Help Rep get a job thread

[Rep]

Ok people, after 12 months of being out of work and 20 unsuccessful interviews I'm changing tact again. I'm forever being nipped to the post by people with commercial experience, so could use a little of that myself Here's my little task:

A call management application shows data about calls in a day and the ones currently in progress. This application has performance issues, the higher the amount of users, the slower it becomes. The data shown is also behind what is happening at the time, changes to the database are also sometimes lost, UI will occasionally freeze.

Architecture wise, there is a database, application on each users computer, and a windows service calculating the calls.

Couple of ideas I've come up with include: Too many requests to the database, could be resolved by splitting it? Concurrency issues, two users could be accessing the same data, user one updates it, users two is still working with the original value which no longer exists. Application could be altered to run on a server, and work with sessions.

Have people got any other ideas? Help would be massively appreciated.

[Daragon]

Not related directly to your task, but have you considered offering your services on a voluntary basis for a few months for some experience to add to the CV? I was in your boat up until a few months ago after finishing up with work placements.

I probably don't need to tell you that coming fresh out of uni over the past 3-4 years or so has been hard going on even the best graduates.

[Brad]

Has that task been given to you by a prospective employer? Is it a real task or fictional?

It sounds to me like the database access code is locking database too long (getting slower, UI freezing) . Also seems like updates to the database aren't in critical sections so more that one person can update the same record at the same time (changes to database lost).

[Rep]

Yes, It's been given to me by a prospective employer, I imagine It's a bit of both, since they develop phone systems The brief is pretty vague so I can't even begin to imagine what they currently use (Other than .NET). The task is purely theoretical, I've not been asked to implement anything, Identify issues and recommend solutions only.

[Brad]

Ah ok, so they're testing your problem solving skills albeit at a technical level. It's all a bit vague like you say. I would guess they're looking for buzzwords here and you've touched on them already. Looks like:

1. The system is experiencing deadlocks due to more than one process (user) trying to gain exclusive access to a resource at the same time - user 2 doesn't get access until user 1 has finished, thus the UI freeze.
2. Missing some mutual exclusion code to protect the database from simultaneous updates, resulting in lost updates

Solution is to examine the sections of code that deal with record retrieval and record updates I would say. The record retrieval is likely being too strict about having exclusive access when it doesn't need it and the update code isn't strict enough.

Good luck

[abigsmurf]

Incredibly vague spec which is always a pain.

The application shouldn't be coded so that the UI elements are waiting on external communications. Have the database communications handled on a seperate thread to the one handling the UI interactions. The thread communicating with the DB only calls the functions to update the UI once it's retreived/sent the data.

I'd migrate the db to a centralised server using a system designed to cope with large amounts of users, some form of SQL. Have it flag a piece of data that is currently being edited so another user is prevented from also doing so (with perhaps the option of booting them out depending on their permissions). Possibly allow read only access to a piece of data currently being edited with a warning that it may be outdated.

[Rep]

Excellent advice as always, thank you, far more detailed answers than I could come up with Hopefully I won't need to turn this thread into a mini-blog during the future

[Brad]

I might be wrong of course

[Rep]

Well despite a 3 hour long interview, being told they were impressed and the answers to the test being spot on, I still didn't get the job Back to square one (again).

[Rep]

If any developers work in Altringham, I'm on my way to see you this morning C# and C++ developer, here's hoping new year, new start

[Robster]

Well despite a 3 hour long interview, being told they were impressed and the answers to the test being spot on, I still didn't get the job Back to square one (again).

Did you obtain feedback from the interview, its very good to see where you are going wrong or what is holding you back.

[Rep]

Nope, the guy never even had the rocks to phone me, was a quick email telling me I was unsuccessful. When I have asked for feedback, they've always taken a hire with commercial experience (which I don't have since graduating).

[Daragon]

As funny as that comic appears to be, the fact of the matter is that the message it's giving across just isn't going to cut it and probably won't cut it for a good few years until the state of the world's economy improves. I could have written it about myself very easily - 4 years I was out of work for after finishing uni, simply because I thought like that strip did. The fact of the matter is you don't need to be paid to gain on the job experience and employers are going to realise that, now more than ever. If you're going up for a job against someone with a better grade, someone from a better uni or someone who has commercial history then unfortunately your chance of getting the job is going to be slim at best, normally only snagging it if your competition all die in mysterious circumstances for example, but from your experience I'm betting you don't need me to tell you this.

Make it clear on your CV that you're willing to do a set period of unpaid time with a company (at least a few months say, 6+, heck even adding those words to the CV might just give you the edge as it shows you're more keen to work) and USUALLY they'll end up keeping you on for paid work. At the very least if they don't, you have that experience that you need.

Presumably you're already trained up thanks to uni, so most companies won't even need to spend time showing you the ropes, so they have very little to lose.

[Robster]

Daragon speaks the truth, voluntary work is the best way to gain experience.

Always try to obtain feedback,they may tell you they hired someone with experience but dont concern yourself with that. You need to concentrate on your feedback and how well you did, anything you can improve on.

If you have all positive feedback and its only the experience that is holding you back, get some voluntary work in and you will have a job in no time.

Being pro active about your lack of experience displays all the right qualities an employer is looking for and its also a great addition to your cv.

Hope this helps, let us know how you get on fella

[dataDave]

Can you still claim job seekers allowance whilst doing voluntary? Some people don't have the luxury of still living at home.

I'd hate to have to be homeless and hungry whilst trying to do a technical job, your mind wouldn't be anywhere near on it.