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Maybe try to figure out how and why there can be devs with experience yet no programming ability: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12826364 https://news.yc

Maybe try to figure out how and why there can be devs with experience yet no programming ability: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12826364 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12826364 My theory is that the state of technology is that people are able to use APIs, libraries, and Stack Overflow code to muddle through most business requirements. And if that's true, perhaps the standards of an engineer have shifted? If those people actually did work at those companies for those many years, surely they did something of business value? Or maybe the questions being asked in technical interviews are no longer germane to the actual day to day experience of coding? I'm not saying you should necessarily hire those people, but perhaps all of those articles that go "Why can't our programmers program???" should stop pearl-clutching and actually try to figure out why that is.

meshko 10y ago
I've interviewed probably dozens of people who couldn't code, but never worked with one. I've had plenty of bad coworkers, but all of them could write code to a degree where they would pass basic coding interview. I assume there is just a large population of people who can't do anything at all, and they just migrate from one company to another, coasting there w/o doing anything for a couple of years, because firing is hard. I keep remembering this story i heard from a co-worker. He worked at a giant laptop repair shop. There was a guy there who didn't know how to fix anything. He stayed for a year or so, and then finally was let go. They found dozens of spare parts in his drawers -- he would just order random parts from the warehouse to imitate work, and leave them in his desk. This is part of the unspoken dues that corporations pay to the society, creating this hidden safety net for people who are just not good at what they do, or perhaps just can't do anything. It is both good and terrible. I am glad that this safety net exists, but it is really disparaging to these people. I wish society had a better way of helping them.

meshko 10y ago

I've interviewed probably dozens of people who couldn't code, but never worked with one. I've had plenty of bad coworkers, but all of them could write code to a degree where they would pass basic coding interview. I assume there is just a large population of people who can't do anything at all, and they just migrate from one company to another, coasting there w/o doing anything for a couple of years, because firing is hard. I keep remembering this story i heard from a co-worker. He worked at a giant laptop repair shop. There was a guy there who didn't know how to fix anything. He stayed for a year or so, and then finally was let go. They found dozens of spare parts in his drawers -- he would just order random parts from the warehouse to imitate work, and leave them in his desk. This is part of the unspoken dues that corporations pay to the society, creating this hidden safety net for people who are just not good at what they do, or perhaps just can't do anything. It is both good and terrible. I am glad that this safety net exists, but it is really disparaging to these people. I wish society had a better way of helping them.