4 ms·

Now, to place this in context--was this at a company in Japan, with (by you even!) well-documented social norms about how technically incompetent employees are

Now, to place this in context--was this at a company in Japan, with (by you even!) well-documented social norms about how technically incompetent employees are dealt with, or was this with a company with more conventional engineering culture?

patio11 12y ago
This is not a Japanese-only thing. It is a thing so common in America that there is a named test to detect it -- FizzBuzz [+] -- and this test, or one like it, actually catches many people out. [+] c.f. Any of the following and note that they're from the nation of, ahem, conventional engineering culture: http://imranontech.com/2007/01/24/using-fizzbuzz-to-find-developers-who-grok-coding/ http://imranontech.com/2007/01/24/using-fizzbuzz-to-find-dev... http://blog.codinghorror.com/why-cant-programmers-program/ http://blog.codinghorror.com/why-cant-programmers-program/ http://www.globalnerdy.com/2012/11/15/fizzbuzz-still-works/ http://www.globalnerdy.com/2012/11/15/fizzbuzz-still-works/ I would note that a common theme in these posts is "I thought it was a myth but then I tried hiring and the boogeyman sprung to horrifying life."
- ig1 12y ago
  Not that it invalidates your larger point, but I feel I should point out that I invented FizzBuzz while primarily interviewing European candidates in London :)
- tessierashpool 12y ago
  I've seen it too. I think, if you haven't seen it, it's either due to luck or sample size.