Re:Things I Learned from a Job Hunt for a Senior Engineering...
by edanm on Wednesday April 25, 2018 @09:52AM
(#16921484)
Your interpretation does theoretically fit with the facts. But so do a few other (in my mind more plausible) stories, like:
1. He knows how to do extremely specialized things in an existing environment, but can't do things outside of that environment.
2. He was presenting work that he had only a partial hand in creating.
3. He is amazing at e.g. C++, but cannot learn even rudimentary new things in Javascript.
...
Some of these stories make him a terrible programmer. Some of them make him an OK programmer for other positions, but weren't relevant for us. None of the stories make him a particularly great programmer.
"Perhaps he really was a very talented developer but your coding exercise was too stressful for him"
Yes, it's possible. A lot of things are possible. But I'm sorry - if someone can't copy-paste a 3 line program from the internet and get it to work, in their own field, for 2 hours, then... I don't know how I could ever design a test on which they won't fail. Including the actual job.
1. He knows how to do extremely specialized things in an existing environment, but can't do things outside of that environment.
2. He was presenting work that he had only a partial hand in creating.
3. He is amazing at e.g. C++, but cannot learn even rudimentary new things in Javascript.
...
Some of these stories make him a terrible programmer. Some of them make him an OK programmer for other positions, but weren't relevant for us. None of the stories make him a particularly great programmer.
"Perhaps he really was a very talented developer but your coding exercise was too stressful for him"
Yes, it's possible. A lot of things are possible. But I'm sorry - if someone can't copy-paste a 3 line program from the internet and get it to work, in their own field, for 2 hours, then... I don't know how I could ever design a test on which they won't fail. Including the actual job.