5 ms·

I once skipped the "simple programming exercise" part of the interview process for someone who was senior, and severely regretted it when it turned out he strug

by dminor 12y ago

I once skipped the "simple programming exercise" part of the interview process for someone who was senior, and severely regretted it when it turned out he struggled with basic programming tasks. He had a nice code sample (pre-github era).

cpeterso 12y ago
Yes. I've interviewed "senior software engineers with 10+ years of C++ experience" that could not tell me the difference between a char and a char pointer.
- Iftheshoefits 12y ago
  How is that even possible? Are you sure they weren't just having (to be crude) a brain fart? Some of these stories about super experienced ("10+ years") developers not being able to answer the most basic of basic syntax or "algorithm" questions seem far-fetched to me.
  - hkmurakami 12y ago
    I've also heard of a story where an "Expert in C" (verbatim from resume) thought that the * in the sample source code was a typo. I'm not sure how this is possible either, but the world works in mysterious ways.
  - cookiecaper 12y ago
    Consider that most "valid" implementations of fizzbuzz are wholly dependent on awareness of the target language's modulo operator. Self-taught programmers can easily overlook that, and if a specific language is requested, it's easy to not know the syntax even if the concept is understood. Really I don't think those sort of on-the-spot tests/trivia questions are representative by themselves. They may be a useful part of a larger investigation. Two things to stop code sample plagiarism: choose a unique code challenge and, if you're really worried about it, give the client a laptop and tell them to bang something simple out right there and come back in 30-60 minutes to check. Honestly, though, I've rarely depended on either code samples or code trivia to determine if someone is a good hire. If you sit and talk about dev with a person, you can tell if they're on their game or not 90% of the time. The sample/on-the-spot tests can help weed out that extra 10%.
  - snowwrestler 12y ago
    It's possible if the person lied on their resume about actually having 10+ years of experience.
- herghost 12y ago
  I interviewed a self-declared "biometrics expert" once. When I see "expert" on a CV I have learned to become cynical. I asked him about his expertise and he spoke in platitudes about it - at a sort of BBC News kind of level. I'm certainly not an expert but I know sufficient to be able to ask useful questions about it. He couldn't tell me anything at all about biometrics. I continued to probe. Turns out that by "biometrics expert" he quite unashamedly meant he had, at the request of a manager, bought a USB fingerprint reader from PC World and installed it so that his manager didn't have to use a password any more.
  - cookiecaper 12y ago
    >When I see "expert" on a CV I have learned to become cynical. One has to play this game on marketing documents to be considered. For some reason "pretty good, definitely still learning" doesn't click with many HR people. You can't really blame candidates for trying to get hired by presenting themselves in an authoritative context. I don't consider anyone an actual expert in something unless they have hard, indisputable credentials, like a long history of commits to the core project (for expertise in specific software/languages/frameworks), etc.
    - herghost 12y ago
      I completely agree that it's a sales vs. HR thing, and that the onus is on the candidate to make themselves appear as the best product on the market. But something about "expert" really grates on me. I think it's that it is a self-anointed title in nearly all cases. There are legitimately experts in lots of different areas - if you happened to invent IDS, for example, you go right ahead and call yourself an expert. If you happen to have run a bunch of Snort rules across a prod environment for a year or two, you might be "experienced", go on, stretch it to "highly experienced" for all I care, but if you stretch it to "expert" then paint me cynical.

by dminor 12y ago

cpeterso 12y ago

Yes. I've interviewed "senior software engineers with 10+ years of C++ experience" that could not tell me the difference between a char and a char pointer.

Iftheshoefits 12y ago
How is that even possible? Are you sure they weren't just having (to be crude) a brain fart? Some of these stories about super experienced ("10+ years") developers not being able to answer the most basic of basic syntax or "algorithm" questions seem far-fetched to me.
- hkmurakami 12y ago
  I've also heard of a story where an "Expert in C" (verbatim from resume) thought that the * in the sample source code was a typo. I'm not sure how this is possible either, but the world works in mysterious ways.
- cookiecaper 12y ago
  Consider that most "valid" implementations of fizzbuzz are wholly dependent on awareness of the target language's modulo operator. Self-taught programmers can easily overlook that, and if a specific language is requested, it's easy to not know the syntax even if the concept is understood. Really I don't think those sort of on-the-spot tests/trivia questions are representative by themselves. They may be a useful part of a larger investigation. Two things to stop code sample plagiarism: choose a unique code challenge and, if you're really worried about it, give the client a laptop and tell them to bang something simple out right there and come back in 30-60 minutes to check. Honestly, though, I've rarely depended on either code samples or code trivia to determine if someone is a good hire. If you sit and talk about dev with a person, you can tell if they're on their game or not 90% of the time. The sample/on-the-spot tests can help weed out that extra 10%.
- snowwrestler 12y ago
  It's possible if the person lied on their resume about actually having 10+ years of experience.
herghost 12y ago
I interviewed a self-declared "biometrics expert" once. When I see "expert" on a CV I have learned to become cynical. I asked him about his expertise and he spoke in platitudes about it - at a sort of BBC News kind of level. I'm certainly not an expert but I know sufficient to be able to ask useful questions about it. He couldn't tell me anything at all about biometrics. I continued to probe. Turns out that by "biometrics expert" he quite unashamedly meant he had, at the request of a manager, bought a USB fingerprint reader from PC World and installed it so that his manager didn't have to use a password any more.
- cookiecaper 12y ago
  >When I see "expert" on a CV I have learned to become cynical. One has to play this game on marketing documents to be considered. For some reason "pretty good, definitely still learning" doesn't click with many HR people. You can't really blame candidates for trying to get hired by presenting themselves in an authoritative context. I don't consider anyone an actual expert in something unless they have hard, indisputable credentials, like a long history of commits to the core project (for expertise in specific software/languages/frameworks), etc.
  - herghost 12y ago
    I completely agree that it's a sales vs. HR thing, and that the onus is on the candidate to make themselves appear as the best product on the market. But something about "expert" really grates on me. I think it's that it is a self-anointed title in nearly all cases. There are legitimately experts in lots of different areas - if you happened to invent IDS, for example, you go right ahead and call yourself an expert. If you happen to have run a bunch of Snort rules across a prod environment for a year or two, you might be "experienced", go on, stretch it to "highly experienced" for all I care, but if you stretch it to "expert" then paint me cynical.