Interviewer said I could use any object-oriented programming language, problems were in Java?

Question

I applied for this job and was given an interview. The HR person told me I would be working on the problem in Eclipse and that any object-oriented programming language would be compatible. I asked her if I could use Python and she said that was fine.

I had been preparing for the interview in python and was looking over the python syntax. However, when I got there, (she gave me a laptop to work on) they pulled up eclipse and the project was set up in Java. She said, "You can use any programming language you want" to solve the problem.

The problem was set up in the format where all the code was written for you and you just had to write a function. I had no idea how I would convert everything to python. She basically left the room for 30 minutes (the time I was given to do the problems) and I just said, "screw it, I'll solve it in Java".

I didn't do the best on it. I did end up telling her the situation after the test. She has no programming experience so she could not tell me how I was supposed to convert it. But she said (and confirmed with her coworkers) she's had other interviewees do the problem in python and c# and what not and they've done fine.

I realize I probably should have said something at the beginning of the interview. I also just want to know if I am actually the one in the wrong. Maybe there really is a way to easily convert the project to python.

I still consider myself to be pretty young in my programming career so maybe I am missing something. Am I the one in the wrong or is she the one in the wrong or are we both responsible? Any advice?

Answer 1

In general, if you have instructions and you aren't sure how best to follow them, you should try to clarify with the person who gave them to you right away. If they still can't help you understand, you probably just have to do the best you can and hope for the best. The worst that happens is that you don't get the job, and that could happen for plenty of other reasons.

In your particular case, I'm guessing they just made one version of the test in the language the person writing it understands, and hopefully the functions they are asking you to write have simple enough input and output types that it's easy to write them in another language and conceptually understand how they work, even if they wouldn't necessarily be usable. If that's not the case and writing it in another language would really be difficult or impossible (e.g. if it were using objects that don't have 1-1 corollaries in other OO languages), you may want to consider whether you dodged a bullet - if the guy who made it, who has a good chance of being your manager, can't even put together a coherent test, imagine how bad his instructions will be.

So to answer your question - it's hard to say who is in the wrong with just your side of the story, but you shouldn't dwell too much on that - take away what you know you should have done differently (ask right away), and move on.