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Keeping Your Company Asshole-Free

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Re: Keeping Your Company Asshole-Free

#31

Post by pc86 »

lazyjones wrote: post #9
digitalengineer wrote: post #3

I find it amazing how many people in a team don't share their insights, assets or experiences with the team. Why is that? Is it fear?

It's probably the "I don't get paid for that" attitude ...

Which is a cop out anyway. Programmers don't get paid to "write code," they get paid to solve problems. Part of that is discussing options and strategies with teammates and making sure everyone is on the same page (or as close to the same page as possible when you have teammates with vastly disparate specialties and expertise).

Re: Keeping Your Company Asshole-Free

#32

Post by coliveira »

Deestan wrote: post #27
Joeboy wrote: post #12

Re slide 20: I recall reading that it's a myth that people who use the word "I" a lot are particularly self-absorbed. I recall it being suggested that the opposite might even be the case, perhaps because people were acknowledging the subjectivity of their opinions rather than presuming to present an indisputable statement of truth. I would look for a link, but the word "I" is hard to google. Edit: I might be thinking…

> acknowledging the subjectivity of their opinions rather than presuming to present an indisputable statement of truth. I actually try hard to use I wherever possible for that particular reason. Saying "I think a message-passing style would be best for this" is more honest than "a message-passing style would be best for this".

I don't agree with this because whenever you write something it becomes obvious that it is your opinion, even if it shared by other people. If it is somebody else's opinion and not yours, you would naturally say "somebody else's said ..." If you want to emphasize that is just not your opinion, you can also say so. It is much more cumbersome to keep adding "I think" when it is implicit in the context.

Re: Keeping Your Company Asshole-Free

#33

Post by ericclemmons »

pc86 wrote: post #30
theorique wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless it's a take-home project in which case a person could do the work on the weekend. Which would also be a test of time management.

This. Give someone a project that should take no more than n hours to complete and give then n/2 days to do it, preferably including a weekend. That should be plenty of time for some folks, even employed.

That's how I did several interviews a while back. Before everyone somehow knew and loved BackboneJS, I took a functioning data-driven sorted table app, removed some of the model and controller code, left the view, and then asked them to complete it.

People either:

- Hacked together the internals to make it function, never considering any of the existing Backbone or _s functions

- Figured the existing code was a template, and rewrote it all now they thought it should've been (which can be good or bad)

- Learned enough of Backbone to complete the example with minimal code, but generally took longer because they had to learn the tool first

As a result, I got a great hire that knows when to refactor, when to leave existing code alone, and when to use AngularJS instead of Backbone!

Re: Keeping Your Company Asshole-Free

#34

Post by debacle »

theorique wrote: post #18
ojbyrne wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's easy if you're currently not working, but not so much if you are. So you're screening out the employed.

Unless it's a take-home project in which case a person could do the work on the weekend. Which would also be a test of time management.

Yes, it would be. If you have good time management you would toss the project and keep looking for a position.

If a company I'm trying to find employment at wants me to take my interview home for the entire weekend, it sends all sorts of bad signs:

1. They don't see working on the weekend as unreasonable.

2. They don't value my time.

3. They aren't comfortable making hiring decisions and taking on risk. What other hard decisions aren't going to be made or are going to be made too late by this company?

Re: Keeping Your Company Asshole-Free

#36

Post by e40 »

atirip wrote: post #26

I'm enormously glad that Apple board did absolutely not keep their company asshole-free. Writing this on computer that asshole created. And btw, I do not know a single Genius (with uppacase G) who is not an asshole, so go figure...

And btw, I do not know a single Genius (with uppacase G) who is not an asshole, so go figure...

I do. That type of intelligence does not predetermine being an asshole. I think it's sad that people think that.

Re: Keeping Your Company Asshole-Free

#37

Post by michaelt »

atirip wrote: post #26

I'm enormously glad that Apple board did absolutely not keep their company asshole-free. Writing this on computer that asshole created. And btw, I do not know a single Genius (with uppacase G) who is not an asshole, so go figure...

I've met Donald Knuth, Steve Wozniak and Tim Berners-Lee; none of them seemed like assholes to me. I can't think of anyone I've met, whom I respect but consider an asshole.

By "Genius (with uppacase G)" you mean an Apple Store employee?

Re: Keeping Your Company Asshole-Free

#38

Post by ryzawy »

_pferreir_ wrote: post #21
brianwillis wrote: post #11

I was surprised to hear that they ask candidates to spend a couple of days working on a project, and then present that project to the company. That's a substantial time investment to ask someone to make on top of interviewing. If I was looking for work and every potential employer asked this of me, searching for a job could take weeks or months.

I agree. I am totally against hiring based on either stupid interview questions or tricky programming problems you will never see again. However, I think these guys take it a bit too far. Maybe give them a project that only takes a couple of hours, just creating a simple module that does some very basic thing. Try to find out how they work rather than the final result.

The project/task really depends on the position applied for. All i can say is, that the project is usually discussed in advance and things can be worked out here. There are some fine folks here who were given projects which took only a couple of hours.

Re: Keeping Your Company Asshole-Free

#39

Post by bjourne »

chris_wot wrote: post #20

It's always hard when you think "I was being an arsehole at that time". Hard, but good to realise. I think I had that moment just now! In case you think I believe I'm always an arsehole, this isn't the case. But there have been times I believe I was. I'll have to work on it in future :(

I can't argue against you because I don't know the specifics. But to me, it seems those that are the most worried about themselves being assholes are the least assholish of people. People who do behave as genuine assholes never reflect upon their own behaviour.

Re: Keeping Your Company Asshole-Free

#40

Post by jt2190 »

coliveira wrote: post #32
Deestan wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> acknowledging the subjectivity of their opinions rather than presuming to present an indisputable statement of truth. I actually try hard to use I wherever possible for that particular reason. Saying "I think a message-passing style would be best for this" is more honest than "a message-passing style would be best for this".

I don't agree with this because whenever you write something it becomes obvious that it is your opinion, even if it shared by other people. If it is somebody else's opinion and not yours, you would naturally say "somebody else's said ..." If you want to emphasize that is just not your opinion, you can also say so. It is much more cumbersome to keep adding "I think" when it is implicit in the context.

When you're the boss, your opinions are often interpreted as decrees. Tempering your tone with qualifiers is necessary to get others to share their opinions honestly.
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