3 ms·

I do a lot of interviews, and I interview plenty of programmers who have 10+ years experience or so they say. Knowledge of Java, C#, C++, Python, etc in their

I do a lot of interviews, and I interview plenty of programmers who have 10+ years experience or so they say. Knowledge of Java, C#, C++, Python, etc in their resume. Most cannot tell the difference between private and protected. Most have no idea what an abstract class is or a static variable. Let's not even talk about an interface. The vast majority have no idea what transactions are. These are stupid basic things. I don't ask any library or framework questions. I stick to the basics, to the core language. It's the most depressing thing ever. I don't even go into language specific details. I understand why there are so many unemployable programmers. They let themselves rot. :-(

logfromblammo 11y ago
I have done a lot of interviews where I was told that I was the single strongest candidate on the tech screen. I would be told, in the interview, that I correctly answered questions that no other previous candidate could, often prefaced with "I don't know exactly, but if I had to guess..." And then I never hear from them again. I am not making this up. And this has happened on multiple occasions. I get strong positive feedback during an interview, then the company falls into a black hole. They don't contact me. They don't return phone calls or email. Ever. It happens at least once a month, whenever I start looking for new jobs.
- segmondy 11y ago
  That's rather unfortunate. I will never say that to someone and not offer them the job, unless they have a personality problem.
  - logfromblammo 11y ago
    In my case, the personality problem might be the ever-increasing paranoia that I'm being rejected on the basis of some outlawed or unethical criterion, and subsequently ignored upon orders from the corporate legal or PR department. It's one of several plausible hypotheses I have for the observed behavior. Very few are compatible with a healthy future employer-employee relationship. This is one reason why I hate the brainteaser questions. I was told for one such question that I was the only candidate to give the correct answer. Then the interviewer suggested that I must have encountered it previously, even after seeing me "showing my work" on a whiteboard. Can't win; if you didn't lose, you must have cheated. That company blackholed me after I flew in from another city to spend a day-long interview with them. They didn't even reimburse me for my personal travel expenses. It was Spatial, owned by Dassault, near Denver, in case anyone cares. That was, in fact, the second Denver-based company to do exactly the same thing to me. The first flew me in, interviewed almost all day, then cut off all contact, didn't pay travel expenses, and even tried to stick me with the cost of the hotel stay by canceling their payment. That was Tyler Tech, Eagle Division. Neither are unique in cutting off all contact, but they certainly are remarkable in waiting until after an in-person interview by a non-local candidate to do so.
ryandrake 11y ago
What salary range do you offer (or is you company known for offering)? There might be something you're doing that pre-selects the good developers out, or pre-selects the crappy ones in. Hint: If you are offering "market rate" or "competitive" salaries, you're probably going to get mostly dog applicants.
s73v3r 11y ago
Well, one thing you have to ask yourself is, if the majority of people you're getting are crap, why don't the people you want apply at your company?

logfromblammo 11y ago

I have done a lot of interviews where I was told that I was the single strongest candidate on the tech screen. I would be told, in the interview, that I correctly answered questions that no other previous candidate could, often prefaced with "I don't know exactly, but if I had to guess..." And then I never hear from them again. I am not making this up. And this has happened on multiple occasions. I get strong positive feedback during an interview, then the company falls into a black hole. They don't contact me. They don't return phone calls or email. Ever. It happens at least once a month, whenever I start looking for new jobs.

segmondy 11y ago
That's rather unfortunate. I will never say that to someone and not offer them the job, unless they have a personality problem.
- logfromblammo 11y ago
  In my case, the personality problem might be the ever-increasing paranoia that I'm being rejected on the basis of some outlawed or unethical criterion, and subsequently ignored upon orders from the corporate legal or PR department. It's one of several plausible hypotheses I have for the observed behavior. Very few are compatible with a healthy future employer-employee relationship. This is one reason why I hate the brainteaser questions. I was told for one such question that I was the only candidate to give the correct answer. Then the interviewer suggested that I must have encountered it previously, even after seeing me "showing my work" on a whiteboard. Can't win; if you didn't lose, you must have cheated. That company blackholed me after I flew in from another city to spend a day-long interview with them. They didn't even reimburse me for my personal travel expenses. It was Spatial, owned by Dassault, near Denver, in case anyone cares. That was, in fact, the second Denver-based company to do exactly the same thing to me. The first flew me in, interviewed almost all day, then cut off all contact, didn't pay travel expenses, and even tried to stick me with the cost of the hotel stay by canceling their payment. That was Tyler Tech, Eagle Division. Neither are unique in cutting off all contact, but they certainly are remarkable in waiting until after an in-person interview by a non-local candidate to do so.

ryandrake 11y ago

What salary range do you offer (or is you company known for offering)? There might be something you're doing that pre-selects the good developers out, or pre-selects the crappy ones in. Hint: If you are offering "market rate" or "competitive" salaries, you're probably going to get mostly dog applicants.

s73v3r 11y ago

Well, one thing you have to ask yourself is, if the majority of people you're getting are crap, why don't the people you want apply at your company?