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Yeah all you have to ask is questions like why did you use A instead of B? Did you run into any problems implementing that? It doesn’t take long before people

Yeah all you have to ask is questions like why did you use A instead of B? Did you run into any problems implementing that? It doesn’t take long before people start stammering and deflecting if they’re full of shit.

username90 7y ago
Why wouldn't a person be able to answer those questions? You were on the standups, you know whatever issues they had, you were on the design meetings, you know what alternatives were considered and why they weren't chosen. Being able to walk through someone else's thought process is a lot easier than doing the actual work. The end result is that you will hire people for high level roles like tech leads or architect who are very mediocre at what they do since they sound like a star performer at the interview. All you need to get a good career in such an environment is just to job hop a lot and at every job you mostly try to gather impressive things people around you do in order to sound impressive in the next interview. I bet a no small fraction of CEO's went that route, and I think it is a pattern we should avoid since it is so easy to test actual coding skills in tech.
- itronitron 7y ago
  You keep mentioning design meetings as a source of technical insight that a person can co-opt as their own expertise. If you steer your interview questions more towards things that are 'solo' in nature then you might have a better job of identifying people that have more software development experience. An example of such a question could be ... can you tell me about a time that you tracked down a bug that you at first thought was not possible but later identified and found a solution for?
- dahart 7y ago
  > Why wouldn’t a person be able to answer those questions? Why would they? You’re making assumptions. Being in standup doesn’t mean you understand so well you can talk about it. Knowing why good decisions were made and actively making good decisions are two completely separate things. Do you think you’d be prepared to be the lead singer or guitar player for a band if you memorized every note of every song of your favorite band? Would it help if you listened to all their podcasts, read all their books, studied their history? Would it help if you were their roadie or even their manager or producer? The answer is no, being near them and witnessing their output does not equip you to mimic their creative process, or to even understand it. Same goes for programming. > Being able to walk through someone else’s though process is a lot easier than doing the actual work. I’d say that’s true, and is exactly why you’d catch a liar in the unlikely event they made it through the interview process. > All you need to get a good career [...] is just to job hop a lot Yeah, it’s so easy. So do it! You have to keep lying and continue to convince every single company. You’d have to avoid people ever finding out and/or avoid companies calling each other for references. This takes so much effort, it’s literally easier to go to grad school and become an amazing programmer. What is making you think a lot of people are doing all this lying? Are there people around you that you suspect are lying? > I bet a no small fraction of CEO’s went that route, and I think it is a pattern we should avoid since it is so easy to test actual coding skills in tech. Multiple enormous problems with that sentence. CEOs don’t need coding skills, they need organizational skills, sales skill, communication skills and a host of other things, none of which are writing code unless you’re in a startup. (And then CEO is a goofy term anyway.) You’re speculating. If a huge number of CEOs are faking it, then it should be easily demonstrable, so find some evidence. When CEOs fake it, the result is the company goes out of business. It turns out we do avoid this “pattern” because it’s not really a pattern, it by and large isn’t happening, and there are many forces preventing it from happening that you’re not acknowledging. Last but not least, coding skills in tech aren’t the most important. They’re very important, but not the most important. Teamwork, communication, attitude, and goals are all more important than actual coding skills.
UK-Al05 7y ago
"people start stammering and deflecting if they’re full of shit. " - I think what your evaluating there is charisma.
- Aeolun 7y ago
  It’s possible you are interviewing that one charismatic fraud, but what’s more likely is that you’re just interviewing the mediocre developer caught in a lie.
  - UK-Al05 7y ago
    Or a introverted developer who's nervous and not very confident at interviews. Which is very likely.
    - Aeolun 7y ago
      I have yet to meet the first introverted developer that does not open up and become enthusiastic when asked to talk about one of his (personal) projects. I’ll admit they may exist though.

username90 7y ago

Why wouldn't a person be able to answer those questions? You were on the standups, you know whatever issues they had, you were on the design meetings, you know what alternatives were considered and why they weren't chosen. Being able to walk through someone else's thought process is a lot easier than doing the actual work. The end result is that you will hire people for high level roles like tech leads or architect who are very mediocre at what they do since they sound like a star performer at the interview. All you need to get a good career in such an environment is just to job hop a lot and at every job you mostly try to gather impressive things people around you do in order to sound impressive in the next interview. I bet a no small fraction of CEO's went that route, and I think it is a pattern we should avoid since it is so easy to test actual coding skills in tech.

itronitron 7y ago
You keep mentioning design meetings as a source of technical insight that a person can co-opt as their own expertise. If you steer your interview questions more towards things that are 'solo' in nature then you might have a better job of identifying people that have more software development experience. An example of such a question could be ... can you tell me about a time that you tracked down a bug that you at first thought was not possible but later identified and found a solution for?
dahart 7y ago
> Why wouldn’t a person be able to answer those questions? Why would they? You’re making assumptions. Being in standup doesn’t mean you understand so well you can talk about it. Knowing why good decisions were made and actively making good decisions are two completely separate things. Do you think you’d be prepared to be the lead singer or guitar player for a band if you memorized every note of every song of your favorite band? Would it help if you listened to all their podcasts, read all their books, studied their history? Would it help if you were their roadie or even their manager or producer? The answer is no, being near them and witnessing their output does not equip you to mimic their creative process, or to even understand it. Same goes for programming. > Being able to walk through someone else’s though process is a lot easier than doing the actual work. I’d say that’s true, and is exactly why you’d catch a liar in the unlikely event they made it through the interview process. > All you need to get a good career [...] is just to job hop a lot Yeah, it’s so easy. So do it! You have to keep lying and continue to convince every single company. You’d have to avoid people ever finding out and/or avoid companies calling each other for references. This takes so much effort, it’s literally easier to go to grad school and become an amazing programmer. What is making you think a lot of people are doing all this lying? Are there people around you that you suspect are lying? > I bet a no small fraction of CEO’s went that route, and I think it is a pattern we should avoid since it is so easy to test actual coding skills in tech. Multiple enormous problems with that sentence. CEOs don’t need coding skills, they need organizational skills, sales skill, communication skills and a host of other things, none of which are writing code unless you’re in a startup. (And then CEO is a goofy term anyway.) You’re speculating. If a huge number of CEOs are faking it, then it should be easily demonstrable, so find some evidence. When CEOs fake it, the result is the company goes out of business. It turns out we do avoid this “pattern” because it’s not really a pattern, it by and large isn’t happening, and there are many forces preventing it from happening that you’re not acknowledging. Last but not least, coding skills in tech aren’t the most important. They’re very important, but not the most important. Teamwork, communication, attitude, and goals are all more important than actual coding skills.

UK-Al05 7y ago

"people start stammering and deflecting if they’re full of shit. " - I think what your evaluating there is charisma.

Aeolun 7y ago
It’s possible you are interviewing that one charismatic fraud, but what’s more likely is that you’re just interviewing the mediocre developer caught in a lie.
- UK-Al05 7y ago
  Or a introverted developer who's nervous and not very confident at interviews. Which is very likely.
  - Aeolun 7y ago
    I have yet to meet the first introverted developer that does not open up and become enthusiastic when asked to talk about one of his (personal) projects. I’ll admit they may exist though.