So I applied for this job in an asset management firm and the recruiter got back to me and wants me to answer 5 questions that’s based on APL (A Programming Language). Has anyone faced this situation? I don’t even know how to work with APL. It wasn’t specified in the job description?!! Edit: Forgot to mention- he’s enclosed a 500 page word document that will teach me APL in case I don’t know. WTF? Edit Edit: I have less than 48 hours to turn in this stuff.
Weird. You should just say you don’t have experience with the language. If he really cares that much that you know it the position is probably too technical/ITish anyway.
The fund system I work with on a daily basis is programmed in APL; it is supposed to be a very powerful language with distinct advantages. Maybe it isn’t all that difficult. After all, if they didn’t even mention APL in the job description they can’t really expect you to be a fully fledged APL-programmer, can they? It might just as well be a general test to see how you address something seemingly overwhelmingly difficult. What are those 5 questions? I don’t suppose the questions given to you by the recruiter rule out asking the expertise of fellow-students or other contacts/web boards etc that you might have access to.
wawa, I guess it’s a very powerful language. Doesn’t help that he doesn’t expect us to know it, yet he insists that we turn in these answers to qualify. Can I have your email address? Or, you can email me at ruhi160184@yahoo.com. I don’t feel comfortable posting the questions here, in case he runs a search and lands up here. AF is very highly indexed in the Google Search Engine. Danteshek, You’re right…that is exactly what I was thinking about…whether I need such a technical job? But I don’t have any other interviews lined up. So, I might as well try to do something.
APL is not really used anymore. It’s an old language. I work for a financial software company and as far as I know only one person knows it. There are plenty of other languages that are more relevent/useful. Very bizarre request, but maybe as wawa said it is just a test to see if you can get a grasp of something that can be difficult.
hoan0106 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > APL is not really used anymore. It’s an old > language. I work for a financial software company > and as far as I know only one person knows it. … Yep, that’s why the programmers are highly sought after.
Are you sure they meant APL (the programming language)? Something like this would’ve been mentioned in the ad and they probably wouldn’t even talk to a candidate that had this knowledge. Maybe they meant APL… the trading program. http://www.checkfree-cis.com/cda/investment/L5.jsp?layoutId=48042&contentId=48005&menuId=48010&pId=48010
Most likely it will be Checkfree APL, the trading program used by some investment management shops…similar to Advent. Is the position a trading or Portfolio Analyst related? The only people I know that need know some level of programming in the IM world are Quant related positions, performance analytic positions and IT related positions.
homie Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Are you sure they meant APL (the programming > language)? > > Something like this would’ve been mentioned in the > ad and they probably wouldn’t even talk to a > candidate that had this knowledge. > > > Maybe they meant APL… the trading program. > > http://www.checkfree-cis.com/cda/investment/L5.jsp > ?layoutId=48042&contentId=48005&menuId=48010&pId=4 > 8010 Yes, He mentioned it clearly that it’s A Programming Language (APL). Like I said, it wasn’t even mentioned in the job description, and then he goes ahead and emails me and asks me to solve questions using APL and in case I don’t know how to write APL, then refer to a 500 page manual…which looks Greek to me. I emailed him back and said that I can solve the same problems using C++, like I mentioned in my resume; but I don’t know APL. Anyway, if this is what my job profile will be, then I don’t want to work there. Plus, the recruiter doesn’t know how to write job descriptions—very deceptive job listing. He got us to respond and then gives us a shock.
I saw those problems (Ruhi22 sent them to me), and it was definitely APL the programming language. Matrix multiplication and suchlike, using APL’s peculiar denotation. For those of you who are interested: read more here: http://www.sigapl.org/index.htm