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A comment on When hiring senior engineers, you’re not buying, you’re selling. Parent comment

Re:When hiring senior engineers, you’re not buying, you’re s... by warent on Sunday January 20, 2019 @07:08PM (#18956490)
> If that results in the candidate being flustered it's not a good sign on numerous axes.

Are you hiring sales reps or engineers? Why are you asking for an engineer to sell you on their past project(s)?

Interviews by their nature are about judgment, and knowing you're being judged by a complete stranger who holds the power over this potential path of your future is enough to get anybody flustered, especially a brainiac that just wants to work in relative peace behind their desk.

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Re:When hiring senior engineers, you’re not buying, you’re s... by mbell on Sunday January 20, 2019 @07:26PM (#18956571)
> Are you hiring sales reps or engineers? Why are you asking for an engineer to sell you on their past project(s)?

I don't ask them to sell me, I ask them to dive into the technical issues they faced and how they solved them. It tells me a lot more about how they will handle similar issues in the future than scribbling DFS on a white-board would.

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Re:When hiring senior engineers, you’re not buying, you’re s... by warent on Sunday January 20, 2019 @07:28PM (#18956583)
Just to clarify, when you say "how they would handle similar issues" do you mean talking to a hiring manager about a past project during an interview setting?

I don't understand what you're calibrating for...

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Re:When hiring senior engineers, you’re not buying, you’re s... by mbell on Sunday January 20, 2019 @07:53PM (#18956699)
I'm a bit unclear on your question. I'm assuming a technical person with relevant knowledge performs the technical interview, if that is what you mean.
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Re:When hiring senior engineers, you’re not buying, you’re s... by ricardobeat on Monday January 21, 2019 @12:36AM (#18957908)
The interview setting, with someone who might or might not be technically capable, with your job / career / earnings at stake is a very different situation than explaining past projects to a colleague at work.
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Re:When hiring senior engineers, you’re not buying, you’re s... by Nimitz14 on Sunday January 20, 2019 @09:06PM (#18957028)
Programmers in a company work with other programmers. If they cannot explain some work they've done then they are useless. Or would you hire a programmer who does not speak English?
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