Software engineer given test at JFK to prove he's an engineer

Donald Trump's temporary immigration ban and the ensuing heightened security procedures for travellers from outside the US have caused a great deal of trouble for visitors to the country.

On Sunday, though, things got taken to the next level when the Customs and Border Protection office reportedly claimed its latest victim: 28-year-old Celestine Omin, who was travelling from Lagos, Nigeria on business.

Omin, a software engineer at Andela - a tech startup that connects developers in Africa with U.S employers - had a particularly unwelcoming reception when he deplaned at John F. Kennedy Airport and was given a test to prove he was actually a software engineer.

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A LinkedIn post detailing Omin's challenging experience explained that upon landing in New York after spending 24 miserable hours on a Qatar Airways flight, he was given some trouble about the short-term visa he obtained for his trip.

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According to the post, an unprepared and exhausted Omin waited in the airport for approximately 20 minutes before being questioned by a Customs and Border Protection officer about his occupation. After several questions were asked, he was reportedly brought to a small room and told to sit down, where he was left for another hour before another customs officer entered and resumed grilling him.

"Your visa says you are a software engineer. Is that correct?" the officer reportedly asked Omin. After verbally confirming his occupation, Omin was given a piece of paper and a pen to test his knowledge as a software engineer.

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Omin was instructed to answer the following questions:

"Write a function to check if a Binary Search Tree is balanced."

"What is an abstract class, and why do you need it."

[embed]https://twitter.com/cyberomin/status/835888786462625792[/embed]

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