4 ms·

About 1 out of 100 people i interviewed actually know how computers work Either you're really, really crappy at filtering resumes and other pre-interview signa

About 1 out of 100 people i interviewed actually know how computers work Either you're really, really crappy at filtering resumes and other pre-interview signalling - or you're exaggerating.

sleepybrett 4y ago
Strong disagree. I know many programmers these days that really don't have any idea how a computer works. It's been abstracted away from things they need to worry about 99.9% of the time.
- wyclif 4y ago
  And people need to distinguish between "can't describe the boot sequence in detail", or "doesn't know SQL registers" and someone who may very well be a productive employee.
  - lisasays 4y ago
    And the fun part is - everyone (who favors this aggressive interview tactic) seems to have their own set of shibboleth definitions which -- for them -- are magical tells as to whether someone is bozo / plodder or not. For some, it's the boot sequence of a PC. For others, it's the Liskov Substitution Principle. For others, it might precise definitions of all the database transaction or normalization levels. That is - pieces of genuinely useful knowledge, to be sure. Stuff we probably should have been exposed to at least once. But also stuff that, once we've gotten the basic point - is easy to slip out of our muscle memory over the years. Especially as we end up doing, you know, real work for real people. And we start to develop genuine technical horse sense that goes beyond the ability to memorize (and retain for years and years) zillions of verbal definitions for things.
    - sleepybrett 4y ago
      I want to be clear, i've hired several engineers who don't know how computers actually work. It's fine, there are certain optimization tasks I would probably assign to someone else maybe to pair with the less educated engineer, but other than that the code they are working on is so absurdly abstracted from the metal it really doesn't matter that much.
- lisasays 4y ago
  I know many programmers these days that really don't have any idea how a computer works. No doubt they exist - but they aren't 99 percent of all resume-screened applicants. Let alone co-workers.
simplotek 4y ago
I'd wager that OP is one of those types who see hiring rounds as a chance to feel self important by grilling prospective recruits on useless trivia over inane details that have zero practical relevance, and leverages that to belittle candidates who fail trivia questions and sacrifices them in his altar of self importance.

About 1 out of 100 people i interviewed actually know how computers work Either you're really, really crappy at filtering resumes and other pre-interview signalling - or you're exaggerating.

sleepybrett 4y ago

Strong disagree. I know many programmers these days that really don't have any idea how a computer works. It's been abstracted away from things they need to worry about 99.9% of the time.

wyclif 4y ago
And people need to distinguish between "can't describe the boot sequence in detail", or "doesn't know SQL registers" and someone who may very well be a productive employee.
- lisasays 4y ago
  And the fun part is - everyone (who favors this aggressive interview tactic) seems to have their own set of shibboleth definitions which -- for them -- are magical tells as to whether someone is bozo / plodder or not. For some, it's the boot sequence of a PC. For others, it's the Liskov Substitution Principle. For others, it might precise definitions of all the database transaction or normalization levels. That is - pieces of genuinely useful knowledge, to be sure. Stuff we probably should have been exposed to at least once. But also stuff that, once we've gotten the basic point - is easy to slip out of our muscle memory over the years. Especially as we end up doing, you know, real work for real people. And we start to develop genuine technical horse sense that goes beyond the ability to memorize (and retain for years and years) zillions of verbal definitions for things.
  - sleepybrett 4y ago
    I want to be clear, i've hired several engineers who don't know how computers actually work. It's fine, there are certain optimization tasks I would probably assign to someone else maybe to pair with the less educated engineer, but other than that the code they are working on is so absurdly abstracted from the metal it really doesn't matter that much.
lisasays 4y ago
I know many programmers these days that really don't have any idea how a computer works. No doubt they exist - but they aren't 99 percent of all resume-screened applicants. Let alone co-workers.

simplotek 4y ago

I'd wager that OP is one of those types who see hiring rounds as a chance to feel self important by grilling prospective recruits on useless trivia over inane details that have zero practical relevance, and leverages that to belittle candidates who fail trivia questions and sacrifices them in his altar of self importance.