Interviewing questions...
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I am looking to hire a developer so that I can double my team size to 2. I am responsible for finding, interviewing and ultimately hiring/managing this person. I have read many of the suggestions on this site, and others, regarding best strategies for interviewing/hiring, but I have some questions. The position is more than just coding, it is a true developer position. I want a person who can gather the requirements, design the system, work with the internal users and ultimately write the code. The bottom line is that I want a talented developer who can bring something to the company beyond just writing code. I need someone who can offer good conceptual ideas, read between the lines, and build software systems that really deliver. I have looked at 20-50 resumes and I really haven't seen a resume that just jumps out as outstanding. This is the first time I have been through this process, so I am concerned I am trying to read too much into this. So... How do you screen resumes for talent, not just education and experience? What questions do you ask, on the phone/in person to try and draw out the applicant and understand his/her talents? How succesful are you at drawing them out? What are some good ways to get an applicant to reveal his/her conceptual viewpoint, problem solving strategies, etc? Thanks, Matt Gullett
How much are you offering? ;P (just kidding!) Matt Gullett wrote: How do you screen resumes for talent, not just education and experience? Education is useless. Ignore education. Experience is good, but everyone fluffs it up. I guess people that help you write resumes are fluffers, harharhar. So, to check out what they REALLY did, you've got to follow up on references. Also, before bringing anyone in and wasting your and their time, do a short phone interview. Matt Gullett wrote: What are some good ways to get an applicant to reveal his/her conceptual viewpoint, problem solving strategies, etc? Well, I'm very biased, so you're going to get a biased answer. Ask them what's good and bad about using wizards, about the form designer, about the way Visual Studio suggests you create a database application. Ask them if they think in terms of workflows. How do they code workflows? What about database stuff. What's their take on ORM? And I guess, ask them if they've ever done any programming that flies in the face of the "Microsoft way", and if so, why. Problem solving strategies are hard to ask about, because each problem requires a different strategy. Hmmm. There's your answer! Marc My website
Latest Articles: Undo/Redo Buffer Memento Design Pattern -
I am looking to hire a developer so that I can double my team size to 2. I am responsible for finding, interviewing and ultimately hiring/managing this person. I have read many of the suggestions on this site, and others, regarding best strategies for interviewing/hiring, but I have some questions. The position is more than just coding, it is a true developer position. I want a person who can gather the requirements, design the system, work with the internal users and ultimately write the code. The bottom line is that I want a talented developer who can bring something to the company beyond just writing code. I need someone who can offer good conceptual ideas, read between the lines, and build software systems that really deliver. I have looked at 20-50 resumes and I really haven't seen a resume that just jumps out as outstanding. This is the first time I have been through this process, so I am concerned I am trying to read too much into this. So... How do you screen resumes for talent, not just education and experience? What questions do you ask, on the phone/in person to try and draw out the applicant and understand his/her talents? How succesful are you at drawing them out? What are some good ways to get an applicant to reveal his/her conceptual viewpoint, problem solving strategies, etc? Thanks, Matt Gullett
Matt Gullett wrote: How do you screen resumes for talent Well, look at what they say their tasks have been. Do they describe the codes or do they describe the projects? That to me is clue one. Also do they list any modeling or planning tallents? Then the phone interview really makes sense. Again ask to explain the projects. Is it just the code or is anything mentioned about learning what is really needed. Do they comment about presenting the conceptual plans back to the stakeholders. What confidence do thier voices reveal. Are the comfortable saying I do not know, but I can find out? I do not mind getting old. It beats all the other options that can think of.
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I am looking to hire a developer so that I can double my team size to 2. I am responsible for finding, interviewing and ultimately hiring/managing this person. I have read many of the suggestions on this site, and others, regarding best strategies for interviewing/hiring, but I have some questions. The position is more than just coding, it is a true developer position. I want a person who can gather the requirements, design the system, work with the internal users and ultimately write the code. The bottom line is that I want a talented developer who can bring something to the company beyond just writing code. I need someone who can offer good conceptual ideas, read between the lines, and build software systems that really deliver. I have looked at 20-50 resumes and I really haven't seen a resume that just jumps out as outstanding. This is the first time I have been through this process, so I am concerned I am trying to read too much into this. So... How do you screen resumes for talent, not just education and experience? What questions do you ask, on the phone/in person to try and draw out the applicant and understand his/her talents? How succesful are you at drawing them out? What are some good ways to get an applicant to reveal his/her conceptual viewpoint, problem solving strategies, etc? Thanks, Matt Gullett
Matt, Johanna Rothman[^] has published a book on hiring technical people and has a lot of articles on her site that you may find useful. Also, you can download an interview she did on hiring and asking good interview questions from http://www.itconversations.com/shows/detail392.html[^] Regards, Derek Graham
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I am looking to hire a developer so that I can double my team size to 2. I am responsible for finding, interviewing and ultimately hiring/managing this person. I have read many of the suggestions on this site, and others, regarding best strategies for interviewing/hiring, but I have some questions. The position is more than just coding, it is a true developer position. I want a person who can gather the requirements, design the system, work with the internal users and ultimately write the code. The bottom line is that I want a talented developer who can bring something to the company beyond just writing code. I need someone who can offer good conceptual ideas, read between the lines, and build software systems that really deliver. I have looked at 20-50 resumes and I really haven't seen a resume that just jumps out as outstanding. This is the first time I have been through this process, so I am concerned I am trying to read too much into this. So... How do you screen resumes for talent, not just education and experience? What questions do you ask, on the phone/in person to try and draw out the applicant and understand his/her talents? How succesful are you at drawing them out? What are some good ways to get an applicant to reveal his/her conceptual viewpoint, problem solving strategies, etc? Thanks, Matt Gullett
[Read only if you are considering hiring an Indian] If you are interviewing an Indian, make sure he speaks & writes English legibly enough for you to understand what he's saying. Most Indians who write English well enough may not speak all that okay - in fact Indians who talk with native-english-speakers have to use a different accent/speed/tone with them than when they speak to other Indians. (Most of my US-based Indian friends say they have 2 accents, one to use in the US and one to use when they are back in India) You might also want to talk to an immig lawyer to see if you can apply in time before the H1B quota for this year is filled up. Nish
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I am looking to hire a developer so that I can double my team size to 2. I am responsible for finding, interviewing and ultimately hiring/managing this person. I have read many of the suggestions on this site, and others, regarding best strategies for interviewing/hiring, but I have some questions. The position is more than just coding, it is a true developer position. I want a person who can gather the requirements, design the system, work with the internal users and ultimately write the code. The bottom line is that I want a talented developer who can bring something to the company beyond just writing code. I need someone who can offer good conceptual ideas, read between the lines, and build software systems that really deliver. I have looked at 20-50 resumes and I really haven't seen a resume that just jumps out as outstanding. This is the first time I have been through this process, so I am concerned I am trying to read too much into this. So... How do you screen resumes for talent, not just education and experience? What questions do you ask, on the phone/in person to try and draw out the applicant and understand his/her talents? How succesful are you at drawing them out? What are some good ways to get an applicant to reveal his/her conceptual viewpoint, problem solving strategies, etc? Thanks, Matt Gullett
Some favourite interview questions: 1. What was your biggeest success ? 2. What was your biggest failure ? 3. What is the most difficult problem you have solved ? 4. Name a problem you were unable to solve 5. How do you control scope creep ? I hope these help a bit. Elaine :rose: The tigress is here :-D
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Some favourite interview questions: 1. What was your biggeest success ? 2. What was your biggest failure ? 3. What is the most difficult problem you have solved ? 4. Name a problem you were unable to solve 5. How do you control scope creep ? I hope these help a bit. Elaine :rose: The tigress is here :-D
Trollslayer wrote: Some favourite interview questions: I disagree, Elaine. Trollslayer wrote: What was your biggeest success ? Most programmers may not have a single big success. It's not very useful to try and figure out one big thing you ever achieved (as a coder). Of course, if you are trying to see how well the candidate can talk when there's nothing much to say, this question is useful. Trollslayer wrote: What was your biggest failure ? Again not very useful. People who've read HR books might answer these better than normal coders who haven't. If I was asked this question, I don't know what I'd answer. I've never really had a failure as a programmer - of course I never tried to write a C++ compiler or an OS-kernel or anything like that. But every time a bug has pulled me down, I've eventually fixed it and reached my goal. So my fully honest answer would be - I've never failed - which would obviously go very bad with the interviewer :-) Trollslayer wrote: What is the most difficult problem you have solved ? Would be hard to pin-point any one problem. I'd prefix my reply with "I've been coding too long to pin-point any single problem, but of the problems I've faced in the recent past - say 1 year - this one that I am gonna tell you about was the most difficult..." Trollslayer wrote: Name a problem you were unable to solve None would be my answer because I've never tried to solve something I didn't think I could solve. But again, this'd be a bad answer. Trollslayer wrote: How do you control scope creep ? This is a pretty decent question. But again, the more impressive answers would be given by those guys who've read the right books - which might be a good sign anyway. Nish
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I am looking to hire a developer so that I can double my team size to 2. I am responsible for finding, interviewing and ultimately hiring/managing this person. I have read many of the suggestions on this site, and others, regarding best strategies for interviewing/hiring, but I have some questions. The position is more than just coding, it is a true developer position. I want a person who can gather the requirements, design the system, work with the internal users and ultimately write the code. The bottom line is that I want a talented developer who can bring something to the company beyond just writing code. I need someone who can offer good conceptual ideas, read between the lines, and build software systems that really deliver. I have looked at 20-50 resumes and I really haven't seen a resume that just jumps out as outstanding. This is the first time I have been through this process, so I am concerned I am trying to read too much into this. So... How do you screen resumes for talent, not just education and experience? What questions do you ask, on the phone/in person to try and draw out the applicant and understand his/her talents? How succesful are you at drawing them out? What are some good ways to get an applicant to reveal his/her conceptual viewpoint, problem solving strategies, etc? Thanks, Matt Gullett
If you were in the UK I'd say: "Wanna give me a job this summer? Check out my online CV and project history[^] - now available in MSWord format![^]" Joel Holdsworth Wanna give me a job this summer? Check out my online CV and project history[^] - now available in MSWord format![^]
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How much are you offering? ;P (just kidding!) Matt Gullett wrote: How do you screen resumes for talent, not just education and experience? Education is useless. Ignore education. Experience is good, but everyone fluffs it up. I guess people that help you write resumes are fluffers, harharhar. So, to check out what they REALLY did, you've got to follow up on references. Also, before bringing anyone in and wasting your and their time, do a short phone interview. Matt Gullett wrote: What are some good ways to get an applicant to reveal his/her conceptual viewpoint, problem solving strategies, etc? Well, I'm very biased, so you're going to get a biased answer. Ask them what's good and bad about using wizards, about the form designer, about the way Visual Studio suggests you create a database application. Ask them if they think in terms of workflows. How do they code workflows? What about database stuff. What's their take on ORM? And I guess, ask them if they've ever done any programming that flies in the face of the "Microsoft way", and if so, why. Problem solving strategies are hard to ask about, because each problem requires a different strategy. Hmmm. There's your answer! Marc My website
Latest Articles: Undo/Redo Buffer Memento Design PatternMarc Clifton wrote: So, to check out what they REALLY did, you've got to follow up on references. Also, before bringing anyone in and wasting your and their time, do a short phone interview. Failed a job application for that reason once. Along with a question about "So, what did you think of your previous Boss?" - which was an attempt to find out whether I had a professional attitude towards my previous employers. I gave a highly evasive answer, and since found out that they checked up on it. Problem with that was the fact my previous employer was insane. Not "Don't have to be mad to work here but it helps" mad, anti psycotic drugs and thinking MI5 are planting microphones in your house mad. Along with being highly charismatic and convincing. My employer previous to them no longer exists, and I am currently living with the ex girlfriend of the chap I would use as a reference for them. Still, been contracting pretty much solidly since then and am probably about to take a permanent role (I'm a sucker for stock options). Shows how much people generaly check references I guess :) Ryan
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Some favourite interview questions: 1. What was your biggeest success ? 2. What was your biggest failure ? 3. What is the most difficult problem you have solved ? 4. Name a problem you were unable to solve 5. How do you control scope creep ? I hope these help a bit. Elaine :rose: The tigress is here :-D
The Worst Question during Interview is Tell Me about Your self? :)
"Opinions are neither right nor wrong. I cannot change your opinion. I can, however, change what influences your opinion." - David Crow
cheers, Alok Gupta
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Marc Clifton wrote: So, to check out what they REALLY did, you've got to follow up on references. Also, before bringing anyone in and wasting your and their time, do a short phone interview. Failed a job application for that reason once. Along with a question about "So, what did you think of your previous Boss?" - which was an attempt to find out whether I had a professional attitude towards my previous employers. I gave a highly evasive answer, and since found out that they checked up on it. Problem with that was the fact my previous employer was insane. Not "Don't have to be mad to work here but it helps" mad, anti psycotic drugs and thinking MI5 are planting microphones in your house mad. Along with being highly charismatic and convincing. My employer previous to them no longer exists, and I am currently living with the ex girlfriend of the chap I would use as a reference for them. Still, been contracting pretty much solidly since then and am probably about to take a permanent role (I'm a sucker for stock options). Shows how much people generaly check references I guess :) Ryan
Ryan Roberts wrote: So, what did you think of your previous Boss?" Ew. That's a really unfair question. Your personal opinion should not matter. That kind of question reminds me of a post/article I read a while ago about psychological interviewing techniques. Ryan Roberts wrote: Still, been contracting pretty much solidly since then and am probably about to take a permanent role (I'm a sucker for stock options). I could never understand stock options. The company "rewards" you by letting you invest in them (albeit, at a lower price). Pretty much, I always viewed this as a sneaky way of reducing your salary. If you want to reward me, then just reward me, instead of the tactics that require me to spend more money. Especially when it requires a leap of faith that the company is going to be a worthwhile investment, which depends not just on my performance, but the performance of others and a lot of random factors to boot. Some reward. Ryan Roberts wrote: Shows how much people generaly check references I guess Indeed. But it seems to be getting better. Marc My website
Latest Articles: Undo/Redo Buffer Memento Design Pattern -
Some favourite interview questions: 1. What was your biggeest success ? 2. What was your biggest failure ? 3. What is the most difficult problem you have solved ? 4. Name a problem you were unable to solve 5. How do you control scope creep ? I hope these help a bit. Elaine :rose: The tigress is here :-D
*doh* note to self, avoid interviews, get hired without one :) Trollslayer wrote: 5. How do you control scope creep ? i fire the managing director and most of the managers, since they are the cause of feature creep Trollslayer wrote: 2. What was your biggest failure ? 4. Name a problem you were unable to solve they are still here, so the feature creep didn't go away :~ apparently my job position does not give me the authority to apply the ideal answer. apparently i also don't get to boss external organisations around, even when management tell me to do so. zen is the art of being at one with the two'ness
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Ryan Roberts wrote: So, what did you think of your previous Boss?" Ew. That's a really unfair question. Your personal opinion should not matter. That kind of question reminds me of a post/article I read a while ago about psychological interviewing techniques. Ryan Roberts wrote: Still, been contracting pretty much solidly since then and am probably about to take a permanent role (I'm a sucker for stock options). I could never understand stock options. The company "rewards" you by letting you invest in them (albeit, at a lower price). Pretty much, I always viewed this as a sneaky way of reducing your salary. If you want to reward me, then just reward me, instead of the tactics that require me to spend more money. Especially when it requires a leap of faith that the company is going to be a worthwhile investment, which depends not just on my performance, but the performance of others and a lot of random factors to boot. Some reward. Ryan Roberts wrote: Shows how much people generaly check references I guess Indeed. But it seems to be getting better. Marc My website
Latest Articles: Undo/Redo Buffer Memento Design PatternMarc Clifton wrote: I could never understand stock options. The company "rewards" you by letting you invest in them (albeit, at a lower price). Pretty much, I always viewed this as a sneaky way of reducing your salary. That's how it was used the last time, hence the 'sucker'. Still, the salary they are offering is more than competitive. My experience of 'business' programming is a little limited too, my background is mainly laboratory automation / working for crazy people. Customer is chuffed with the software I have put together (though given the state of the estate agency software I have seen in this oountry, anything that doesn't appear to have been written by a mentaly defective 15 year old would be impressive). Replacing a good few man years of bilge with a pretty decent system in ~5 months is bloody satisfying, I love the .NET. Worst comes to the worst it's CV points in more traditional business programming, and that's easier to get consulting jobs in. Ryan
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*doh* note to self, avoid interviews, get hired without one :) Trollslayer wrote: 5. How do you control scope creep ? i fire the managing director and most of the managers, since they are the cause of feature creep Trollslayer wrote: 2. What was your biggest failure ? 4. Name a problem you were unable to solve they are still here, so the feature creep didn't go away :~ apparently my job position does not give me the authority to apply the ideal answer. apparently i also don't get to boss external organisations around, even when management tell me to do so. zen is the art of being at one with the two'ness
Those two are to try and find about the character of the person, how they dealt with being put in that that position, so very useful. There is no right or wrong answer, it's a way of trying to get beyond the appicant's CV. Elaine :rose: The tigress is here :-D
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Trollslayer wrote: Some favourite interview questions: I disagree, Elaine. Trollslayer wrote: What was your biggeest success ? Most programmers may not have a single big success. It's not very useful to try and figure out one big thing you ever achieved (as a coder). Of course, if you are trying to see how well the candidate can talk when there's nothing much to say, this question is useful. Trollslayer wrote: What was your biggest failure ? Again not very useful. People who've read HR books might answer these better than normal coders who haven't. If I was asked this question, I don't know what I'd answer. I've never really had a failure as a programmer - of course I never tried to write a C++ compiler or an OS-kernel or anything like that. But every time a bug has pulled me down, I've eventually fixed it and reached my goal. So my fully honest answer would be - I've never failed - which would obviously go very bad with the interviewer :-) Trollslayer wrote: What is the most difficult problem you have solved ? Would be hard to pin-point any one problem. I'd prefix my reply with "I've been coding too long to pin-point any single problem, but of the problems I've faced in the recent past - say 1 year - this one that I am gonna tell you about was the most difficult..." Trollslayer wrote: Name a problem you were unable to solve None would be my answer because I've never tried to solve something I didn't think I could solve. But again, this'd be a bad answer. Trollslayer wrote: How do you control scope creep ? This is a pretty decent question. But again, the more impressive answers would be given by those guys who've read the right books - which might be a good sign anyway. Nish
Nish, I've interviewed quite a few people and these questions are about going beyond the CV and finding out about the person and how they will cope within the organisation. I frequently have to report to two or three different people and balancing that can be difficult but how I presented my experience with that situation helped me get my last two jobs. Elaine :rose: The tigress is here :-D
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Nish, I've interviewed quite a few people and these questions are about going beyond the CV and finding out about the person and how they will cope within the organisation. I frequently have to report to two or three different people and balancing that can be difficult but how I presented my experience with that situation helped me get my last two jobs. Elaine :rose: The tigress is here :-D
Trollslayer wrote: these questions are about going beyond the CV and finding out about the person and how they will cope within the organisation. OK, that's fair enough. There are no right or wrong answers or even good or bad answers - what the candidate replies helps the interviewer analyze his/her personality/experience-levels I guess.
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I am looking to hire a developer so that I can double my team size to 2. I am responsible for finding, interviewing and ultimately hiring/managing this person. I have read many of the suggestions on this site, and others, regarding best strategies for interviewing/hiring, but I have some questions. The position is more than just coding, it is a true developer position. I want a person who can gather the requirements, design the system, work with the internal users and ultimately write the code. The bottom line is that I want a talented developer who can bring something to the company beyond just writing code. I need someone who can offer good conceptual ideas, read between the lines, and build software systems that really deliver. I have looked at 20-50 resumes and I really haven't seen a resume that just jumps out as outstanding. This is the first time I have been through this process, so I am concerned I am trying to read too much into this. So... How do you screen resumes for talent, not just education and experience? What questions do you ask, on the phone/in person to try and draw out the applicant and understand his/her talents? How succesful are you at drawing them out? What are some good ways to get an applicant to reveal his/her conceptual viewpoint, problem solving strategies, etc? Thanks, Matt Gullett
It doesn't matter how much you interview a person, you'll never really know this person. Be prepared to make a mistake and correct it quickly. Matt Gullett wrote: The bottom line is that I want a talented developer who can bring something to the company beyond just writing code. I need someone who can offer good conceptual ideas, read between the lines, and build software systems that really deliver. I'd be surprised if you wrote: "I want someone stupid. Someone who don't think, and just code anything that seems to work, no matter how buggy it is.". What you want is actually what we all want. And it's hard to detect a good person in an interview. I'm hiring now (BTW, if you are Brazilian and in São Paulo, contact me), and I usually read around 100 CVs to make around 10 interviews. Of those, typically 3 or 4 seem good enough for the job and are probably willing to accept what we have to offer. Of all people we hired, 30% were mistakes. I see dead pixels Yes, even I am blogging now!
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How much are you offering? ;P (just kidding!) Matt Gullett wrote: How do you screen resumes for talent, not just education and experience? Education is useless. Ignore education. Experience is good, but everyone fluffs it up. I guess people that help you write resumes are fluffers, harharhar. So, to check out what they REALLY did, you've got to follow up on references. Also, before bringing anyone in and wasting your and their time, do a short phone interview. Matt Gullett wrote: What are some good ways to get an applicant to reveal his/her conceptual viewpoint, problem solving strategies, etc? Well, I'm very biased, so you're going to get a biased answer. Ask them what's good and bad about using wizards, about the form designer, about the way Visual Studio suggests you create a database application. Ask them if they think in terms of workflows. How do they code workflows? What about database stuff. What's their take on ORM? And I guess, ask them if they've ever done any programming that flies in the face of the "Microsoft way", and if so, why. Problem solving strategies are hard to ask about, because each problem requires a different strategy. Hmmm. There's your answer! Marc My website
Latest Articles: Undo/Redo Buffer Memento Design PatternMarc Clifton wrote: Education is useless. Ignore education. I think that is surely only paritally true. I'd be a little pissed if you're telling me my last three years of hard work in Cambridge getting a respectable degree were worthless....! -- Andrew.
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Marc Clifton wrote: Education is useless. Ignore education. I think that is surely only paritally true. I'd be a little pissed if you're telling me my last three years of hard work in Cambridge getting a respectable degree were worthless....! -- Andrew.
Andrew Peace wrote: I'd be a little pissed if you're telling me my last three years of hard work in Cambridge getting a respectable degree were worthless....! hehe. One of the problems with many courses is that they teach current technologies (or, even worse, the college/university hasn't even caught up to current tech). What you learn in these classes becomes obsolete rather quickly. Certainly there is value in "fundamental" courses on design, architecture, etc., but even these become obsolete, or, if not obsolete, there are often shifts in how these foundational technologies are used. For example, relational databases and object oriented programming are here to say, I imagine, but courses on pure OOD are of less value when considering some of the newer (and less understood) concepts such as aspect oriented programming and declarative programming. Marc My website
Latest Articles: Undo/Redo Buffer Memento Design Pattern -
I am looking to hire a developer so that I can double my team size to 2. I am responsible for finding, interviewing and ultimately hiring/managing this person. I have read many of the suggestions on this site, and others, regarding best strategies for interviewing/hiring, but I have some questions. The position is more than just coding, it is a true developer position. I want a person who can gather the requirements, design the system, work with the internal users and ultimately write the code. The bottom line is that I want a talented developer who can bring something to the company beyond just writing code. I need someone who can offer good conceptual ideas, read between the lines, and build software systems that really deliver. I have looked at 20-50 resumes and I really haven't seen a resume that just jumps out as outstanding. This is the first time I have been through this process, so I am concerned I am trying to read too much into this. So... How do you screen resumes for talent, not just education and experience? What questions do you ask, on the phone/in person to try and draw out the applicant and understand his/her talents? How succesful are you at drawing them out? What are some good ways to get an applicant to reveal his/her conceptual viewpoint, problem solving strategies, etc? Thanks, Matt Gullett
I've never hired a developer, but I've hired and trained and fired many network computer techs and I've come to the conclusion that you only ask them anything at all to get a feel for their personality. For the technical side of things there is nothing that substitutes for a test of somekind as real world as possible. It's utterly impossible to know how proficient a potential employee will be from asking questions, a good bullshitter will seem excellent in an interview but terrible in practice. Sometimes (and this applies heavily in any technical profession) the person will come across terribly in an interview situation, shy, nervous unable to articulate their skills that they actually *do* posess and may be excellent at but just nervous about being in the spotlight. I'd say about 1 in 10 of the people that come across really confident and knowledgeable in an interview are actually like that in day to day work life. The problem with basing this on an interview is also that you tend to hire the people you like the most, it's human nature, but they are not necessarily (and not often) the best for a technical profession. The solution is simple, you devise a simple but unusual project that they can't copy from anywhere else and give them what they would normally get to start a project and ask for a working solution with source code and whatever else you will need. In fact if I was hiring a developer I would post it on a website and skip the interview process entirely until you get the solutions first. Something trivial that they can do in a weekend or so. You then take the best and get them in, interview them, ask them to make a change to the project and resubmit it as if it's working with said internal users. It's painful and time consuming, but an employee is a precious resource and a double edged sword always, they can make you or break you so it pays to devote a *lot* of time to this process. I know it comes usually at the worst time when your hiring *because* you don't have the time and it's busy, but it's one of the most important business decisions you will ever make so you need to try them out in as real world a situation as possible. The only other real alternative to this is doing internships where they work for little or nothing for a trial period but it can be way more disruptive to the business.
"In our civilization, and under our republican form of government, intelligence is so highly honored that it is rewarded by exemption from the cares of office." - Ambrose Bi
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Marc Clifton wrote: Education is useless. Ignore education. I think that is surely only paritally true. I'd be a little pissed if you're telling me my last three years of hard work in Cambridge getting a respectable degree were worthless....! -- Andrew.
I have hired and will hire a person who is self taught for a programming or other technial position over a university educated person every time. Self taught people have developed and show exactly the kind of skills that are necessary in the world today which is adaptability, continuous self learning, pesonal interest in the subject, experience in the real world doing all sorts of unusual things that give them all that knowledge that is the 80% part of what you actually need to know to get by in life and work. On average, a younger person straight out of university is all but unemployable in my not so humble opinion. Once they've seasoned themselves in the real world for a while lost that sense of entitlement that the world owes them etc then they may be an interesting person with some actually useful skills worth hiring and working with but until then I'll let someone else go through that process first.
"In our civilization, and under our republican form of government, intelligence is so highly honored that it is rewarded by exemption from the cares of office." - Ambrose Bierce