Today I had to drive 3 hours to IBM Portsmouth (the UK headquarters) to do another test for my graduate entry application. I did the first test (IBM’s own aptitude test) online a few days ago, and passed, which was unsurprising since I’ve done them twice before without failing. Today I had to do a confirmatory aptitude test on paper, which I guess is for two reasons:
- To check I didn’t cheat on the online one by having someone help me
- Because they have only this year started doing them online and I think they have found the results have skewed on the matrix processing because people tend to react differently to patterns in data on a screen than on paper.
I deduce this by the fact that I only had to sit the matrix processing section again, not the math or the numerical pattern recognition, and that I found the paper version much easier than the online version. Based on how far through the questions I got on each one, the paper one was statistically more than 50% easier than the online one.
I then had to do a Basics of Programming (or BOP) test, which was like sitting a first year compsci paper. And by first year, I mean first year in sixth-form (that’s like junior year of high school for you crazy Americans). On top of that, there is a handicap factor based on how much programming experience you have, but only work experience. So, my work experience is 10 months, whereas I have been programming in my spare time for 8 years. If I haven’t aced this test I will be very surprised. I finished 10 minutes early and didn’t even feel the need to check my answers, so I spent the rest of my time watching ducks and geese on the lake outside the window.
So, long story short, I expect to be called tomorrow by recruitment and for them to tell me to get down to an interview on Monday. Unfortunately this interview will also be about 2½ hours away and have an 8.30am start, which is nobody’s friend on a Monday morning.
All this and IBM may not even be my first choice when I graduate. Not that I’m going to tell them that.
