Re:How do you recognise good programmers if you’re a busines...
by tvon on Saturday March 14, 2009 @04:32PM
(#516150)
First, I think the article does a good job of summing up not just a good programming hire, but any good employee. (I'm about 85/15 tech/business). Not all good programmers fit the profile, but it reduces your chances of a bad hire if you follow it.
That said, there are no pointers or how-tos that will turn you into a qualified judge of a profession completely unrelated to your own and I don't at all think it's arrogant for "hackers" (or anyone else) to be somewhat offended at that idea.
Your statement reads as if to say "how arrogant of you to think a businessperson can't become a qualified judge of your work by reading a few pointers", which is itself a very arrogant statement. I don't think that's necessarily what you meant, but I think you are mistaking a little bit of offense and some defensiveness for arrogance and reacting to that misperception.
This isn't "hackers > " anyone, either, I certainly don't think I could read a few pointers and suddenly have the ability to pick a well qualified architect, urban planner or a mechanic (I know zero about cars). I could see a house and say "hey, you must be a good architect" but if I had to hire one early in their career I'd ideally go to someone in their field that I trust (as suggested in many comments here).
That said, there are no pointers or how-tos that will turn you into a qualified judge of a profession completely unrelated to your own and I don't at all think it's arrogant for "hackers" (or anyone else) to be somewhat offended at that idea.
Your statement reads as if to say "how arrogant of you to think a businessperson can't become a qualified judge of your work by reading a few pointers", which is itself a very arrogant statement. I don't think that's necessarily what you meant, but I think you are mistaking a little bit of offense and some defensiveness for arrogance and reacting to that misperception.
This isn't "hackers > " anyone, either, I certainly don't think I could read a few pointers and suddenly have the ability to pick a well qualified architect, urban planner or a mechanic (I know zero about cars). I could see a house and say "hey, you must be a good architect" but if I had to hire one early in their career I'd ideally go to someone in their field that I trust (as suggested in many comments here).