A candidate not versed in prog folklore = not suitable for hiring

Re:A candidate not versed in prog folklore = not suitable fo... by mpmpmp on Friday December 03, 2010 @12:30PM (#1966693)

programmingpraxis makes a comment in the latest post on Maximum Sum Subsequence:

"any programmer who doesn’t know about the solution will likely fail the interview, on the theory that if he isn’t at least interested enough in his profession to read Bentley [Programming Pearls], he isn’t interested enough in his profession to work for me."

In a follow-up comment:

"I still think a candidate not versed in the programming folklore will be less productive than one who is, and thus less suitable for hiring."

Is this a good or valid criteria for judging a programmer's abilities or future abilities?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:A candidate not versed in prog folklore = not suitable fo... by acgourley on Friday December 03, 2010 @12:55PM (#1966788)

It strikes me as a culture filter. You run in certain circles that I run in, read certain books that I read, therefor we will have a lot of the same prejudices and inclinations. As long as he isn't deluding himself into thinking it is an intelligence or competency filter, I can accept it.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:A candidate not versed in prog folklore = not suitable fo... by Dove on Friday December 03, 2010 @01:58PM (#1967022)

I think the point is a reasonable one, if overly specific. A programmer who does no outside reading on his profession will be ill-equipped to do research when the need arises, and is more likely to want to be spoon-fed easy problems and cook up naive solutions.

While Programming Pearls is a reasonable test -- akin to checking whether someone has a classics background by asking a question about Moby Dick -- it should be acknowledged that everyone has some holes in their background, possibly even glaring and regrettable ones. A better question might be, "Describe a favorite clever hack and where you read about it."

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:A candidate not versed in prog folklore = not suitable fo... by Xurinos on Friday December 03, 2010 @02:10PM (#1967063)

A programmer who does no outside reading on his profession will be ill-equipped to do research when the need arises

I do outside reading, but I would be hard-pressed to make this claim. How is outside reading correlated to research ability? This is like saying, "If programmers are not playing a musical instrument outside of work, then it is obvious they do not have what it takes to think in patterns and perfect their skills."

[ Parent | on HN ]