Re: ANNOUNCE: Vacant Job Positions

In article <311BA908.387_at_fmr.com>, Steve Brain <steve.brain_at_fmr.com> wrote:
>Paul Dito wrote:
>
>The problem is that it is VERY hard to judge somebody's ability
>at interview, and references generally say very little about
>people these days. A degree qualification shows that someone
>has gone through some kind of semi-rigorous education and
>evaluation.
>

This must be flame bait, and I am taking it.

There are many universities in the US that are passing people through without regard to their grasp of the material presented; I have met many CS graduates who are unable to follow the most basic discussions regarding data structures, and unable to produce a working application in a reasonable amount of time. I have learned to be very skeptical about the value of degrees from institutions I am unfamiliar with,

>Increasingly the requirement in software development is not how
>well you know C++ syntax, but how one can produce real systems
>to meet real business problems. Ok, a degree doesn't tell you
>too much about this,

Almost nothing, really.

>but at least it tells you that the person
>did a course which required different skills and had different
>types of assesment.
>

Too often the only thing assessed is a student's ability to pay tuition.

>That's my two-penneth's worth.
>
>If you know a better way of assessing someone then just say.
>

Ask the candidate to reason verbally about some design or implementation problem. Engage the candidate in a technical discussion. This method works if the interviewer is also technically competent.

If there is no one competent to do the interview, then the company should consider outsourcing the whole problem.

-- 
Kevin Cline