Hiring guide for Elixir Range Engineers

Elixir Range Developer Hiring Guide

Elixir Range is a dynamic, functional programming language designed for creating scalable and maintainable applications. It was first released in 2011 by José Valim, a Ruby on Rails core team member, with the aim to enable higher extensibility and productivity in the Erlang VM environment. Elixir Range leverages the Erlang BEAM VM, known for its low-latency, distributed, and fault-tolerant systems. It also provides productive tooling and an extensible design, supporting metaprogramming with macros and polymorphism via protocols. This information is sourced from the official Elixir language website and José Valim's personal blog.

Ask the right questions secure the right Elixir Range talent among an increasingly shrinking pool of talent.

First 20 minutes

General Elixir Range app knowledge and experience

The first 20 minutes of the interview should seek to understand the candidate's general background in Elixir Range application development, including their experience with various programming languages, databases, and their approach to designing scalable and maintainable systems.

What is the use of Range in Elixir programming?
Range in Elixir is used to create a sequence of numbers or characters. It is often used in loops and comprehensions.
How would you create a range in Elixir?
You can create a range in Elixir using the '..' operator. For example, '1..5' creates a range from 1 to 5.
What are the key characteristics of Elixir Range?
Elixir Range is a data type that represents a sequence of one or many numbers. It is immutable and can be enumerated.
How would you reverse a range in Elixir?
To reverse a range in Elixir, you can use the 'Enum.reverse/1' function. For example, 'Enum.reverse(1..5)' will return '[5, 4, 3, 2, 1]'.
What would the result of 'Enum.to_list(1..3)' in Elixir?
The result of 'Enum.to_list(1..3)' in Elixir would be a list of numbers from 1 to 3, i.e., '[1, 2, 3]'.
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What you’re looking for early on

Does the candidate have a strong understanding of Elixir's syntax and semantics?
Has the candidate demonstrated experience with OTP (Open Telecom Platform)?
Is the candidate able to solve complex problems using Elixir?
Does the candidate show good understanding of concurrent and distributed programming?

Next 20 minutes

Specific Elixir Range development questions

The next 20 minutes of the interview should focus on the candidate's expertise with specific backend frameworks, their understanding of RESTful APIs, and their experience in handling data storage and retrieval efficiently.

Describe the difference between ranges and lists in Elixir.
Ranges in Elixir are a sequence of numbers, while lists can contain any type of elements. Ranges are more memory-efficient than lists when dealing with large number of elements.
How would you check if a number is within a range in Elixir?
You can use the 'in' operator to check if a number is within a range in Elixir. For example, '2 in 1..3' will return 'true'.
What is the result of 'Enum.count(1..1000000)' in Elixir?
The result of 'Enum.count(1..1000000)' in Elixir would be '1000000'. It counts the numbers in the range from 1 to 1000000.
How would you convert a range into a list in Elixir?
You can convert a range into a list in Elixir using the 'Enum.to_list/1' function. For example, 'Enum.to_list(1..3)' will return '[1, 2, 3]'.
What are the performance implications of using ranges in Elixir?
Ranges in Elixir are more memory-efficient than lists when dealing with large number of elements. However, accessing elements in a range is slower than in a list.
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The ideal back-end app developer

What you’re looking to see on the Elixir Range engineer at this point.

At this point, a skilled Elixir Range engineer should demonstrate strong problem-solving abilities, proficiency in Elixir Range programming language, and knowledge of software development methodologies. Red flags include lack of hands-on experience, inability to articulate complex concepts, or unfamiliarity with standard coding practices.

Digging deeper

Code questions

These will help you see the candidate's real-world development capabilities with Elixir Range.

What does the following Elixir code do?
IO.puts Enum.reduce(1..10, 0, &+/2)
This code prints the sum of all numbers from 1 to 10. It uses the Enum.reduce function to iterate over the range and accumulate the sum.
What will be the output of the following Elixir code?
IO.inspect Enum.take(1..100, 5)
The output will be the first 5 elements of the range, i.e., [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. The Enum.take function is used to take the first n elements from the enumerable.
What does the following Elixir code do?
IO.inspect Enum.map(1..5, fn x -> x * x end)
This code prints the squares of the numbers from 1 to 5. It uses the Enum.map function to apply the anonymous function to each element in the range.
What does the following Elixir code do?
Task.async(fn -> Enum.each(1..1000, &IO.puts/1) end)
This code prints the numbers from 1 to 1000 asynchronously. It uses the Task.async function to execute the operation in a separate process.

Wrap-up questions

Final candidate for Elixir Range Developer role questions

The final few questions should evaluate the candidate's teamwork, communication, and problem-solving skills. Additionally, assess their knowledge of microservices architecture, serverless computing, and how they handle Elixir Range application deployments. Inquire about their experience in handling system failures and their approach to debugging and troubleshooting.

How would you iterate over a range in Elixir?
You can iterate over a range in Elixir using the 'Enum.each/2' function. For example, 'Enum.each(1..3, fn x -> IO.puts(x) end)' will print the numbers from 1 to 3.
What is the result of 'Enum.member?(1..3, 2)' in Elixir?
The result of 'Enum.member?(1..3, 2)' in Elixir would be 'true'. It checks if the number 2 is in the range from 1 to 3.
Describe the difference between 'Enum.map(1..3, &(&1 * 2))' and 'Stream.map(1..3, &(&1 * 2))' in Elixir.
The difference is that 'Enum.map' immediately processes the entire range and returns a list, while 'Stream.map' returns a stream that will only process the elements when they are enumerated.

Elixir Range application related

Product Perfect's Elixir Range development capabilities

Beyond hiring for your Elixir Range engineering team, you may be in the market for additional help. Product Perfect provides seasoned expertise in Elixir Range projects, and can engage in multiple capacities.