Where can I take an online programming aptitude test/exam?

Talent - are we all born with it?

• Does aptitude help determine whether you are able to be accomplished in occupations like computer programming? Why is that one man or woman can draw or paint while another is lost when trying to do so? In music - why do some people have tuneful pleasant singing voices while others, the far majority I may add, sound terrible behind a mike? Why do some learn to play a tune on an instrument in 5 mins while others take decades to do the same? Why do some grasp difficult mathemtical concepts with ease while others flounder and fail. Why is it that one man in America holds the all time record for new patents of inventions, a record which may never be broken. Think about it, The United States of America would not have been the amazing power it is today were it not for the special talents of Germans and Russians like Werner Von Braun, Hyman G. Rickover and Albert Einstein to name a few, who made it possible for the U.S. to enter the nuclear and the space age with their special talents. Finally, there's the super-normal people. People like Uri Geller who can bend a spoon with his mind and David Blaine who can tell you which card you are thinking of (he did it once on Oprah). So is it in people's upbringing, their environment, their genes or what? I always believed everybody in the world to be special. Everyone aspires to be someone. Yet could it be that nature has blessed only a lucky few with the above-mentioned special abilities or can the rest of us always be able with diligence, perserverance and hard work achieve likewise? That is my question. Your thoughts will be appreciated.

• Answer:

  everyone in the world is born with something special about them. Its up to them to pursue and embrace their special attributes. Sometimes, i dont know if this has been scientifically studied, but i like to think that everyone has one special talent. But that person can practice, and train, and study and work hard in order to acheive other talents. I believe that with very little practice, someone with the talent to sing can sing a celion dion song perfectly. I believe in the sayings: "god given talent" or "you were born to sing/dance/act/etc." Being someone who has experienced realizing my "god given talent", i believe that everyone can be amazing at something, they just have to put their mind to it. Sometimes, the irony that Einstein, Von Braun and all the others helped us defeat them with their technology is staggeringly uncanny, their race shouldn't change their intelligence or capability of helping to win a war. Yes, everyone aspires to be someone else. But sometimes, i think people need to pulled back down to earth and just aspire to be who they are. And yes, we may all possibly achieve the likewise, but that may not be god's plan for you and you just can't. But still, I believe that hardwork can achieve the likewise, but if god doesn't like it, it won't happen. Although im not a spiritual godly person, i believe that god wants some of us to rocket to fame and fourtune for their talent while others rather live content with their talent until their big break comes. Yes, everyone has a big break for their talent to become a career. Just look at american idol. These are normal, everyday people becoming a mega star from their talent from god. Sometimes though, your given talent is never found, but yet again, that was god's plan. If you were born to play guitar but never picked a guitar up, then thats how god planned it. We all have the petencial to become a rock star, or a writer, or a singer, or a ballet dancer or whatever god wants you to be. I believe that nature has blessed all of us, but then put the responsiblity of embracing talent in our hands and if we don't embrace it, then we don't. God, nature, or any friends or family will not think any lesser of you if you dont find your talent. I doubt talent has anything to do with the upbringing of a person but i do think that if a small child finds their (lets say guitar playing talent) when they are little and a parent embraces it, then they have more of a chance of pursuing their talent when their older. On the contrary, if a parent discourages a childs talent that is not only mean, it its harming their future. I hope this answers your question in extent.