Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84 + RN 4.3; site inset.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!mit-eddie!genrad!panda!talcott!harvard!seismo!mcvax!ukc!stc!inset!dave From: dave@inset.UUCP (Dave Lukes) Newsgroups: net.unix-wizards Subject: Re: code quality Message-ID: <768@inset.UUCP> Date: Wed, 30-Oct-85 06:54:52 EST Article-I.D.: inset.768 Posted: Wed Oct 30 06:54:52 1985 Date-Received: Sat, 2-Nov-85 07:44:02 EST References: <2012@brl-tgr.ARPA> <8952@ritcv.UUCP> <312@codas.UUCP> <132@desint.UUCP> Reply-To: dave@inset.UUCP (Dave Lukes) Organization: The Instruction Set Ltd., London, UK. Lines: 39 Xpath: stc stc-a (Note, I speak here as someone who is a) seldom involved in personnel selection, b) sick and tired of total incompetents being hired simply because they are ``qualified'' to do the job.) In article <132@desint.UUCP> geoff@desint.UUCP (Geoff Kuenning) writes: >I just ask interviewees to bring along a code sample. If they can't >produce one, or I don't like what I see, no job. That's dangerous (Was the code written by them, or stolen from wherever they last worked?). Ideally, I would like interviewees to be asked to code some small and simple function to a given spec. at the interview. (They would also have to defend their code afterwards against a strong cross examination by the interviewer(s).) This method is also problematic, unfortunately, because many people get frightened by interviews and their ``coding muscles'' would probably freeze up. The main reason I'd like to do this is simply because ``I have 10 years of programming experience'' often really means ``I've managed to avoid actually writing any real code for 10 years by changing jobs whenever my current employer is about to realise how incompetent I am '' (Remember, many projects have long development times, and people are reluctant to sack employees, so it may take a long time ...) Unfortunately, most employers use strange and arcane methods (academic qualifications, references, number of years on the job) when deciding who to employ: none of which actually measures someones ability to DO THE JOB. Yours unqualifiedly, Dave.