Re: Testing job applicants

[nailed_barnacle@SPAMFREE.hotmail.com (Barnacle)]

In article <rgvSN6xyfviRdFgkSvbevwXPEuPv@4ax.com>, Brian.dot.Inglis@SystematicSw.ab.ca wrote:
--big snip--
>EE/CS programs seem to produce people with more of a clue about
>tradeoffs. But you have to eliminate the ones who think they
>already know everything, and do not expect to keep learning thru
>their work, and those who chose it as a good career, with no
>desire to do the work, desiring to manage rather than mentor
>staff after they get more experience. 
>
>As someone else has noted in this and other similar threads,
>someone from some other background totally, who is enthusiastic
>about what they can achieve, do, learn, has demonstrated capacity
>for the work, and a rigorous approach to the results, can often
>be a better choice, depending on the type of work or team you
>have. 
>
>Most pros I know have little time for politics; a fairly
>nonchalant attitude to the complexities, deadlines, languages,
>requirements or variability of a project; approaches to design
>and development that are very similar to others at the same
>level; are not surprised when builds and test runs work perfectly
>first time, some of the time; include debug/test output as part
>of the code, in case they need it; don't whine about requirements
>that are necessary and require any amount of work to do or add
>later; and are not satisfied with "good enough", only with good
>enough for all possible circumstances and a few impossible ones. 
>
>Get the people who are best at doing what you require a potential
>recruit to do, to handle the interview and see if they can
>identify with them: "it takes one to know one" may apply here. 
>
>Thanks. Take care, Brian Inglis         Calgary, Alberta, Canada

It occurs to me that the majority (if not all - I can only infer from the 
posts I read) of people in this newsgroup appear to be from that happy class 
of people who *actually enjoy their work*. (I include myself in that class.)

This seems to be a rare thing these days where the majority of my colleagues 
are either working to pay the mortgage, or doing a required amount of time in 
a 'career path' - with neither group particularly caring about the work 
they're doing.

Could it be that there is something about the engineering disciplines (whether 
electrical, electronic, software, mechanical, or whatever) which encourages 
this outlook? Dare I suggest they emphasise craftmanship?

Regards,