Re: Testing job applicants

[Pete Fenelon <pete@fenelon.com>]

In alt.folklore.computers Barnacle <nailed_barnacle@spamfree.hotmail.com> wrote:
> 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.)

It sort of makes sense -- this group tends to attract people who have had a 
long-term interest in the technology underlying what they do, and a sense of
how things have got better/worse over the years. There's an inevitable
combination of experience and interest in anyone who posts here.

> 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.

Ugh. What's a "career path"? Is that something to do with being told you're
too old to do development work, having a tie put around your neck, and being
told you're a manager and/or consultant?

> Dare I suggest they emphasise craftmanship?

Craftsmanship is a concept I regard as fundamental to what I do (if that
means knowing and understanding the material and the tools I work with, 
finding ingenious solutions, and being proud of the result). But I know
some people on other newsgroups regard "craft" as a perjorative term when
applied to software engineering.  (mind you, the world-view of certain
"anti-craftites" make me wonder if I'd want to work in their sterile
world of shrink-wrapped business objects...

pete (rt/embedded systems guy and happy with it)
-- 
pete@fenelon.com "there's no room for enigmas in built-up areas" (HMHB)