Subj : Re: Software Job Market Myths To : comp.programming,comp.software-eng From : Richard Heathfield Date : Sat Aug 13 2005 06:13 pm blmblm@myrealbox.com wrote: > In article , > Richard Heathfield wrote: > > [ snip ] > >>As a matter of fact, I think they are more or less irrelevant. I've had to >>teach CS graduates how to write programs because they were hired on the >>false assumption that anyone with a CS degree would know this. And one of >>the most clueless programmers I ever talked to was a Microsoft employee. >>(If you think about it, that isn't actually an MS-bashing statement!) > > How so? didn't someone at MS hire the clueless one? something I'm > not getting here. Well, yes, someone at MS screwed up in this case, and I really mean screwed up because this guy was just amazingly clueless - but I wasn't trying to crit them for hiring /one/ duff bunny. My point was more that those who are impressed by the names of a candidate's previous companies are almost sure to be impressed by Microsoft. So it was actually a - well, not exactly a compliment, but a recognition that MS is a big name in the IT world, and that many people consider MS experience to be valuable, a priori. And so it might be - or so it might not be. I simply don't think a company name on a CV is as important as the skills of the individual you are thinking of hiring. > [ snip rest of process for deciding whom to hire ] > > This sounds sensible, but it seems to me that it would screen out > people who don't "test well", i.e., people who aren't very good at > demonstrating their abilities under a particular kind of pressure > that doesn't seem entirely relevant to what you'd want them to do > on the job. Or is that not a concern? It is my >>>opinion<<< that people who really know what they're doing will always "test well". I recognise that other people, perhaps you, may hold a different opinion. In which case, when you hire me, don't put me in charge of recruitment! :-) > > (P.S. Nice to have you back here.) Thanks. It's good to be back. -- Richard Heathfield "Usenet is a strange place" - dmr 29/7/1999 http://www.cpax.org.uk mail: rjh at above domain .