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Hey, Do you think it's common to get an interview take-home test like this...

Write a Python script that:- Downloads the Equity bhavcopy zip from the above page- Extracts and parses the CSV file in it- Writes the records into Redis into appropriate data structures(Fields: code, name, open, high, low, close)
Write a simple CherryPy python web application that:- Renders an HTML5 + CSS3 page that lists the top 10 stock entries from the Redis DB in a table- Has a searchbox that lets you search the entries by the 'name' field in Redis and renders it in a table- Make the page look nice!

Commit the code to Github. Host the application on AWS or Heroku or a similar provider and share both the links.

Comments
  • 4
    Seems like a slave job, but some companies give a real task and ask you to do it before they accepted you
  • 1
    @devTea So should I do it?
  • 1
    @techcatchers use your guts!
  • 2
    @devTea guilty.
    Easiest way to weed out a developer who knows what they are doing.

    The shitty "algo tests" can be learnt in a day or copy/pasted, actually building a real world scenario shows you're ability to understand a feature and implement it, it also shows your attention to detail when you miss some of the requirements.

    You're coding style won't change a great deal either over different parts of the stack so it's usually easy to identify when you wrote it vs when you copied it out of SO.
  • 2
    @C0D4 I assume they haven't even viewed my resume and portfolio as I have link trackers in place which don't show any clicks on mail.

    This is why I seem to be skeptical about doing the task.

    And redisDB and CherryPy aren't even mentioned in my resume. So should I learn them and apply them here?
  • 1
    Dunno if it's common. But I like it. I'd do it if I were you. I had a task like that once and it was hell of a fun! :)
  • 0
    @techcatchers is it a company or a dev shop?

    Also if you applied directly, were these in the job / stack description?

    If it was through a recruiter then your probably missing details about what you will be working with.
  • 0
    @techcatchers so they're sending you a task without even looking at your resume?

    i'd write back how i'm not considering it a hiring process but freelance work since they aren't considering your application and if they'd agree to your usual hourly rate or if they want an offer on the task :-p
  • 0
    Nope, it's not a take-home assignment.

    In my view a take-home task is supposed to be an offline or only download task, not an upload to a possibly runnable environment!
  • 1
    I wouldn't do it tbh, I had an interview where they gave me a task, but it was a simple non production ready thing, while in your case it is more like a parsing tool they want to use later on. In my case they didn't tell us send the compiled APK, nor they even ran the app, they simply checked my skills ...
  • 1
    It's your take, but a friend of mine had appeared for something similar (a two day task) and wrote some really good TDD code, was able to google, get a math heavy algo, understand it and implement it within a day... And they rejected him.

    Its surprising that these 'tasks' are becoming more common than ever. I do understand that they test a vast array of one's skillset, but when someone is applying to a plethora of companies, and each one of them presents you with such tasks, it gets quite stressful in a very short duration.

    To top it off, after cracking the interview, they are not able to negotiate in terms of pay, which is pretty common here
  • 0
    @C0D4 It's a quite popular startup which is gaining momentum in the market.

    There wasn't much on the description except emphasis on Python and knowing OOPs.

    There wasn't even experience mentioned there.

    I applied directly for an entry to mid level position in the company.
  • 1
    @gitpush That's what most of the companies look for and I understand that but giving a task that does not match up my skill sets is quite unreasonable and hosting into a production environment, why?

    Probably they want some automation done for free. And it's not that I can't implement by learning it quickly but most of the companies I am interviewing either sends a case study which just shows it as a sample or directly goes for face to face interview but here they haven't even looked at my resume.

    What the fuck?

    No experience mentioned too.
  • 1
    @techcatchers this is why you are better off rejecting them, it doesn't look right, its like I ask for a personal driver then tell him he'll be put in a tank platoon wtf
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