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> I prefer to bring people in and have them pair with people on real things, that are really happening, that are entirely representative of the real work and th

> I prefer to bring people in and have them pair with people on real things, that are really happening, that are entirely representative of the real work and the real team dynamics. That should be the most important test, but most of the daily realistic work is really a matter of practice. By testing it you really test how much practice with that particular toolchain and workflow the person had, not how smart or good programmer they are. Brainteasers are unrealistic and relying just on them is stupid, but they give you some insight in how good in quick thinking someone really is. If I was looking for a newbie to train, I'd always prefer someone who can't finish the real world test, but knows how to think technically, to the opposite.

im_down_w_otp 7y ago
Even if they don't know the tools or languages, which in our case they're almost certainly not going to (Rust, Agda, TLA+, etc.), you get to see how they interact with a situation where they need to be able to direct some of their own learning by seeing if they ask questions, if they can synthesize insights despite lack of deep familiarity, how they react to having naivety exposed, etc. Most of the challenging work is collaborative problem solving, not exam proctoring, and it's important to see how a person interacts with that. You'll see how much direction they're likely to need, if they can navigate and contribute positively to team dynamics, and so on.
- dwohnitmok 7y ago
  You don't happen to be working on cryptocurrencies do you? I'm surprised to hear of Agda being used in production.
  - im_down_w_otp 7y ago
    We don't work on cryptocurrencies. Right now we work on automated testing & verification tools for "cyber-physical systems". Our target markets & customers often have safety-critical considerations. We use Agda to create proofs for some of the components of our platform.

im_down_w_otp 7y ago

Even if they don't know the tools or languages, which in our case they're almost certainly not going to (Rust, Agda, TLA+, etc.), you get to see how they interact with a situation where they need to be able to direct some of their own learning by seeing if they ask questions, if they can synthesize insights despite lack of deep familiarity, how they react to having naivety exposed, etc. Most of the challenging work is collaborative problem solving, not exam proctoring, and it's important to see how a person interacts with that. You'll see how much direction they're likely to need, if they can navigate and contribute positively to team dynamics, and so on.

dwohnitmok 7y ago
You don't happen to be working on cryptocurrencies do you? I'm surprised to hear of Agda being used in production.
- im_down_w_otp 7y ago
  We don't work on cryptocurrencies. Right now we work on automated testing & verification tools for "cyber-physical systems". Our target markets & customers often have safety-critical considerations. We use Agda to create proofs for some of the components of our platform.