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I once worked with some very, very successful direct marketing people, and along the way gathered some stellar advice on common advertising tropes. One of these

I once worked with some very, very successful direct marketing people, and along the way gathered some stellar advice on common advertising tropes. One of these is, "don't talk down to your audience." Few people challenge this axiom of marketing, but the real insight lies in identifying what's "talking down". It's easy to assume that you must intend to talk down to your audience in order to fall in to this trap, but it's just as easy for down-talking elements to enter your marketing organically. "This guy is fast" talks down to your audience because it assumes that there is no more subtle way to illustrate the rating feature, which can also be understood by your audience. You should change this ASAP. The people conducting coding interviews are often programmers, and this overly simplistic means of evaluation will make them feel objectified in a big way. They will associate that objectification with this tool, and they will avoid it at all cost.

pbhjpbhj 13y ago
Speed of response is surely a valid metric. The "upvote" I noticed was something along the lines of "very good string manipulation". The audience of course is people who want to hire "coders" and not simply anyone that might fall under that description. Wouldn't they be doing themselves a disservice by assuming that none of their target market are interested in how fast a candidate can arrive at and implement a solution? Perhaps you're being a bit too touchy? It is of course a normal human response to being put under the spotlight in such a way as to reduce your worth to basic metrics.
asadlionpk 13y ago
I for one, do take speed as a measure too when interviewing a candidate. This and how quick he came up with a solution, very much show how good the candidate is.
- JoeAltmaier 13y ago
  But like any test-taking situation speed depends upon your frame of mind. Candidate can clutch because they're hyper-aware of the time pressure. Not how they'd normally behave. SO there's a lot of noise in that measure.
  - asadlionpk 13y ago
    I agree, also, as a programmer I don't usually like someone looking at my code over my shoulder.

pbhjpbhj 13y ago

Speed of response is surely a valid metric. The "upvote" I noticed was something along the lines of "very good string manipulation". The audience of course is people who want to hire "coders" and not simply anyone that might fall under that description. Wouldn't they be doing themselves a disservice by assuming that none of their target market are interested in how fast a candidate can arrive at and implement a solution? Perhaps you're being a bit too touchy? It is of course a normal human response to being put under the spotlight in such a way as to reduce your worth to basic metrics.

asadlionpk 13y ago

I for one, do take speed as a measure too when interviewing a candidate. This and how quick he came up with a solution, very much show how good the candidate is.

JoeAltmaier 13y ago
But like any test-taking situation speed depends upon your frame of mind. Candidate can clutch because they're hyper-aware of the time pressure. Not how they'd normally behave. SO there's a lot of noise in that measure.
- asadlionpk 13y ago
  I agree, also, as a programmer I don't usually like someone looking at my code over my shoulder.