It makes a difference if a person has 5 years java experience or 5 years php experience only.
There is a lot to learn about culture, tools, frameworks etc.
If Carpenters Were Hired Like Programmers (2004)
11–20 of 123 posts
Re: If Carpenters Were Hired Like Programmers (2004)
#12Could be updated: Interviewer: Could you give us a couple of examples of carpentry projects you have completed in your spare time, and do you have a portfolio of projects you have worked on outside of your day-to-day job? Carpenter: Uhm, what do you mean? Interviewer: I mean like carpentry in your community, or a project you've completed to hone your skills outside work? Carpenter: Oh, I am usually quite tired of ham…
I wouldn't be surprised if there was a pretty high correlation between working in a trade like carpentry and having a home workshop (it's almost universally true in my anecdotal experience).
Re: If Carpenters Were Hired Like Programmers (2004)
#13At my company:
Inteviewer: So you are a carpenter?
Carpenter: Yes.
Inteviewer: Can you make a start fixing that leaky roof over there? We will monitor your skills and might hire you.
Carpenter: Done.
Re: If Carpenters Were Hired Like Programmers (2004)
#14Hiring a good carpenter is probably way easier than hiring a good programmer. Carpeting is just more tangible, I think.
Don't hire a carpenter to put down your carpets...
Re: If Carpenters Were Hired Like Programmers (2004)
#15I wish we were only hiring experienced developers, hiring right out of school and having a manager that only wants experience out of school people is insane. Do you know what oop is? Have you used git? Have you ever indexed a table column to speed up queries? Any MVC experience? How comfortable are you with the language ? Do you know anything about sql injection? Have you used the inspector on a web browser before? Get half right and have a sense of humor and you're probably hired but we hire 2 in 20 interviews a year.
Re: If Carpenters Were Hired Like Programmers (2004)
#16I had a similar story except swapped paint and wood with specific vendors for power tools and hammers and other generic tools. I call this "The Stanley problem of resume shortages".
Re: If Carpenters Were Hired Like Programmers (2004)
#17Could be updated: Interviewer: Could you give us a couple of examples of carpentry projects you have completed in your spare time, and do you have a portfolio of projects you have worked on outside of your day-to-day job? Carpenter: Uhm, what do you mean? Interviewer: I mean like carpentry in your community, or a project you've completed to hone your skills outside work? Carpenter: Oh, I am usually quite tired of ham…
I wouldn't be surprised if there was a pretty high correlation between working in a trade like carpentry and having a home workshop (it's almost universally true in my anecdotal experience).
There's a higher correlation in working in a trade like carpentry and having everyone they know needing carpentry work done as a favor.
Re: If Carpenters Were Hired Like Programmers (2004)
#18Interviewer: since you have experience working with wood, show us how you would implement photosynthesis on this whiteboard...
Or
Interviewer: what's the most popular kind of wood right now? Exactly. We're putting together a team to make a sink using it. In the second phase we will use wood to build a toilet. Interested?
Or
Interviewer: A carpenter? We were looking more for a mahogany-scientist or a pine-wizard. Are you even a spruce-ninja?
These are too easy :p
Re: If Carpenters Were Hired Like Programmers (2004)
#19At my company: Inteviewer: So you are a carpenter? Carpenter: Yes. Inteviewer: Can you make a start fixing that leaky roof over there? We will monitor your skills and might hire you. Carpenter: Done.
This is the way to go. Still do the usual screening and interviews (hopefully without incompetent recruiters in the middle) but then pay the developer fairly for a small project and see how it goes. Repeat if necessary.
The only problem I've seen with this approach is where the applicant is legitimately pressured for time by their current work or family issues. Being understanding and working out how to extend the trial period will get you through most of these.
In countries (like mine) that don't have at-will employment it amazes me that employers don't insist on this approach. Instead - weird filtering by recruiters, overly specific interview questions and then disappointment when recruiting goals aren't being met and stress when developers who aren't a good fit are stuck with the team for years.
Re: If Carpenters Were Hired Like Programmers (2004)
#20It makes a difference if a person has 5 years java experience or 5 years php experience only. There is a lot to learn about culture, tools, frameworks etc.
Software is software. The paradigms are the same. The languages have the same roots. What is culture for a programming language anyways? Sure, the tools and frameworks are different, and every language has it's own quirks and uniqueness but they're not as different as you make it sound. If a developer is skilled, these are small differences.