Saturday, March 05, 2011
If you used mstest and NUnit you might be aware of the fact that the former doesn't support dynamic, data driven test cases. For example, the following scenario cannot be achieved with the out-of-box mstest: given a dataset, create distinct test cases for each entry in it, using a predefined generic test case.
The best result that can be achieved using mstest is a single testcase that will iterate through the dataset. There is one disadvantage: if the test fails for one entry in the dataset, the whole test case fails.
So, in order to overcome the previously mentioned limitation, I decided to create a text template that will generate the test cases for me. As an example, I will write some tests for an integer multiplication function that has 2 bugs in it:
Read more >>
[Cross post from victorhurdugaci.com]
Saturday, March 13, 2010
This post is for those who want to apply or have already applied (but not finished the interview) for a Microsoft Job. The recruitment process is quite similar for everyone and consists of a few steps.
- Application
- E-Mail Interview
- Phone Interview
- On Site Interview
I will tell you my story and how I went through the four phases.
1. Application
My blog's title (Ex Nihilo Nihil Fit) means "Nothing Comes Out of Nothing". You can't get a job at Microsoft by not doing anything - this is true for anything else. The first step you need to complete is the application process.
For this, many options are available. You can...
- ... apply online on Microsoft's Careers website as I did
- ... send your CV to different e-mail addresses (there are some dedicated e-mails for different positions)
- ... apply through some 3rd party organization (job shop, campus recruitment, job agency, etc)
On MS Careers you just have to post your CV and choose the job you want. That's all! No recommendation letter, no cover letter, no nothing. Of course, not every CV passes the selection process. Here are some tips for improving your resume (worked for me):
- Don't write it just before applying! Write a draft version, wait a few days and then review it. This way you will find a lot of mistakes and stupid things you wrote initially. If you review it immediately after writing, your mind will not be criticism oriented and will just ignore mistakes. Repeat the write-wait-review process as many times as necessary, until you find that the review revealed no mistakes.
- After you did the final review and the CV is bullet-proof, ask others to review it. They will definitely find inconsistencies and mistakes and this will make you feel stupid. This is good because will open your eyes will make you go into an 'I want to improve' mode. You'll try to correct everything. After you come up with a modified version go again through steps 1 and 2. Repeat this as many times as necessary. [Special thanks to Lucian Sasu, Nadia Comanici, Andrei Ciobanu, Monica Balan and Lavinia Tanase for reviewing my CV!]
- Make it short and give only relevant facts. Initially, I come up with a 5 pages CV because I wrote every single technology with which I worked. There were a lot irrelevant things, I wrote Windows Workflow Foundation just because I played with it for a few days. I added extensive descriptions for every project, made a personal details section (name, birth date, address, etc) of 1/2 page. Others suggested to cut everything that was not necessary. You don't need to give extensive descriptions, just add a few words. For example, I wrote "VS Image Visualizer - Visual Studio 2008 debug visualizer for images" and added a link to the project's page - you submit formatted andcan embed links.
- Add something that makes it different. I don't know if this makes a difference, but I added some lines to separate items just like in the picture below. Definitely Microsoft gets thousands of CVs per day. You need something special.
- Don't lie! Tell exactly what you did and what is the proficiency level of your skills. For example, don't write "Advanced" for UML if you don't know the difference between composition and aggregation. Be realistic and don't under/over estimate yourself.
- Use the spell chick. Make sure everything is written in correct English and there are no grammar/spelling mistakes. Noddy likes a WC with grammar mi takes. You mght fail just because of that.
Once you completed your CV, choose the job that suits best your needs, apply and wait... The waiting is a problem because all these big companies like Microsoft, Google, Mozilla, Apple, etc. will contact you only if they find something interesting in your application. If you're not suitable, then no rejection is sent.
I applied for an Intern Software Development Engineer position at Microsoft Redmond. I cannot apply for a full time position because I want to finish the master program on time, in the next summer - an internship is just what I need.
2. E-Mail Interview
January 20, 2010. Two months since I submitted the CV. I wasn't hoping anymore that MS will contact me, when I got an e-mail titled: "Victor Hurdugaci ES DK" from Holly Peterson saying:
Read more >>
Saturday, February 20, 2010
It is hard to believe that six months passed since I was stepping, worried, out of the terminal in the Schiphol airport, in Amsterdam. Meanwhile I went home once but this is another story. What am I doing at the Technical University of Delft? Well... It's simple: "I'm busy". I work, now, on 4 projects, all software related. Mostly sure you are not interested in what I do with distributed algorithms or domain specific languages. So, I'll present the most interesting project. The QR.
The QR is a Quad Rotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicle developed by another department from the University. We are struggling to do doing the software that will make it fly. The software is made of two parts: one part running on a PC and another running inside the QR. The device is not yet advanced. Currently it has the minimum necessary in order to stabilize in air (gyroscopes, accelerometers and engines). In future, cameras, wireless interfaces and other gadgets will become available.
Today was an important day because we had the first engine test. Read more and see the movie>>
Monday, February 15, 2010
A few days ago I was getting bored and decided to to something fun. Yes, you can get bored at TUDelft... Well, actually you don't get bored, you get sick of all the work you have to do (apologies to anyone offended by this). So in a quest of something fun but still productive I found Conway's Game of Life.
Game Of Life
The Game of Life is not really a game because no one plays it. It is a cellular automaton, a zero player game in which the only human interaction is the initial setup. Then the game evolves by itself under the constraint of some rules, until it gets to a stable state.
Read the rest of this entry >>
Monday, November 16, 2009
I have released a free open source debug visualizer for Visual Studio.
It allows developers to inspect the content of System.Drawing.Image objects, graphically, in debug mode. Compared to other visualizers is a little more advanced because it allows zooming and panning and it gives information about the pixel's color under mouse.
If you work a lot with images you will find this really useful - I made it for me in the first place because couldn't find something similar.
Check the project page and provide feedback or propose new features. Project page: http://victorhurdugaci.com/projects/vsimagevisualizer/
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
I have 3 prizes for my readers: 1 license of HandyBackup Pro and 2 licenses of HandyBackup Standard.
In order to avoid duplicate posting follow this link to join the contest:
http://victorhurdugaci.com/11-contest/
There you'll also find why "11-11-11-11" :)
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Today is a big day:
Windows 7 is here
Sunday, October 18, 2009
I wrote on my main blog a small review for Office Live Apps - the Google Docs alternative from Microsoft.
Read the review
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
Sunday, July 19, 2009
I am proud to announce that SkypeGadget was downloaded more than 100.000 from gallery.live.com.
There is a problem with the posted date but I remember that I uploaded it on gallery.live.com at the beginning of 2008 (or late 2007). So, I think that it was downloaded 100K times in ~19 months.
SkypeGadget is a Windows Vista Sidebar gadget that allows you to control Skype. If you want to download SkypeGadget and/or get more info about it, visit the project page at: http://victorhurdugaci.com/projects/skypegadget/.