kellyfj

I've been in a hiring manager role (tech lead / manager) for almost 14 years and this has always been true: Lots of knowledge out there - but the ability to write a basic function cleanly and correctly is rare.

There are tons of people with credentials and good looking resumes but my experience is that less than 1 in 5 of them can code a Fibonacci function let alone FizzBuzz. I don't care if it's iterative or recursive as long as it's right.

I think the core issue is the CS courses emphasize knowledge WAY TOO MUCH over experience of writing tons of code on a team. In addition, resumes have WAY too much noise compared to signal - that's why people's networks (and tools like GitHub) are so important.

I've also been in organizations where teams hired people I passed on (they did multiple interviews in our org) and those that did not pass the Fibonacci test not only bombed in their organizations but also hired MORE bad programmers and they all got RIFfed. Those that pass the Fibonacci test do pretty darn good on my teams.

Amazing how a simple programming test can be such a solid predictor . . .

I also screen for other things - knowledge, good communication skills and if they have a good sense of their own abilities. It also blows my mind how super confident kids walk in expecting to nail an interview - but again can't code a simple function to save their lives.

But Fibonacci continues to blow my mind - so simple and yet so hard. Just add two variables in a loop . . .

BTW I have found in general women are generally better programmers than men as a percentage of those interviewed.

Love the Python version. Am planning to use it on our local CoderDojo to help teach kids to code some basic concepts etc. Awesome job! Thanks!

Don't forget these men lived smack bang between the campuses of MIT and Harvard. Must be tough to consider yourself a loser and see these students walking around like they own the world or will (I know because I work in Kendall Square). Although these men made their own choices and should be responsible for them I can't help but agree that there was probably several opportunities to turn these guys around at some point. You can't drive out hate with intolerance - only compassion and love can do that. Boston is a very tolerant city but also very cliquey - if you don't fit in or find a community it can be very lonely.