4 ms·
You can never be sure. If you do know coding (and I mean, are in the "senior-to-expert" category), there's a chance you'll be able to get a feel of what a guy c
by photawe 7y ago
You can never be sure. If you do know coding (and I mean, are in the "senior-to-expert" category), there's a chance you'll be able to get a feel of what a guy can do by asking a lot of questions and by looking at public source code (such as github). That won't actually guarantee the candidate will perform as you wish, since in real life, there are so many things that you missed/can go wrong. Case in point: a few years ago, I had an project that I simply didn't have time to handle, so I sub-contracted it to a former boss of mine (a guy I deeply respect to this day). I would have never guessed he would not be able to handle it -- I wanted him to work on it 15-20 hours/week, and be up to speed in 2-3 days. This is far from what happened, so I ended up doing the project myself (I have no idea how I found the time). But long story short, even though he's a very very good programmer, he still couldn't handle the pressure. That says a lot about "regular joes" that can say all the right things, answer questions right, and still not perform well in the long term.
Having said that, the best bet (assuming you are in this category -- senior-to-expert), I would recommend hiring someone as a 3-6 months trial, and then see how it goes.
If you don't know coding, my take is you'll NEVER be able to know how a candidate can actually code -- don't even attempt hiring in this case.
- inertiatic 7y agoWho wants to get hired on a 3-6 month trial basis? Not established competent programmers is the answer, unless you're paying at least FAANG salaries.
- photawe 7y agoI would say - if you're truly competent, you won't be afraid. If you're incompentent, that's a different story
- doingmyting 7y agoIf you're truly competent you'd just take one of the myriad of jobs being thrown at you with no strings attached. Why on earth would you choose a potentially temporary setup rather than an immediately permanent one?
- inertiatic 7y agoYes, because no competent person has ever failed in a hiring process.
- rafiki6 7y agoThere's a subjective term if I've ever heard one. Who decided I'm truly competent? What happens if I'm truly competent but I outshine someone who's influential enough that doesn't want me around? What if I'm truly competent, but I wasn't setup for success? What if I'm truly competent but...you get the idea. If you want a contract resource, hire a contract resource and if they perform well ask them to stay after. These are people who've decided for whatever reason they are happy to contract. Don't offer a person looking for a full time gig a 3 month contract in the hopes of being hired. Be upfront and honest with people.
- photawe 7y agoi never said to be dishonest - maybe I wasn't clear enough. What I meant was this "You specify from the get-go you want to hire the guy, but he'll start on a 3-6 month trial basis. If all goes well, you'll continue and give him a full contract".
- omosubi 7y agoWhy would you apply for a job where you are "truly competent"? Don't most engineers want to be challenged when they are looking for a new job? Shouldn't people who are looking for this sort of thing have a sense that they may fall short?
- muzani 7y agoI end up taking those. The problem is that the interview process in tech is frustrating. It's not just the anxiety, whiteboards, being judged for having a beard. It's also that applications can go on for weeks before having a response, and due to the volume of applications, just writing applications take hours. The higher the pay grade, the more loops you have to jump through, the more people have to approve you. If I can skip 2 weeks of interviewing for 2 weeks of trial work, I take it. The downside is that employers rarely have the balls to let go of someone who was trialed this way. And sometimes even if someone does poorly, many companies don't have the luxury of trying to find someone else. It seems to benefit the applicant much more.
- stevekemp 7y agoIt is common in Europe that when you accept an offer there will be a probation-period; say you'll sign a job offer and it'll say something like "During the first six months either side can terminate the agreement with XX-days/weeks notice." I suspect this is because it is a little harder to fire people here than it might be in America with the whole "at will" employment approach you tend to have.