3 ms·

I’ve never even heard of an interviewer knocking someone for having more than one language on their resume. I’m not saying you need 10 or all the trendiest thi

I’ve never even heard of an interviewer knocking someone for having more than one language on their resume. I’m not saying you need 10 or all the trendiest things. You need at least 2. Programming is a job of constant problem solving. If you’ve done the job close to 10 years and never seen a problem with the language that you are using...that actually tells me more about you than any other question I can answer. It tells me that you are married to one stack, you’re invested in it, you’re probably going to be highly resistant to solutions that don’t fit in that box. And it tells me that because languages are all about trade offs because there isn’t a perfect language out there. It tells me that you have your hammer. People are strongly confusing my comment with “know all the cool tech trends and program in your spare time constantly”. I did not say that. I said use ONE additional language if you’ve been working for more than 5 years. ONE. It’s a very low bar and if that is shocking, silly or offensive it is probably worth it to take a hard look at why. You could meet that criteria in a single weekend if you wanted to. This isn’t directed at you but the comments I’ve seen so far.

FLUX-YOU 9y ago
>You could meet that criteria in a single weekend if you wanted to. But that's the issue: one person will like that I spent a weekend on that, someone else will start asking technical questions when it was really just a hobby project. I don't want to answer questions on that because I'm not likely to give good/correct/interesting answers. It's only served me well in the first case when they didn't ask any questions and chose to instead focus on my strengths. It's on my resume, so it's fair game to them.
astura 9y ago
>If you’ve done the job close to 10 years and never seen a problem with the language that you are using Only having professional experience with %LANGUAGE% does not mean you've never seen a problem with %LANGUAGE%. Why on Earth would you assume that? If you're doing paid work you get minimal input on what technology stacks the projects you are working on use and 99.9% of the time that decision has already been made before your arrival. In fact, they could be looking for a new job because they want to change stacks, I know a few people who changed jobs just for that reason. Someone's single weekend "Hello World" project is completely irrelevant when I'm looking to hire a developer with 10 years experience. >It tells me that you are married to one stack, you’re invested in it, you’re probably going to be highly resistant to solutions that don’t fit in that box. Absolute nonsense.
- brightball 9y ago
  > Why on Earth would you assume that? Because you've been in the field for 10 years and never once looked for a solution to that problem. It's a giant red flag. > Absolute nonsense. Explain why please. That's basic human behavior.
  - astura 9y ago
    If you are doing paid work you work with the tools you are told to work with. You don't get to go off on your own and do what you want. That, however, doesn't preclude you from understanding the flaws of your tools. In fact, I'd expect someone to be an expert in knowing the limitations of a language they have worked with for so long. That doesn't even mean you like your tools or you'd prefer to use them over other tools if given the choice. Your jumping to completely unwarranted conclusions and it makes it sound like you have very little real world professional experience interviewing and hiring.
    - brightball 9y ago
      I said I'd treat it as a red flag. You're assuming it's a rejection checkbox. The interview will still determine everything. The process I've been using to evaluate hires for the last decade or so has yielded excellent results.
ThrowawayR2 9y ago
> You could meet that criteria in a single weekend if you wanted to. So, basically, it's just a absurd arbitrary criterion? I don't think there's anybody on the planet who could claim proficiency in a new language in a single weekend's exposure. Most won't even remember anything it about a week later with that little exposure. Logically, your requirement is meaningless.
- brightball 9y ago
  Addressed here already: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15593500 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15593500

FLUX-YOU 9y ago

>You could meet that criteria in a single weekend if you wanted to. But that's the issue: one person will like that I spent a weekend on that, someone else will start asking technical questions when it was really just a hobby project. I don't want to answer questions on that because I'm not likely to give good/correct/interesting answers. It's only served me well in the first case when they didn't ask any questions and chose to instead focus on my strengths. It's on my resume, so it's fair game to them.

astura 9y ago

>If you’ve done the job close to 10 years and never seen a problem with the language that you are using Only having professional experience with %LANGUAGE% does not mean you've never seen a problem with %LANGUAGE%. Why on Earth would you assume that? If you're doing paid work you get minimal input on what technology stacks the projects you are working on use and 99.9% of the time that decision has already been made before your arrival. In fact, they could be looking for a new job because they want to change stacks, I know a few people who changed jobs just for that reason. Someone's single weekend "Hello World" project is completely irrelevant when I'm looking to hire a developer with 10 years experience. >It tells me that you are married to one stack, you’re invested in it, you’re probably going to be highly resistant to solutions that don’t fit in that box. Absolute nonsense.

brightball 9y ago
> Why on Earth would you assume that? Because you've been in the field for 10 years and never once looked for a solution to that problem. It's a giant red flag. > Absolute nonsense. Explain why please. That's basic human behavior.
- astura 9y ago
  If you are doing paid work you work with the tools you are told to work with. You don't get to go off on your own and do what you want. That, however, doesn't preclude you from understanding the flaws of your tools. In fact, I'd expect someone to be an expert in knowing the limitations of a language they have worked with for so long. That doesn't even mean you like your tools or you'd prefer to use them over other tools if given the choice. Your jumping to completely unwarranted conclusions and it makes it sound like you have very little real world professional experience interviewing and hiring.
  - brightball 9y ago
    I said I'd treat it as a red flag. You're assuming it's a rejection checkbox. The interview will still determine everything. The process I've been using to evaluate hires for the last decade or so has yielded excellent results.

ThrowawayR2 9y ago

> You could meet that criteria in a single weekend if you wanted to. So, basically, it's just a absurd arbitrary criterion? I don't think there's anybody on the planet who could claim proficiency in a new language in a single weekend's exposure. Most won't even remember anything it about a week later with that little exposure. Logically, your requirement is meaningless.

brightball 9y ago
Addressed here already: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15593500 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15593500