Re:Green Lumber Fallacy in Software Engineering
by 0xbadcafebee on Thursday January 13, 2022 @05:08PM
(#29927605)
I think we're in agreement. My point is that there's certain questions that certain roles shouldn't be expected to have the expertise to answer, and certain answers that make no difference to the job being hired for.
Say you need a builder for a house that an architect designed with wooden beams. Then you interview the builder, and ask them what kind of beam they should use for a theoretical house, and then ask them all sorts of questions about steel beams. Well they don't have the expertise to answer the first question, and the second question doesn't apply to this job at all!
Of course there's a body of knowledge that needs to be known. But I think we need to better codify what knowledge is needed by which people to do what kinds of work. And then have a way to establish that they know how to 'do the work', versus just having a body of knowledge.
If you're a builder I might expect you to know when to use a steel beam rather than timber even if you don't know by heart what grade and size for any random load (I don't know anything about building but that feels like the right level).
Likewise, if you're a software engineer I expect you to know what's a hash table, a binary tree, a linked list, etc., what are their pros and cons, and when you might want to use each of them. But in general I don't expect you to be able code a tree inversion off the top of your head. Obviously expectation of detailed and specific knowledge has to depend on previous experience and role.