> That may come naturally. But the difference between good and great engineers is decided when the task is hard and information is sparse. Asana is explicitly s

> That may come naturally. But the difference between good and great engineers is decided when the task is hard and information is sparse. Asana is explicitly selecting for people who are going to reason about things from first principles and try to get it right the first time. I admire that they're owning up to that. > They'll pass over people who are exceptionally good at searching / synthesizing information. I also admire that they are upfront about this, but the attitude in general rubs my classical engineering self the wrong way. "[R]eason[ing] about things from first principles" is not the same thing as having those first principles memorized. That was one thing my undergrad taught me repeatedly. Engineering isn't about memorizing formulas, it is about learning what those formulas mean, how to use those formulas, and when to apply them to a task at hand. Software engineering should be no different. Expecting people to solve hard and novel problems with no resources whatsoever is ludicrous.