From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_MSGID autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: fdb77,4873305131bf4d94 X-Google-Attributes: gidfdb77,public X-Google-Thread: 10261c,90121986704b5776 X-Google-Attributes: gid10261c,public X-Google-Thread: 109fba,4873305131bf4d94 X-Google-Attributes: gid109fba,public X-Google-Thread: 10c950,90121986704b5776 X-Google-Attributes: gid10c950,public X-Google-Thread: 103376,4873305131bf4d94 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Thread: 1014db,4873305131bf4d94 X-Google-Attributes: gid1014db,public From: billy@cast.msstate.edu (Billy Chambless) Subject: News postings and job interviews (was: Re: Your english sucks, mine is better. Date: 1997/11/26 Message-ID: <65hekh$qie$1@NNTP.MsState.Edu>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 292870297 References: <34557f2b.1934172@news.mindspring.com> Organization: MSU - Center for Air/Sea Technology Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada,comp.lang.c,comp.lang.c++,comp.lang.java.advocacy,comp.lang.pascal.ansi-iso,comp.lang.pascal.misc Date: 1997-11-26T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: In article , "Dennis Weldy" writes: |> |> billg@jk.pst.com wrote in message ... |> >In article , ark@research.att.com says... |> >> You're quite right -- writings will not prove someone's honesty by |> themselves. |> >> It's like black-box software testing -- it can never prove the absence of |> bugs. |> >> On the other hand, black-box software testing can often reveal the |> >> presence of bugs, and reading what people have written can often |> >> reveal that there would be no point even in interviewing them if they |> >> were to come looking for a job. |> >That's my edge in hiring good people and getting them to enjoy their |> >stay. I don't rely on external sources to determine the value of a |> >person. I give them the option to move on from the past (instead of |> It's for practical reasons: |> * if you hire someone, you'll have to spend time training them on the |> project. |> * they'll have to work well witht he othrs in your group. |> * you'll be paying them. ... |> And yes, postings in technical newsgroups can be used as a measure. :-) |> Even the non-technical stuff can give one a good idea of the persons |> communication skills and how one handles disagreements. Very often, in some of the newsgroups discussions, I'll imagine being in a design meeting or code review with certain posters. Arrgghghh! Your point about communications skills and disagreement is very well taken. As ark pointed out, news posts won't tell you everything about a person, but they might be useful in highlighting specific flaws, ones that might be hard to find in an interview: 1. Does the person defend technical points from an emotional stance? 2. Do they take correction personally? 3. Do they tend to change the subject when they feel that they're "losing" an argument? My experience has been that interaction between programmers can often be ego-bruising, at least until one develops the proper attitude. People who can't set their egos aside in order to get the job done can be very, very difficult to work with. Sometimes these people do us a favor by warning us about them through their netnews postings. ;)