Don’t “Hire by Keyword”

Re:Don’t “Hire by Keyword” by chadgeidel on Monday July 25, 2016 @12:02PM (#12159548)

You may be able to learn a new language in 2 weeks, but very few people have this ability. I think a lot of developers learn the syntax quickly, but don't "grok" the differences in a language for some time. I still see people trying to write JavaScript in the same way they would write Java, and they wrote their Java in the same way they would write a Basic program (procedurally). It reminds me of a quote I am fond of: "The determined Real Programmer can write FORTRAN programs in any language." -- Ed Post

I prefer Alan Perlis' advice: "A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming, is not worth knowing."

Edit: I categorize myself as one of the programmers who can learn syntax, but it takes me much longer to understand the language.

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Re:Don’t “Hire by Keyword” by gedrap on Monday July 25, 2016 @01:59PM (#12160360)

While this is true, sometimes knowing the syntax and basic familiarity with the toolchain can be good enough to start contributing. It's just that help from peers becomes very important - good code reviews, etc and not every organization can facilitate this.

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Re:Don’t “Hire by Keyword” by marcosdumay on Monday July 25, 2016 @01:47PM (#12160259)

Almost all the languages you'll find on those "requires 10 years of experience on language X" ads are in that "not worth knowing" set.

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