90
NeverK
7y

You know what's the difference between
- static page written purely in HTML with inline styling
and
- dynamic page generated in PHP, that actually loads data from MySQL database and is correctly styled in separate CSS document
on national level exam necessary to earn a title of technician?
ONE HACKING PERCENT!

Ok, backstory. So, few days ago I got results from that exam. To be honest, it was very, very easy so I wasn't worried at all, unlike some of my classmates who just don't understand programming at all (you need at least 75% to pass). Our task was to create database, write website in PHP that shows contents of that database and use CSS to give it a look that of example web page and run it on XAMPP. I've got result of 96% and while I was wandering what I've done wrong i hear my colleague almost screaming with joy "I passed! And I haven't even touched PHP. I was soooo sure I'll fail." So I asked him what's his result and he says 95%. And then another colleague said he got 95% without PHP. So, in other words what I thought to be the main task was worth 1%. Apparently, what was more important was for the page to look identical to the example, so I guess some examiners didn't even look into the source. And don't get me wrong, I don't wish my classmates had failed. That's not why I'm ranting. But why in the name of Ada Lovelace the task said to use PHP and all that if it weren't supposed to check our knowledge of programming in PHP? Sometimes I think the people who design these tests don't even know what they're doing.

Comments
  • 31
    As long as it looks shiny, most people don't care if it's all muddy behind...
  • 9
    @abr4xas Whoops, I never know when to stop. So:
    tl;dr Important exam that checks your PHP knowledge. Doesn't matter if you know it or not, as long as page looks like the example you get almost the same rating.
  • 0
    @NeverK you can share it?
  • 1
    @abr4xas Sorry, I'm not sure if I understood correctly what you meant, but the exam itself took place over 2 months ago. The rant doesn't contain any personal or unavailable info. The questions and some of the results are already public. Sooo... I'm just salty, because the test result doesn't actually represent anything.
  • 7
    The scary thing is, I would not be surprised in the least if the people grading that exam DIDN'T, in fact, know anything about programming.

    Company probably hired a consultant to create the test, then administration (who also knows nothing about programming) just hired part timers to match the results to the example. I mean, seriously, you can only "program" something ONE way, right?!
  • 2
    You should have added a flying unicorn once the data is inserted into the DB. That's where you went wrong.
  • 0
    I know that feel
  • 2
    The answer:
    The examiners check the code by right clicking the page and choosing "View page's source".
    No backend for them! :D
  • 2
    ++ for "in the name of Ada Lovelace"
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