You have indeed side stepped the original question – maybe that is an essential
programmers skill!
I read recently that at Google they have tended to move away from the flashy
problem solving interview questions (such as “how would you find how many beach
balls it takes to fill a soccer stadium?”) to investigating peoples work
history – that is the old thing of genius being 10% inspiration and 90%
perspiration – that is some of the talented people have lazy work habits and
drive and some diligent and focussed people will out-perform them with less
skill. Craig Neville-Manning from Google gave a lecture at the University of
Canterbury a couple of years back (largely on how to develop an IT hub around a
university like that around Stanford which produced HP, Apple, Google and
Silicon Valley and what they are doing in NY with the Google office occupying a
whole block). Google gets approached all the time with ideas for the “next
great thing” and he said what interested Google was to look at products already
thriving in their market – ie the practice and not the theory.
Are you meaning that - what you said about revealing peoples thought process in
an interview illustrates it is not specific check boxes but again something
more intangible or qualitative or human quality that is the sought after
quality? Along with the required technical proficiency of course.
Specifics on what you said:
a.. Debugging on paper – now that takes me back! my first programming job
had just that – there were more programmers than screens and that’s what we had
to do. Useful to be able to do, and to be grateful you don’t have to do it for
day to day work.
b.. Exception handling – is this also an area where opinions vary? For
instance I read that the NASA Shuttle programming team had to produce code so
reliable that it never threw exceptions, and the production version had all
exception handling turned off. (This being my side step)
c.. Any more examples of the sorts of questions you ask?
d.. The original question – what is the difference between people who think
they are good and those who are good? Is there an answer? or is there an
answer only for a particular workplace and job?
e.. Right back to the original question specifically – is there a shortage
for essential Delphi skills in NZ compared to Oz and Switzerland? What is
lacking – training/size of talent pool/non-intellectual focussed culture/lack
of or quality of IT industry training/Delphi community being less lively etc?
From: Jeremy North
Sent: Thursday, July 3, 2014 1:02 PM
To: NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi List
Subject: Re: [DUG] Work Wanted in Wellington
Giving specifics is hard because it would depend on the work you want them to
do but also the level you are hiring for.
We basically have zero interest in someones ability to write SQL because we
don't have to write SQL at all. While it is a handy skill to have.
We hope they have exposure to unit testing and know and understand the
difference between unit and integration testing.
We look for people that can hold a discussion on system / class design. We
discuss code separation. I have a list of 20 verbal questions that I ask during
an interview. I don't ask all 20, many questions rely on previous responses
(being correct). I've been in interviews where I've asked just the first couple
and had to stop (some are really basic that every developer should know). The
questions vary in skill required and we like to hear the answers but we also
like to see they they react and their mannerisms when responding. We do ask
questions that are very hard and we don't do it to big note ourselves but to
see how the person copes with not knowing the answer or the thought process
they go through while thinking about it. If they know the answer - that's great
as well. Some questions (aim to) lead into further discussions about previous
job experiences and the like - we like it when this occurs.
After the discussion portion which is generally 30 - 60 mins, they get a
written test which we allow 60 mins for. This is just to prove they not only
know all the right answers, but can use and implement the things we have
discussed previously.
The test has specific skills we'd like the person to have and some skills that
we'd like them to have. The test is written - we want to know what they know
(not what Bob in the UK knows to be the answer!).
We recently interviewed for a FireMonkey position and gave them a PC and a
sample project to maintain.
One question that should be on everyone's interview list is exception handling.
The number of developers that don't know how to use it is a worry. One of the
questions involves "debugging on paper". Following the flow of a method when it
has different outcomes and outputting the correct method result for different
inputs.
We have no issues with wrong answers, it is mostly how they reach the answer.
The thought process.
The biggest issue when conducting interviews is making the person comfortable.
They will be at their best when they are comfortable and at the end of the day
that is what I want. The less interviews I have to do, the better!
I think I've successfully side stepped the response you were hoping to get :-)
On Thu, Jul 3, 2014 at 9:20 AM, John Bird <[email protected]> wrote:
OK that begs a further discussion!
What in your eyes makes a developer “good” as opposed to thinking they are
good – specific qualities please of what the good qualities are. I am
wondering if there are many opinions of what a “good” programmer is which might
explain why some think they are good whilst others think they are not. What
are the more objective measures?
I have worked on numerous projects the last few years and seen a lot of
different talents. Some that stick out in my experience are:
a.. Technical proficiency – ie knowing already what is likely to be the
best technology to use to tackle a new problem
b.. OO depth. Is it innate or learned? How is it best learned?
c.. Ability to mentor and guide others through existing code
Curious to hear specifics from you as you have the reputation of a Delphi
authority!
From: Jeremy North
Sent: Thursday, July 3, 2014 10:23 AM
To: NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi List
Subject: Re: [DUG] Work Wanted in Wellington
I know here (Australia) we would happily pay decent salaries if we found
Delphi developers that were actually good and didn't just *think* they were
good.
On Thu, Jul 3, 2014 at 8:06 AM, Stefan Mueller <[email protected]>
wrote:
As a Swiss Delphi Developer living in New Zealand I find that interesting.
Switzerland isn’t exactly at the top of my mind when I think about the
“value for bucks” for outsourcing work to – not because you don’t get the
quality, but because salaries there are almost twice what you would have to pay
here.
Kind regards,
Stefan Müller,
R&D Manager
ORCL Toolbox Ltd.
Auckland, New Zealand
P Please consider the environment before printing this email
This message is intended for the adresse named above and may contain
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If you are not the intended recipient of this message you must not use,
copy, distribute or disclose it to anyone.
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Tony Blomfield
Sent: Thursday, 3 July 2014 9:29 a.m.
To: 'NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi List'
Subject: Re: [DUG] Work Wanted in Wellington
Gary.
If you would like to send the details to me I will have a chat with them.
Unfortunately we have had such a bad run with Kiwi Developers we moved our
R&D over to Switzerland last year where we get much more cost effective results.
Anyway, I’d like to assess the person myself to see if they are suitable.
Kind regards.
Tony Blomfield
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Gary T. Benner
Sent: Wednesday, 2 July 2014 2:32 p.m.
To: [email protected]
Subject: [DUG] Work Wanted in Wellington
HI All,
This just passed in if anyone can help:
Permanent Developer available in Wellington.
Experienced Senior Delphi Developer looking for a permanent role in or
around Wellington.
Open to remote work. Also open to learning a new language if needed.
Experienced in picking up code from others and looking after legacy systems as
well as new development.
Also experienced as a Development Manager and Product Management.
Anyone with an opportunity can email me at [email protected] and I'll pass
it on.
cheers
Gary
List Admin
Gary Benner MNZCS ITCP
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Onlearn Limited - Online Learning Hosting & Support, Training & Content
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