Re:Include debugging in the interview process
by lytefm on Saturday April 23, 2022 @04:55AM
(#31132538)
Yup and I'm not sure if adding a debugger to the mix is actually worth it.
Sure, it's closer to the actual day to day work, but a great dev should be able to understand code even without a debugger.
Re:Include debugging in the interview process
by pdpi on Saturday April 23, 2022 @05:22AM
(#31132625)
A great dev “should” have more than one tool at their disposal.
I find that “exploratory debugging” (for lack of a better term) is an under appreciated skill — using the debugger to learn about the code by seeing it in action as part of the ramp up process.
Re:Include debugging in the interview process
by dieselgate on Sunday April 24, 2022 @01:14AM
(#31141465)
I mostly skimmed the post but seems they’re using “debugging” as more the process than a specific debugging tool?
However, a contrary example to your point about being “able to understand code even without a debugger” is using a dev console in web browser to ‘debug’ html/css/js etc. Depending on the role that _could be_ considered an important skill (a specific case being examining http status codes).
I really really appreciate having resourceful people about. People who can go hunt for answers, who can explore questions: they are the ones that make excellent fantastic programmers, and people who are fun to engage with & watch go at it. I very much agree there's a huge weakness in drilling people to see if they can come up with answers, and that this idea of seeing how they navigate & explore things is probably >50% of the real battle in sw dev life.
[1] https://freakingrectangle.wordpress.com/2022/04/15/how-to-fr... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31047409 (993 points, 6 days ago, 542 comments, damnnnnnn!!)