3 ms·
The only three things that matter: - situational thinking / problem analysis (what do you assume, why do you assume it, how do you clarify extremely vague ques
by warrenm 5y ago
The only three things that matter:
- situational thinking / problem analysis (what do you assume, why do you assume it, how do you clarify extremely vague questions)
- culture fit (are you going to get along with everyone else on the team)
- curiosity / willingness to learn / change tracks as the group/company's needs change through time
Everything else is tertiary at best
- grldd 5y agoYou described a junior.
- warrenm 5y agoNope - I described everyone I've ever interviewed who's been any good, from intern to senior architect
- Jensson 5y agoA good junior will at some point gather experience and become a good senior. Which of those aspects would you say change when they become a senior? Otherwise I don't see why this doesn't apply to seniors as well, a bad junior is unlikely to learn a lot while a good junior will make the most of their experience and become a great senior, so looking for the same things in seniors as you do juniors makes sense. Checking for "senior" skills doesn't make sense however, everyone learns different things from their experience, if you gatekeep based on things you learned as a senior then you will miss out on a lot of experience in things you didn't experience yourself, it is much better to just test for good core attributes and value their years of experience based on those, as other than that there is no way to properly evaluate high level senior level skills unless they have the exact same skills as you.
- brodouevencode 5y agoRE the last point: if the candidate mentions side projects, I'll typically probe there. It shows me they have a genuine curiosity and probably a motor. Anyone with a motor and is a good cultural fit will succeed quickly.
- warrenm 5y agoSide projects may show curiosity ... but I definitely don't gate-keep if you don't have any side projects Side projects outside their "lane" are far more interesting to me (eg you're a Rust developer and on the side breed cornish game hens, for example) - demonstrating that you're "an and"[0] shows you can draw from multiple fields to find solutions ---------- [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30855775 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30855775
- brodouevencode 5y agoFair point, but it is a good indicator.