+! to heinstrom. PHP Please.

I know basic HTML, does that count x)

Don't bother entering. It's just a way to weed out the annoying ad-blocking programs out there. Don't help them!

"i agree with both @heinstrom & @mzavros - how about judging potential candidates on what they've already accomplished instead of the amount of free work they'll do for you. Everybody wanting something for nothing." I have no resume submitted so your comment and sentiments about them judging candidates doesn't really apply to me. That being said, I do have a bit of a qualm with your statement? What does doing irrelevant algorithmic design and implementation do to help them? Are they going to use my "Hello World!" and the two seconds of programming to make millions? Should I be paid for doing a simple genetic inheritance problem involving kittens? What work am I missing here? I feel like there's a lot of anger in the Software world because everyone's learning these scripting languages and aren't getting the "recognition" they want. The problem is that everyone's ignoring that Spotify, while a music streaming service, runs in a client on the user's computer, not a web application. Also, to compare the difficulty and "accomplishments" of mastering PHP and Ruby to mastering such strongly typed languages such as Java and C++ is daft. I'm not discrediting either language or people who live by them, but since they ARE testing for algorithm design, it's my theory that they're looking for performance boosts. Now, if we're looking at languages I may use for a performance boost or hiring someone to do just that, am I going to want someone experienced in an interpreted language which using creates a ton of overhead as a result or the or someone experienced in a true compiled (and performance) language, C++. It's not referred to as a Middle-Level language for nothing. Yeah, technically it's high-level, but unless we go to something like Assembly, you'd be hard pressed to find a language with that many features of both high and low level languages. Even then, Spotify isn't even truly a web app. It runs in a compiled client built in C++ with an HTML mark up language built in-house to be used solely for Spotify. Not to mention, a clone of it, "deSpotify", is built in Java. That's why they're looking for people well versed in these languages. Even just for in theory, C++ crushes PHP and Ruby in all aspects of the game outside of ease use, quick development, and web applications. Even there, Ruby isn't too great for high levels of use, indicated by Twitter's highly public scaling and performance issues with Ruby on Rails, so Spotify, a business dependent on a stable infrastructure with stability at high bandwidth levels, probably would want to shy away from it. Not to mention, it's a much easier transition from C++, C, and Java to PHP/Ruby than it is from PHP/Ruby. There's a reason basic intro CS classes start in scripting languages and move up into compiled languages. If, though, you think that a few simple algorithm design and implementation problems (that shouldn't take more than a casual evening to finish) is worth more than a possible prize, being noticed by a decently popular company, or just pride in your skills, you must be the next Zuckdawg working on hood rat stuff that would blow my mind. I just know that I'd sure enjoy a possible prize to make up for the hours I've learned algorithmic design, computational complexities theory, and countless hours spent converting C++ to Assembly to Machine Code to learn the intricacies for absolutely nothing. Maybe that's just me, though.