Re: not enough real programmers? (was Re: Byte Magazine: 18 Vintage issues, 1985-1986)

["Scott Stevens" <stevenss@tcfreenet.org>]

In article <xlxyafmif0u.fsf@gold.cis.ohio-state.edu>, Matt Curtin
<cmcurtin@interhack.net> wrote:

> >>>>> On Sat, 07 Aug 1999 12:27:42 GMT, prs@gol.com (Peter Stephenson)
said:
>
> Peter> It can be difficult recruiting good programmers, though.  I
> Peter> mean, how the hell do you find out whether they can code in an
> Peter> interview?
>
> Good question.
>
> A few (obvious?) candidates:
>  o Ask for their environment customization files (.emacs, .kshrc,
>    .profile, .login, etc.)

It might be a good question to ask for the reverse reason that seems to be
implied.  It will allow you to identify the tweaks who will spend more time
fussing around with the company supplied and administered work environment,
and less time writing revenue producing code.

>  o Ask for samples of their work
>  o Ask to which open source projects they contribute and what they've
>    contributed.

The interviewee gets extra points if it seems they won't be spending half
the workday reading 'open source' newsgroups and poking away at code that
doesn't return revenue to the company.