
programmers. They'd give presentations on their academic or previous work
projects, and the presentations were usually solid. But when we put them to
work on actual, live programming jobs, they struggled," he recalled.
So last May, when E-Genting was looking for a
new batch of programmers, it gave up on the interview process. Instead, it
gave candidates a test, asking for solutions to realistic programming
problems. The outcome was disturbing: only a dozen or so job candidates took
the test, a surprisingly small number, and not one of them turned in a
credible answer. " We must have scared some people off," Searcy speculated.
“Also, we got some blank answer papers from
the ones who simply gave up. And then there were candidates who
misinterpreted the question to make the problem a trivial one, and came up
with answers which were not what we expected.”
This time round, E-Genting is trying a
programming competition, offering cash and job offers as prizes. The
contest, to be held on Nov 23, is open to Malaysians and permanent residents
not older than 25 years with knowledge of C, C++ or Java programming.
Competitors would be provided transport from
Wisma Genting in Jalan Sultan Ismail to the contest venue, to spend eight
hours on an open-book, handwritten programming task. Lunch would be provided
for those not fasting.
The first prize is RM5,000, the second prize
RM2,500 and the third prize RM1,500. Prize winners will also be offered a
programmer’s job with the R&D (Systems) department at E-Genting Sdn Bhd,
subject to their meeting the usual employment requirements. Prize winners
who are undergraduates will be offered the job on graduation.
Searcy conceded that the contest was really
more like a programming audition or a competitive examination. " What we're
looking for is the ability to analyse a large process and break it down into
a series of smaller ones," he said.
As the competition is in the form of an
open-book examination, competitors can bring along textbooks, notes,
language manuals or anything else they want. But, Searcy said, they should
not expect to be able to answer any questions simply by referring to these
materials.
"We’ve geared the questions such that
although the books might help, you’ve still got to solve the problem
yourself," he warned. Sample questions and solutions can be found at
www.egenting.com.my/md
egpc.genting.com.my.
Searcy also warned that E-Genting wanted
credible answers - namely, those that could solve the problems given, or at
least need only a little more work to do so. Should the entire field of
competitors fail to turn in such answers, he said, no prizes would be
awarded.
Those interested in taking up the challenge,
call Ms Wong at (03) 2030-6747
Ms Tan at +603 2333 3276 or send e-mail to
lfwong@genting.com.my
Searcy said some educational institutions
tended to over-emphasise the teaching of programming tools and languages -
things a programmer of any ability can pick up for himself with reading
manuals and practice. And they tended to skimp on teaching the use of these
tools to solve realistic problems.
"As a prospective employer of people that
these institutions are creating, I see graduates struggling with tasks that
they should be handling with ease," Searcy lamented. " What we find lacking
in a lot of people applying for programming jobs after graduating from a
three- or four-year degree course are systems analysis and design skills.
Programmers also need knowledge of enough data structures and algorithms
they could apply to solve real-world problems." so they can be productive
These skills were only taught " lightly, if at all," he said. Perhaps a
tenth or an eighth of the total instruction time in a typical three-year
degree course in IT was devoted to the subject. He showed Tech.Plus a course
catalogue from a prestigious local institution to illustrate his point.
And not just in Malaysia. Universities in
Searcy's native Australia were no better, he said, based on the course his
own daughter was taking. The common failings were that lecturers tended to
rely on course materials recycled from previous years, and to do what they
needed to get their students get good marks at examinations.
Meanwhile, students had a natural tendency to
do just enough to get their paper qualification and go on to a good job.
"Students should expect more of their instructors," Searcy said. "IT courses
should emphasise more on how tools are used to solve real-world problems."
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