Subj : Re: Software Job Market Myths
To   : comp.programming,comp.software-eng
From : Chris Sonnack
Date : Tue Aug 16 2005 07:13 pm

Dave Vandervies writes:

>> I'm less interested in their exact answers than how they field the
>> question and respond, but obviously the content of the answer does
>> matter.
> 
> When you're interviewing people and asking these questions, arrange
> for a suitable stack of reference books to be in front of them.
> Anybody who notices that and uses them when they're not sure of the
> answer gets major bonus points.

Or even those who say, "I don't know, but I know where to find out."

However, in this case, I need someone who is either so conversant with
the area that the answer is "right there" or someone who is conversant
enough to discuss the question meaningfully.

For example, one applicant knew the concepts and could almost certainly
do the work, but did not know the terminology (at all).  To me, that
was a "pass" (as in "passed the test").


It's a little bit like asking a supposed C programmer about this:

	char*  strconcat(char* s1, char* s2)
    {
        char  buf[256];

        strcpy(buf, s1);
        strcat(buf, s2);

        return buf;
    }

If they don't have *something* meaningful to say immediately, they
probably aren't the sort of C programmer we'd want.  :-|


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