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When I interview people, I am less interested in their specific experience than I am in their ability to think and troubleshoot problems. Google solves the kno

When I interview people, I am less interested in their specific experience than I am in their ability to think and troubleshoot problems. Google solves the knowledge problem but doesn't solve the problem of intelligently using that info. I imagine other employers are similar, and given the high demand for tech workers, you might be surprised at the reactions.

HeyLaughingBoy 11y ago
I do the same, but from reading a lot of comments in similar threads here, it seems that we're a minority. Many (most?) employers want to hire people with only the exact skills & technologies they're currently using. I was hired into my original position here knowing absolutely nothing about the language or the technology. Like you, my manager just wanted raw talent that could be retrained and it worked out for him. That's probably colored my interviewing practices over the years, but an awful lot of people don't want to take that kind of a risk.
- VLM 11y ago
  "but an awful lot of people don't want to take that kind of a risk" I would agree with and extend your remarks in that its a window into how the company handles risk. There have been companies that have blamestorming meetings to punish the people who selected employees that didn't work out. I had an experience with that leveraging an inside contact for info, and I was pretty pissed off at that time, but now that I'm older and wiser I am so unimaginably happy I didn't get a job at a company mismanaged like that.
millzlane 11y ago
I would enjoy working with people who think this way. I interviewed at Cisco last week and got hung up on a couple of technical questions about the mount command in Linux. Long story short it seemed like the interviewer wanted me to know every option or switch for the commands he asked about. I would have just looked in man pages for the switch that I required or the usage. For commands I would hardly ever use even on a production system. He told me my Linux skills were weak ha. It may be true, but at least I could find the answer without google. The hosting company I interviewed at told me to feel free to Google it, "I'm good I just need man pages." It's like knowing how to spell. Just because you don't know how to spell a word doesn't mean you don't know how it's used in a sentence. If you know how to locate the word in a dictionary you have the right answer.

HeyLaughingBoy 11y ago

I do the same, but from reading a lot of comments in similar threads here, it seems that we're a minority. Many (most?) employers want to hire people with only the exact skills & technologies they're currently using. I was hired into my original position here knowing absolutely nothing about the language or the technology. Like you, my manager just wanted raw talent that could be retrained and it worked out for him. That's probably colored my interviewing practices over the years, but an awful lot of people don't want to take that kind of a risk.

VLM 11y ago
"but an awful lot of people don't want to take that kind of a risk" I would agree with and extend your remarks in that its a window into how the company handles risk. There have been companies that have blamestorming meetings to punish the people who selected employees that didn't work out. I had an experience with that leveraging an inside contact for info, and I was pretty pissed off at that time, but now that I'm older and wiser I am so unimaginably happy I didn't get a job at a company mismanaged like that.

millzlane 11y ago

I would enjoy working with people who think this way. I interviewed at Cisco last week and got hung up on a couple of technical questions about the mount command in Linux. Long story short it seemed like the interviewer wanted me to know every option or switch for the commands he asked about. I would have just looked in man pages for the switch that I required or the usage. For commands I would hardly ever use even on a production system. He told me my Linux skills were weak ha. It may be true, but at least I could find the answer without google. The hosting company I interviewed at told me to feel free to Google it, "I'm good I just need man pages." It's like knowing how to spell. Just because you don't know how to spell a word doesn't mean you don't know how it's used in a sentence. If you know how to locate the word in a dictionary you have the right answer.