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The Big Picture Thinker (from James S)
After an in-person technical interview, we decided to advance a candidate to the next step in our hiring process, which is a brief, one-page written test with some relatively easy (or, easy to look-up) technical questions. It's designed mostly to gauge written communication, since our developers often interface directly with clients.
Mea culpa, I forgot to attach the test. Turns out I didn't need to, this guy already aced the written communication test.
From: Thomas B-------
Sent: Friday, April 08, 2011 10:37 AM
To: James S------
Subject: RE: Written Test
When a big picture thinker with nearly 20 years of experience in
IT sends you a resume and cover letter like mine and says that he
can help you win a client that is pulling in 1.3 Billion per year,
here's what you don't do:
1. Set up an interview with a couple of in-the-box thinking
Microsoft drones with questions on minutia.
2. Hand him a test to see what his "style", attention to
detail, and problem solving approach is.
Here's my style: I am certain that I can run circles around your
best developers with my own, original, incredibly efficient model;
but more importantly, I am a director that can help them run
circles around their own current misguided misconceptions. But I
am thankful for this lesson, as I have learned that I need to add
a cover to my cover letter that reads: If you are an in-the-box
thinking Microsoft house, and you find yourself regurgitating
terms like OOP, MVC, TDD, BDD, Cucumber, etc..., without really
understanding what it all means and how much it is actually
costing your company to have bought into that industry pushed
bullshit, then DO NOT contact me. I'd save you too much money,
and you obviously do not want that.
So the question now is: Did I pass the test?
The answer is: Fuck yes I did.
Thomas B-------
PS. You forgot to attach the quiz.
Do this: Print out a copy of it, ball it up, and throw it at
your own forehead, because that's what I would do if I were
there.
A JavaScript-like Job (from Mike)
I was doing the phone screening for the candidate for a programming position, and the interviewee –let's call him Paul – was definitely on top of things. It was pretty clear that he know what he was talking about. While we didn't see eye-to-eye on everything, he had well-formed informed opinions and an impressive resume with a lot of experience.
But when it came to talking about our applications, he made it clear that he did not like doing front-end work. He hated it all: HTML, CSS, and especially JavaScript.
“The thing is,” he ranted, “using JavaScript is like getting a bad blow–”
I nearly choked on my coffee as he continued talking about the, erm, job. It was a fairly complex metaphor that involved a woman, grocery shopping, and possibly dandelions, but I was too stunned to remember how it all tied together. That, and it took him a full three minutes to explain.
When his awkward answer finally ended, he informed me that he was not actually even looking for a job, but was just “networking” and keeping his options open. I ended the interview as soon as I could politely do so.
The Job Opportunity (from Robin Lee)
I'm used to lazy recruiters, but this is just ridiculous...
From: Lorena C------- Sent: Wednesday, August 11, 2010 2:43 PM To: Robin Lee Subject: Robin - a great Job Opportunity! Dear Robin, We are currently searching for a JOB TITLE to work in CITY, COUNTRY for DURATION plus extensions. This is a fantastic contract opportunity for a large multi-national client. The ideal candidate must have the following skills: SHORT JOB DESCRIPTION. If you are interested in this role, please reply immediately and we will be happy to send you an in-depth job specification. Alternatively, if you have any colleagues who may be interested in this contract opportunity; please forward this email to them. If they are successfully placed at our client site, we will award you with ?150.00 (220 Euros). MBA would like to apologise if this requirement does not match your profile. Thank you for your time and we hope to hear from you soon, Regards Lorena C------- Recruiting Team
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