Hello DetachedDutyScout, and welcome to the Monastery!

I can’t answer your specific question, so I hope you’ll forgive me for instead offering an anecdote from my own experience:

As we neared the end of our final year, my fellow BInfTech students and I received an invitation for a job interview with a company specialising in C++. Some of us decided to apply. I remember arriving late (the company was about an hour and a half’s drive away from where I lived, and I missed the turnoff!), and being given an initial IQ-type test. After that the exact sequence is hazy, but I found myself in a full-on psychological evaluation outsourced to a professional psychologist who was on site for the purpose. “When did you last cry” is the one question I remember from the battery of similar questions I was asked. After that (I think) I was given a written test using a database-description language I had never heard of. At last, I was ushered into the inner sanctum to be interviewed one-on-one by the big boss. When this interview (a harrowing experience) was over, and I was ready to make my escape, I was dumbfounded to be told: “You’d better go and get some lunch before we complete the interview process”!

Looking back, I don’t know what I was thinking, but I obediently went off and bought lunch and then returned. I was shown over the office (a separate building) where the programming was done. I noted that the programmers all wore ties, and most of these were decorated with illustrations of Dr. Seuss’s Cat in the Hat. Then I had another one-on-one interview, this time with my prospective team lead, who, despite his obvious youth, was introduced to me as a C++ guru. (He also happened to be the son of the big boss.) When I finally emerged from the interview process, I was limp and somewhat dazed, and the day was nearly over.

The following day I was offered the job: entry-level salary, minimum 2 or 3 year commitment from me (“we’re not going to waste our time training you only to have you leave before you give us any value”), MS certification to be obtained by me on my own time. I politely declined the offer.

I’m not making any of this up.

It seems to me that the battery of tests, interviews, more tests, more interviews, etc., etc., told me far more about the company than they learned about me. I’ve never regretted my decision.

DetachedDutyScout, if I were in your position I would probably take the test, if only to see what it was. (You can always decline to submit an answer: “If that’s an indication of the kind of work I would be doing, I have to say it doesn’t interest me.”) But I would look carefully at the company before committing to working for them. Not saying they wouldn’t be good to work for — they might turn out to be great employers — just saying, don’t let the interview process intimidate you into forgetting that you are also interviewing them as to salary, working conditions, etc.

Anyway, thanks for letting me get that off my chest — I feel a little better now. :-)

Cheers,