Hi,

We're currently advertising for an IT Administrator (jack of all trades role, helpdesk crossed with some sys admin and software dev) in Christchurch for Enatel Ltd.

To help speed up filtering the applications, I decided to have a go at putting a puzzle on the ad. There are 3 parts to it and not a single person in 3 weeks has hit the 3rd part, but I have had plenty of applications with incorrect answers.

I'm after feedback to see if this is too hard, or alternatively, if you're interested in the role, let me know!

The whole idea of it is that the steps / answers aren't obvious off the top of your head, but it shows that you can read the question, google if you have to and then interpret and apply your skills to get the results. I've had other people that don't do this stuff for a living test it and complete it within a minute.

The ad states that you need to be familiar with C# and that part of the role is dealing with staff (who may say things in odd ways that you need to be able to convert into their actual request).

/// <summary>For bonus points, include the answer
/// to the question below in your cover letter.
/// <para>I wonder what the TXT record for the return value
/// of puzzle("jobapplication") would show?</para>
/// </summary>
private string puzzle(string question)
{
var answer = "txtrecord.enatel.net";
string s1 = "it";
string company = "www.enatel.net";

if (question.IndexOf(answer[2]) >= 10)
return company.Replace(company.Substring(0, s1.Length + 1),
question.Substring(0, company.IndexOf('\x6C')/3));

Console.WriteLine(answer);

return s1 + company.Substring(3);
}