So, this apprentice thing hasn’t exactly been working out the way I expected it to… The second exam, while a neat idea suffers from a few fatal flaws.
Firstly, I’ve been lazy, and when not lazy, I’ve been wrapped up in a multitude of other things. The second problem I come up with is trying to write a test like this without it just becoming more about “what I know” than about actually teaching people. Lastly, the type of people I would want to target are exactly the sort of people who could learn all this stuff on their own, without a test to verify their knowledge – just given the right direction to look for information in.

So, here’s the plan: I’m dropping the apprentice idea. If you wanted to be involved and wanted to learn something, you’re still welcome to ask me; I’m still interested in answering questions and pointing people in the right direction.
I still have a number of projects going on, and I would still like to allow members of the community to be involved with them, and I will still have high entry standards for joining such projects.

I’ll post on this blog when I have projects going on; I have one now (that I’ll post right after this post). If you want to be involved in a project, email me: sgstair [at] akkit [dot] org.
My criteria for allowing people onto projects is going to be entirely subjective, but things that I expect from people who are interested are: a good knowledge of C/C++, some understanding of the workings of the DS, and some understanding of how to write secure code. Other requirements will be present for more complex projects, of course… and some of those will be starting eventually.

Also, to all of you who participated in the first round of the apprentice exam – thanks! Sorry it didn’t go further in that form, but if you’re still interested.. that’s what this is for! I’m presently hesitating to send out the “results” of the first round, mainly due to the high subjectivity of my ratings; however if someone convinces me otherwise, I might reverse my position. I do hope to get to work with some of you in these coming projects :)