Comment On First Day Foresight

The great thing about First Impressions are that people are showing you Their Very Best!

 

Seems to be yet another great iteration of Mrs. Bean.

Oh, and before anyone starts, the language used is NOT the WTF.  Alright?

I hope he knew how to draw the buttons on the GUI. Lord only knows how may controls he clicked on before finding the button.

 

"... find the New Guy still "working on getting those buttons added.". I am not a manager but would it be wrong to ask this guy to come to your office and discuss his real world programming experience ... seriously who interviewed that twerp!

Even I wasn't that dense my first day. And that was my first day programming in any language after being out of the industry for about 16 years. Which basically means I knew nothing of any use since the last programming I had done was in ANSI - C , with some COBOL, Pascal, and VAX ASM for kicks. OH, lets not forget Fortran-77, back when it was the "new" thing.

 

 

Anonymous:

Seems to be yet another great iteration of Mrs. Bean.

Oh, and before anyone starts, the language used is NOT the WTF.  Alright?

 

why would you be offended? and who is Mrs. Bean? 

My mom has difficulty operating a garage door opener.

This isn't that hard to believe.... sad as it is.

This is supposed to be someone with programming experience? I would have seriously let that guy go the next day for a couple reason.

1. Obviously doesn't know when they don't know how to do something. (the worst!) (If he did know, why did he wait until asked?)

2. Doesn't now how to find out how to do something without asking someone else.

3. Can't use a search engine or the internet effectively.

I forgive that the person has never used VB or any programming environment meant for GUI programming. The rest though is something that needs to already be in place. Seriously, how can people hire someone like above and be satisfied with paying them for work?

Well, it would have been first except I couldn't find the Save button. They should make the message post automatically when you close the browser. Yeah, that would be cool.

 

 

mrsticks1982:

 

why would you be offended? and who is Mrs. Bean? 

Mrs. Bean 

Alex Papadimoulis:

Private Sub Form_Close()
    'why is this still saving?
    save_data()
End Sub

The good news is that this guy comments his code... 

Forget warning bells, this guy would have sent up a warning air raid siren, with accompanying spotlights and ack-ack.

If I were Davin, I would have immediately had a sit down with this guy and gone over his programming experience, and attempted some other technical stuff to just make sure this was some sort of hideous brain fart. If he was still clue devoid, I would have suggested he just not come in the next day, then gone into my manager's office with a rolled up newspaper and a horrible gleam of determination in my eyes.

I can believe that this guy spent the entire day just staring at a few lines of code. At least he knows HOW to comment it, I guess. Hopefully, at least, he was hired on as an entry level. Still... investigative research on new programming assignments is key... what WAS he doing all day??

Being the submitter, I can clarify what the GUI looked like a little, if you thought that maybe this guy was a designer or something.  The buttons were enormous!  Imagine a screen with one solitary, gigantic button, just like the one solitary thought in this character's head (giving him extra credit here, trust me).  Don't worry, its all going to be in my book, anonymized for your viewing pleasure of course.  Just imagine the below as a button:

 

SAVE

Give the guy a break! The first day at a job is always hard! Plus the syntax that VB 6 uses is VERY complicated. I don't think I could have added those features in a week, let alone one day.

So the WTF is that people are still using VB6?

shadowman:

mrsticks1982:

 

why would you be offended? and who is Mrs. Bean? 

Mrs. Bean 

 

Ahh, It's Monday, I was thinking you were referring to Mr. Bean.  Not too many Paula references lately!

Sorry to DP, but I got news for you, if you think using VB6 itself is a WTF, you are in for a real "treat" once I get posting some of my more colorful stories...

Boy, it's not like that when you go to work for small companies!

 At my previous company, on the first day I was there I was asked to find a crasher bug in the ethernet drivers because they were too busy to show me anything. Custom OS on a custom alpha chip platform before we moved it all to Linux.

On the first day at my current company I was given responsibility for completely replacing all the myriad incompatible custom config scripts on the device with a single manageable script and put in co-charge of the wireless drivers (I had never worked on wireless before in my life, and they knew this, but I had some linux driver experience and plenty of embedded driver experience).

I rather prefer it like this - it's never boring.

 captcha: enterprisey

Volmarias:

Forget warning bells, this guy would have sent up a warning air raid siren, with accompanying spotlights and ack-ack.

If I were Davin, I would have immediately had a sit down with this guy and gone over his programming experience, and attempted some other technical stuff to just make sure this was some sort of hideous brain fart. If he was still clue devoid, I would have suggested he just not come in the next day, then gone into my manager's office with a rolled up newspaper and a horrible gleam of determination in my eyes.

 I think they didnt have time for an interview. Or maybe the interview was something like this - have you heard of Veee Beee ?

Anonymous:

Give the guy a break! The first day at a job is always hard! Plus the syntax that VB 6 uses is VERY complicated. I don't think I could have added those features in a week, let alone one day.

We really need a standard of colorizing the sarcastic comments with orange

sir_flexalot:

Being the submitter, I can clarify what the GUI looked like a little, if you thought that maybe this guy was a designer or something.  The buttons were enormous!  Imagine a screen with one solitary, gigantic button, just like the one solitary thought in this character's head (giving him extra credit here, trust me).  Don't worry, its all going to be in my book, anonymized for your viewing pleasure of course.  Just imagine the below as a button:

 

SAVE

Please tell me, why wasn't this guy kicked out the 2nd day? That's why there is a trial period, isn't it? And by the way, think of finding some replacement for the one who hired this guy without checking programming abilities...

First days are always hard, the last three first days I spent most of the day setting up my computer to work in some way useful. But this is absolute nonense.
 

I am surprised The New Guy could find his way to the bathroom!!
Did he need instructions to "open the door first, before entering"?

Alex Papadimoulis:

had he not repeated it with similar "problems" throughout the following year.

 I surprised he lasted that long...
 

Some people get horribly offended at the idea of programming being done during an interview for a programming position. And this is why it's essential to make someone do some work in front of you before you let them hide in an office and fail to be smarter than a rock.

Honestly, the interview could have included "here's a computer with VB installed, make a quick app that lets you type numbers in two edit boxes and hit a button to add them together. make sure it validates the data and handles basic errors." Five minutes (and I mean literally 5 minutes - not half an hour) later you'll know if the guy has used VB before, if he has some basic grasp of how to edit a GUI, handle user input, and do some math. If he's done in 5 minutes, great, if not at least you know how he approaches the program and if he's completely incompetent.

Hell, even if the guy had never seen VB before, you'ld know how he approaches the problem.

The WTF is definately the completely and totally worthless interview process, and the mentally defective waste of space doing the interviewing.

Anonymous:

Seems to be yet another great iteration of Mrs. Bean.

Oh, and before anyone starts, the language used is NOT the WTF.  Alright?

 

THAT WOULD BE MS. BEAN, if you don't mind!

Let's be Politically Correct

 

</sarcasm>

Certainly: No Quack.

un.sined:

Alex Papadimoulis:

Private Sub Form_Close()
    'why is this still saving?
    save_data()
End Sub

The good news is that this guy comments his code... 

Not enough XML.

mbvlist:

sir_flexalot:

Being the submitter, I can clarify what the GUI looked like a little, if you thought that maybe this guy was a designer or something.  The buttons were enormous!  Imagine a screen with one solitary, gigantic button, just like the one solitary thought in this character's head (giving him extra credit here, trust me).  Don't worry, its all going to be in my book, anonymized for your viewing pleasure of course.  Just imagine the below as a button:

 

SAVE

Please tell me, why wasn't this guy kicked out the 2nd day? That's why there is a trial period, isn't it? And by the way, think of finding some replacement for the one who hired this guy without checking programming abilities...

First days are always hard, the last three first days I spent most of the day setting up my computer to work in some way useful. But this is absolute nonense.
 

 

That question begets a deluge of WTF's the likes of which most mortals have not seen.   After a year of that type stuff but worse, and raising the issue along with others to management, it wasn't he that left in the end...

mrsticks1982:

shadowman:

mrsticks1982:

 

why would you be offended? and who is Mrs. Bean? 

Mrs. Bean 

 

Ahh, It's Monday, I was thinking you were referring to Mr. Bean.  Not too many Paula references lately!

 

The REAL WTF is that someone out there would marry Paula Bean.

 

captcha: poprocks, served with a side of diet coke.

sir_flexalot:

if you think using VB6 itself is a WTF

Trust me, it is.  It's not enterprisey enough.

Anonymous:

The REAL WTF is that someone out there would marry Paula Bean.

 

Hey now.... for all you know Paula could look like.... like someone that looks really hot and attractive lol.... maybe that's how she got her job in the first place!
 

First day premonitions at Atari in '82: I went through orientation, arrived in my new office and found the boxes for my shiny new Atari 800 computer.  Great!  I unboxed it, set it up, got a login: prompt on the minicomputer the group used for development, and was leafing through a book about the mini's TECO clone when the IT gal appeared in my door.

"Oh, you knew how to set up your computer?  Great!  I was going to do that for you.  Not many people know how."

"We're hiring people who can't set up a computer?"

"Um, yeah."

I had to teach two different officemates (who passed interviews and were hired to write video games) assembly language programming.  The company was bleeding cash (millions a day), and more or less went under two years later.  I think I know one big reason why.

Anonymous:

I hope he knew how to draw the buttons on the GUI. Lord only knows how may controls he clicked on before finding the button.

Be careful what you suggest to this New Guy - he might actually attempt to draw his own buttons...

ParkinT:

THAT WOULD BE MS. BEAN, if you don't mind!

</sarcasm>

All this talk of Miss/Mrs/Ms Bean on the day Beanbag Girl returns to the sidebar..  looks like she's watching you..

Worst first day that I ever had at a new company was actually the following:

 

I was asked to start on a Wednesday to get a head start on the following week.  I show up, get badged in, sign forms etc... and then shown to my office.  There is a desk, a chair and... thats it.  Actually there were three desks and three chairs.  Oh, and a phone that wasn't connected.

No, keep in mind that I was hired as a software engineer consultant and I didn't have a computer for 3 full days.  Useful, really.

My most recent first day was brilliant though.  Since I work from home now I didn't even have to commute.  I just downloaded the software and my boss (the CEO) said, you have three weeks to develop something interesting on our product and show it to me.  I don't care what it is as long as you are learning.  That's my kind of company.

 

sir_flexalot:

Sorry to DP, but I got news for you, if you think using VB6 itself is a WTF, you are in for a real "treat" once I get posting some of my more colorful stories...

*Gleeful anticipation*

ParkinT:

THAT WOULD BE MS. BEAN, if you don't mind!

Let's be Politically Correct

</sarcasm>

 

I do note the sarcasm tag. But on a non-sarcastic level, I'd say: let's be actually correct, never mind the "politically".  The "Brillant Paula bean" post made no mention of whether she was married or not, so calling her "Mrs." Bean is making an assumption that might not be warranted at all. "Ms. Bean" is actually much more sensible.

Think of it as a type of bounds-checking.

 

What if Paula looks like Bean Bag Girl?

What if BBG is Paula?

*shivers*

Anonymous:

I hope he knew how to draw the buttons on the GUI. Lord only knows how may controls he clicked on before finding the button.

 

Click on controls to draw the buttons?  An all star coder like that doesn't need UI tools, he'll spend 4 hours finding the right number of twips to use to set the width and height of the button, then he's just gotta figure out how to put it on the form where he wants it.

Anonymous:

Worst first day that I ever had at a new company was actually the following:

I was asked to start on a Wednesday to get a head start on the following week.  I show up, get badged in, sign forms etc... and then shown to my office.  There is a desk, a chair and... thats it.  Actually there were three desks and three chairs.  Oh, and a phone that wasn't connected.

No, keep in mind that I was hired as a software engineer consultant and I didn't have a computer for 3 full days.  Useful, really.

My current company had that as my first day too. I sat around for three days reading various bits of printed documentation and sitting in other people's cubes watching them support the live system (learning the interface of it, basically). Then I went out on location for two days to see the operations in action. When I returned, a PC was on my desk.

So basically my first week of being a programmer at this company was utterly computer free, learning how people actually use the system I'm supposed to be programming the modifications to. I thought it would have been brilliant... if it had been intentional. ;-)

Anonymous:

What if Paula looks like Bean Bag Girl?

What if BBG is Paula?

*shivers*

Is that a shudder of delight? Because that would be AWESOME. It would also explain how Paula got hired.

sir_flexalot:

mbvlist:

sir_flexalot:

Being the submitter, I can clarify what the GUI looked like a little, if you thought that maybe this guy was a designer or something.  The buttons were enormous!  Imagine a screen with one solitary, gigantic button, just like the one solitary thought in this character's head (giving him extra credit here, trust me).  Don't worry, its all going to be in my book, anonymized for your viewing pleasure of course.  Just imagine the below as a button:

 

SAVE

Please tell me, why wasn't this guy kicked out the 2nd day? That's why there is a trial period, isn't it? And by the way, think of finding some replacement for the one who hired this guy without checking programming abilities...

First days are always hard, the last three first days I spent most of the day setting up my computer to work in some way useful. But this is absolute nonense.
 

 

That question begets a deluge of WTF's the likes of which most mortals have not seen.   After a year of that type stuff but worse, and raising the issue along with others to management, it wasn't he that left in the end...

the *real* (tm) WTF is management, not this coder.  he's getting paid to learn programming from scratch instead of paying someone to teach him coding.  the *real* (tm) issue is that your management wanted to pay him to learn coding from scratch.

why do you think that was? 

I think I have most folks beaten on the initial-getting-set-up routine...

I'm six months into a new job. I had a laptop day-one, but it was a sales-configuration (I am a developer), and the support organization would not install development tools on a sales-laptop. It took my boss 3 weeks to get past that one (my suggestion of just reblasting the machine with a developer configuration were chided, as it should be possible to just get it done). I'm now 6 months along, and still don't have some of the tools I'll need to do my job.

I always give a new job a year before re-evaluating it, but I'm having second thoughts here...

 

The WTF here is twofold: How did this guy last a week (much less a year) there, and why are they using VB6?

...and the Eternal Optimist Award goes to un.sined, for his keen observation:
"The good news is that this guy comments his code..."

"The good news is that this guy comments his code... "

 And that he tests his code...

Anonymous:

sir_flexalot:

mbvlist:

sir_flexalot:

Being the submitter, I can clarify what the GUI looked like a little, if you thought that maybe this guy was a designer or something.  The buttons were enormous!  Imagine a screen with one solitary, gigantic button, just like the one solitary thought in this character's head (giving him extra credit here, trust me).  Don't worry, its all going to be in my book, anonymized for your viewing pleasure of course.  Just imagine the below as a button:

SAVE

Please tell me, why wasn't this guy kicked out the 2nd day? That's why there is a trial period, isn't it? And by the way, think of finding some replacement for the one who hired this guy without checking programming abilities...

First days are always hard, the last three first days I spent most of the day setting up my computer to work in some way useful. But this is absolute nonense.

That question begets a deluge of WTF's the likes of which most mortals have not seen.   After a year of that type stuff but worse, and raising the issue along with others to management, it wasn't he that left in the end...

the *real* (tm) WTF is management, not this coder.  he's getting paid to learn programming from scratch instead of paying someone to teach him coding.  the *real* (tm) issue is that your management wanted to pay him to learn coding from scratch.

why do you think that was? 

We don't really know the capacity in which this person was hired. Was he a literature major that got an entry-level programming position (no skills might be expected)? Did he claim to have experience? If so, the interviewer should be flogged. Was he some manager's relative, where similar DNA is all that's required?

I've seen companies interview for two months looking for the right person, and then hire whomever-comes-along-at-the-last-minute rather than lose the head-count requisition.

Need more info - poster?

Thanks for the heads up.  Just changed my AdBlock settings so that Bean Bag Girl isn't blocked.

Volmarias:

Anonymous:

What if Paula looks like Bean Bag Girl?

What if BBG is Paula?

*shivers*

Is that a shudder of delight? Because that would be AWESOME. It would also explain how Paula got hired.

Does NO ONE read all the posts anymore? Even ones on the first page? Literally, from a couple posts up:

GoatCheez:

Hey
now.... for all you know Paula could look like.... like someone that
looks really hot and attractive lol.... maybe that's how she got her
job in the first place!

 

Anonymous:

Some people get horribly offended at the idea of programming being done during an interview for a programming position. And this is why it's essential to make someone do some work in front of you before you let them hide in an office and fail to be smarter than a rock.

Honestly, the interview could have included "here's a computer with VB installed, make a quick app that lets you type numbers in two edit boxes and hit a button to add them together. make sure it validates the data and handles basic errors." Five minutes (and I mean literally 5 minutes - not half an hour) later you'll know if the guy has used VB before, if he has some basic grasp of how to edit a GUI, handle user input, and do some math. If he's done in 5 minutes, great, if not at least you know how he approaches the program and if he's completely incompetent.

Hell, even if the guy had never seen VB before, you'ld know how he approaches the problem.

The WTF is definately the completely and totally worthless interview process, and the mentally defective waste of space doing the interviewing.

We did just that. We were interviewing a guy for a senion asp.net postion. We asked him to put a dropdownlist on page and display the books from the selected author. We even wrote the stored procedures ahead of time. He couldn't do this in the 30 minutes. He didn't even understand how to use ispostback. Needless to say, he did not get the job. On the other hand, the person who interviewed for the junior position completed our little test just fine.