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Admin
Easy to cure too - relax.
Admin
Sure. When I was working on my diploma and needed to relax in the lab for a bit, I often worked on a math problem on the whiteboard. I found it quite relaxing. Classmates: "Is that homework?" in a panicky voice.
If someone says "Relax", that is about the last thing most people will do.
Sincerely,
Gene Wirchenko
Admin
How many weeks passed during this whole process?
Sorry, this wasn't Paula's fault, it was Scott's. If he had done his job as lead, he would have known there was a problem after no more than a week or two, AT MOST.
I think Obi Wan said it best: "Who's more foolish? The fool or the fool who follows him?"
Admin
Having looked at resumes at a previous job, I'd say 80% discards is optimistic. If it is an advertised position, or they got an inside tip you can perhaps keep more. However searching on monster/dice (which is what we did) leads to too many resumes that match, but are really for system administrators not programmers (any search more specific eliminates programmers who don't have that one term you searched on).
Admin
Even when there is coding involved, the problems are artificial (Normally also easy, but I have had some harder logic problems). Nothing has ever been giving that requires maintaining backward compatibility while going forward. No subtile 1 run out of 1,000,000,000 bugs to solve. Nothing complex, they might be hard logic problems, but once you figure the trick out the code is straight forward.
Admin
There are no processes to catch this sort of issue in a timely manner.
Except XP.
Except Scrum.
Except any half decent iterative process.
(c.f. "what have the Romans ever done for us" from Life of Brian)
Admin
" This story strikes me as something that was made up because there were no real WTFs to post today.
Anybody with me?"
Yup, sounds about right.
Admin
Good idea. That's also a good way to get some free consulting.
"Hey Bob, SubmitPurchaseOrder is a big, stinky mess. I can't make head nor tail of it."
"Well, Phil, looks like it's time to post a job opening, then."
Admin
Thats it. I'm never hiring anyone named Paula. Ever.
Admin
After going through a few engineering duds, we decided to not only give interviewees a test to build a simple .NET GUI application but watch them remotely with VNC (without telling them). It's an amazing experience that i truely recommend. Watching people flail around who "claimed" they knew .NET inside out in an interview was very enlightening. You can really learn a lot about how much an engineer really knows when you watch them code for even 45 minutes...
Admin
I don't think anyone who works in IT needs to be told that the people there have poor social skills. The only department more derided is HR. I find it amazing that any social skills at all are expected of people who spend their free time watching Battlestar Galactica.
Admin
One word: creepy.
You don't by any chance have concealed upskirt cameras for the female applicants, do you?
Admin
As everybody seems to have missed it, I'll say the obvious.
The real wtf is this:
"the project might even be completed before the deadline."
Admin
IANAL but almost certainly illegal in the UK and probably all of Europe.
Admin
Admin
I once had a phone call from someone who had secured an interview for a coding job. She wanted to know what buzzwords to use to make sure she got the job. And I admit it, I helped her out, but only because I knew that she was actually extremely capable and conscientious. She got the job, then phone again to ask for advice on what books she should work through before she started, so that she could actually do the job. She took my reading advice and ended up more capable than her new colleagues. BUT: her name was not Paula.
I used to work for a headhunting firm specialising in IT personnel for the financial sector. As well as looking after internal IT and comms infrastructure, I was responsible for the initial technical screening of potential candidates. So I would provide the researchers and consultants with a basic understanding of the technology - just enough to be able to distinguish between buzzwords and knowledge. If a candidate seemed ok, I would then get the CV to have a quick look over it from a technical point of view, and I would then do the technical run-down in the final stage of interviewing before putting a candidate forward to the client. It was a huge step forward for the agency to actually do this, and gave us a real competitive edge. The horrifying thing was that many of our customers, including major banks and investment houses, relied on CVs and buzzwords and performed no technical screening at all. So we got a reputation for delivering quality personnel.
You don't need to be an expert at every technology under consideration to screen candidates. It's enough to understand the basics if you have a thorough knowledge of IT in at least one area. The key is really personal (and personnel) awareness: the ability to sort out the wheat from the chaff, to distinguish between buzzwords and ability. If a candidate seems to be more of a salesperson, then give them a sales job not a technical one. Unfortunately, many managers are much more impressed by salespeople than they are by competent techies...
Admin
<quote>. When I was working on my diploma and needed to relax in the lab for a bit, I often worked on a math problem on the whiteboard. I found it quite relaxing. Classmates: "Is that homework?" in a panicky voice.
If someone says "Relax", that is about the last thing most people will do.
</quote>
Why did you not do it on paper? Why the need to display it?
Admin
Geez, that's awful, I can just imagine how totally random my actions would look like :) Damn funny to watch someone else though!
Admin
I understand Gene. Working on the whiteboard is by far more relaxing (more physical movement, more space, easier to erase...)
Admin
Oh, my! Someone said he understands me and actually does! All too rare.
You pegged it well. One point I really like is that I can get a section wrong / in need of revision and clean up just that part fairly easily.
"need to display it?" No. The lab was open 24 hours per day. When I worked on these problems, there was often no one else in when I started. Friday evenings were a favourite time for me to get work done. About about 5 PM, there were usually few there. Some time between 6 and 7, the rest vanished.
Sincerely,
Gene Wirchenko
Admin
do you guys really believe that the story is not a fake ????
Admin
Have you really not come across a self-declared "experienced C/C++ professional" who couldn't write a line of code?
Admin
== Have you really not come across a self-declared "experienced C/C++ professional" who couldn't write a line of code?
there were people who hired Paula, who interview her - they did not see her skills ?
she had her resume, her references
there were people, manager(s) who worked with her and did not see what she was doing
her boss checked her progress only when the project passed the deadline
it was not strange for the co-workers that Paula spent many weeks on something she wanted complete in a few days...
it all does not look credible...
Admin
Quite possibly not. I have been interviewed and not tested for my software skills all too often.
Resumes can be padded/faked. So who checks references? From my experience and what I have read, few do.
There is no mention of her working with anyone, only being assigned a chunk.
It sure looks as if that happened.
Maybe, but they probably have their own work to do, so I can see why no one without checking as his specific responsibility would check.
On the contrary, it looks all too credible.
Remember: this Website does not celebrate the best of the best.
Sincerely,
Gene WirchenkoAdmin
Interviewers can ask the wrong questions. People don't put their screwups on their resumes. Bosses can be jerked around. Co-workers do not babysit each other.
Wait, just wait, until you have a nice shiny WTF staring you in the face. Then you'll believe it all.
Admin
I could see how Paula got hired.
(MY BOSSES - and their philosophies)
1. Those IT Directors with no development skill does the interview. Instead of let a couple of developers sit in, they decided that they can test the user skill on their own with some downloaded/prepared tech questions.
2. Girls in this field get some extra brownie points (diversity - yeah right), hot looking one get more brownie points.
3. So we asked them if they check reference, one time they replied "Well, we called everyone but no one on the reference is contactable..." (WTF and she still get hired?)
Admin
... Otherwise everyone would realize that she's doing someone to keep quiet. If companies just gave their people hooker budgets, then these sorts of things wouldn't ever happen. As it stands, people hire "contractors" on the company dime to help "reduce the pressure the other developers are feeling." Oh come, everyone's team does it all the time, right?
Admin
I've always thought you'd be a lot of fun to socialize with outside of work. Now I can confirm it.
sincerely,
Richard Nixon
Admin
Still doesn't make sense. Hiring decisions are made by managers, who earn enough to get real hookers without risking their job.
Then again, I guess risk/benefit analysis skills degrade when the brain gets starved of blood because that's needed elsewhere.
Admin
You had me going until there. An empty lab on Friday nights? Not in any good engineering school.
Either your degree is worth as much as one from a box of Cracker Jacks, or you made this up.
Everyone who is anything in engineering is in the lab on a Friday night. (This includes all the hot chicks in engineering - both of them)
Admin
That's not true anymore.
You cannot be an effective programmer if you don't possess good communication skills. You can tell yourself programming in the 21st century is exactly the same as it was in the 80s, where one or two people architected entire suites of software, but in today's world it's just not the case.
If you can't communicate well, if you can't understand requirements (or you interpret them too literally while ignoring their intent), if you can't document your classes enough to let others use them without having to interrupt their train of thought every five minutes to come ask you what the hell something is supposed to be doing, then you're no professional programmer. You're a liability.
People with Asperger's can still be programmers, but there are some handicaps that are in direct conflict with effective software development. I wouldn't hire an 85-pound asthmatic as a bouncer at a bar; I wouldn't hire someone with no ability to communicate as a software developer.
Admin
There are some tasks in SW development that do not require good communications skills (e.g. "make a better search engine than Google", "make a program that reads captcha images") but most programmers work in areas where good communication skills are necessary. I'm also afraid many jobs where communication is not necessary are offshored.
Admin
No, it was quite true, and my program is highly regarded in its area.
For whatever reason, the lab was usually quite empty on Friday nights. Late in the semester, it filled up a bit. As well, some people did a lot of their work at home. I think it was people taking a breather from the week as on Saturdays and Sundays, there were people working in the lab.
Sincerely,
Gene Wirchenko
Admin
Of course it is. It's not the only part, but still the biggest.
Sure. But none of this has anything whatsoever to do with Asperger Syndrome, or even what's generally understood as "communication skills". Understanding requirements and not taking them too literal requires intelligence, domain knowledge, a habit of questioning and understanding things rather than accepting them as given, and just plain common sense. Good documentation requires the ability to write clear and concise, without assuming familiarity with the implementation details.
These are are skills that many people don't have, including many who'd be considered to have brilliant "people skills". Someone with Asperger Syndrome is in fact probably more likely to be good at these intellectual skills. They have problems mainly with nonverbal communication in face-to-face interaction and making small talk. You wouldn't want them in a position with a lot of customer contact, such as management, sales or business analysis. They're not going to be good at small-scale consulting, where you have to do all those jobs at once. But in a project with a proper development process and dvision of labor, where they can concentrate on the things they excel at, they may well be more valuable than other people.
Admin
Are you sure about that "not"? From what I have heard and read, there are some real communication issues with offshoring. I used to telecommute. Now that I work on-site, the information bandwidth and capacity is much higher.
Sincerelky,
Gene Wirchenko
Admin
Hi there.
I see your explanations on how Paula was hired. Very good. So we have a company which in order to deliver the project in time hires strangers with faked resumes, does not check references. The boss/manager (Scott) does not care about what his co-workers do. Read this:
<FONT face=Arial>Scott estimated that he could finish it in a week. Paula said that she would have this finished in a few days. Several weeks later (!?), Scott followed up with her to see if she was able to get anywhere. </FONT>
The real WTF here is how that company manages. The business must be thankful Paula and send her a card. She showed some weaknes in the company management and here are people who should be fired as well: Scott and the hiring manager. It would also a good lesson for other.
I found the story amusing, but still... Personally for me it is very hard to believe... Maybe I do not have the experience you have and I did not want to sound disrespectful. I like the site/project, my fav. joke here is The cArnold joke. ...
Another WTF here is the forum software ;)
Admin
In all of these Paula threads, we point the finger at Paula and the management.
Admin
No, I'm not sure. We don't do much offshoring here in Austria, since Eastern Europe (especially Slovakia) is less than 100 km away from Vienna. But today a friend told me that at telco he worked for, is currently replacing the cheap people from Bratislava with people from CSC. Seems like "cheap" isn't always cheap.
Admin
WTF???
Admin
How about illegible?
Admin
Most wanted? Shouldn't that be Least wanted?
Admin
What about not giving her something important to do. Give her something simple, that has been done already - just to test her. You don't want someone new screwing up the work.
The real WTF is that you listened to your manager, and believed them.
Admin
Your code is brillant
Your code is brillant
There is no cure
You are no angel
Of that I'm sure
You smiled at me in the hallway
Said your code was almost done
But now our project's running late
What have you done?
You're Paula Bean
You're Paula Bean
You're Paula Bean
It's true!
I saw your name
Of Internet fame
And I don't know what to do
'Cause it's me who hired you
Yes you wrote one line
In two months' time
'Said you need a little help
Were you fucking high?
And I don't think that you'll be hired again
'Cause my team of hitmen will show you the end
You're Paula Bean
Your code's obscene
The worst I've ever seen
There's a photo of your face
In my fireplace
As I pray a wish come true:
May I never work with you.
getPaula()
getPaula()
getPaula()
return;
Hey Paula Bean
This may be mean
But I was better when I was thirteen
There must be a demon with a smile on its face
When it thought up that I should work with you
But it's time to face the truth
There are coders worse than you
Admin
Heh - I think I might have been interviewed by you a few months back - or if not, someone at a similar company (which I hadn't previously heard of) who I'm pretty sure was called Russell. I was quite pleased that I passed despite doing the interview from my sleeping bag in a freezing, leaking tent, with a raging hangover from the beer festival I was helping to run :-)
(As it happens I passed up the invitation to a face-to-face interview to take a job at the IBM labs)
Admin
I have a crush on Paula