This brilliant post by Eric Lippert is one I wish I’d had available to point to last month when I spoke to some software engineering undergrads.
Links
A rant on programmers who can’t program
I came across this post today and wasn’t sure what to make of it. In my current job and my previous one, interviewing potential hires for programming was part of my job. I can’t say I ever used “FizzBuzz” types of questions on candidates, and I’m not sure that would tell me the sort of things I need to know about someone. I find myself asking a lot more design questions and process questions with perhaps one or two programming questions thrown in. But before even getting to that stage, I have to feel good about their resume. I think the majority of people give you enough information in their resume that you can figure out whether a phone screen is worthwhile in a relatively short period of time.
The Honest Boss
Some friends of mine on a mailing list I belong to are having an interesting dialogue on ways to deal with co-workers when they make mistakes. One of the list members posted a link to the interview with an honest boss e-card from Hallmark. Mostly, it’s good for a laugh. But what the “honest boss” says about promotions is a bit too true to be funny.