code quality

[Dave Lukes]

(Note, I speak here as someone who is
a)	seldom involved in personnel selection,
b)	sick and tired of total incompetents being hired
	simply because they are ``qualified'' to do the job.)

In article <132 at desint.UUCP> geoff at desint.UUCP (Geoff Kuenning) writes:
>I just ask interviewees to bring along a code sample.  If they can't
>produce one, or I don't like what I see, no job.

That's dangerous
(Was the code written by them, or stolen from wherever they last worked?).

Ideally, I would like interviewees to be asked to code some small and simple
function to a given spec. at the interview.
(They would also have to defend their code afterwards against a strong
cross examination by the interviewer(s).)

This method is also problematic, unfortunately,
because many people get frightened by interviews
and their ``coding muscles'' would probably freeze up.

The main reason I'd like to do this is simply because
``I have 10 years of programming experience''
often really means
``I've managed to avoid actually writing any real code for 10 years by
changing jobs whenever my current employer is about to realise how incompetent
I am ''

(Remember, many projects have long development times,
and people are reluctant to sack employees,
so it may take a long time ...)

Unfortunately, most employers use strange and arcane methods
(academic qualifications, references, number of years on the job)
when deciding who to employ:
none of which actually measures someones ability to DO THE JOB.

			Yours unqualifiedly,
				Dave.