• (cs) in reply to Paul
    Anonymous:
    Anonymous:
    stonguse:
    I fail to see how someone can be hired in a technical job without demonstrating their abilities.


    There is this thing called a "diploma" or "certification" that managers believe in unconditionally, simply Brillant.


    The best developers rarely have certifications because they're too busy working. Anything like this would be either outdated or company mandated for the very best.

    "Social Anxiety", btw, is a well recognized disorder. I expect that most of us geeks, especially the best ones and the hermits, have a large degree of this. We simply don't socialize well. I regularly find more intelligence in this box in front of me than in most co-workers. OK -- I'm going downhill here, so I'll stop.

    Easy to cure too - relax.
  • (cs) in reply to Casiotone
    Casiotone:
    Anonymous:
    "Social Anxiety", btw, is a well recognized disorder. I expect that most of us geeks, especially the best ones and the hermits, have a large degree of this. We simply don't socialize well. I regularly find more intelligence in this box in front of me than in most co-workers. OK -- I'm going downhill here, so I'll stop.


    Easy to cure too - relax.


    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

  • (cs)

    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?"

  • (cs) in reply to my name
    Anonymous:
    Anonymous:
    Anonymous:

    Second round? Too late. I'm a dev lead and responsible for the first two rounds of the hiring process where I work - first a ruthless screening of CVs (about 80% hit the bin straight away)


    That's the way!

    In fact, I always pull half the CVs from the pile and shred them without even looking at them.  I don't want anyone unlucky working for me.


    Bahh. :) You know a lot about luck and probability theory. I almost laughed but then I imagined my cv being thrown out like that. I honestly hope you are joking. I'd kill the person rejecting me in this way if I found out.

    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).

  • (cs) in reply to brazzy
    brazzy:
    Anonymous:
    Also, all this "can't cope in tests/interviews" crap - if you can't cope under the mild stress of an interview, then you're not going to cope well when work becomes stressful.


    To many, if not most people, a job interview is a VERY stressful situation, and it's a completely different kind if stress than most workplace problems.

    Having just got back from an interview I have to agree. An interview is nothing like the real job of a programmer. None of the interviews I have ever had have been much like a real programming job.

    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.

  • AgileGuy (unregistered)

    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)

  • null (unregistered) in reply to FallenGhost

    " 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.

  • mcguire (unregistered) in reply to jwenting
    jwenting:

    Better way is to give them a period of say a week to come up with a critique of a piece of code already in place you know needs improvement (and already have a plan on how to improve it).
    If the new person comes up with something similar or better you know they're up to your standards, and they've not had a chance to damage anything yet.



    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."

  • Alvin J (unregistered)

    Thats it. I'm never hiring anyone named Paula. Ever.

  • Mitch (unregistered) in reply to Alvin J

    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...


  • (cs) in reply to Paul

    Anonymous:

    "Social Anxiety", btw, is a well recognized disorder. I expect that most of us geeks, especially the best ones and the hermits, have a large degree of this. We simply don't socialize well. I regularly find more intelligence in this box in front of me than in most co-workers. OK -- I'm going downhill here, so I'll stop.

    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.

  • (cs) in reply to Mitch

    Anonymous:
    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...


    One word:  creepy.

    You don't by any chance have concealed upskirt cameras for the female applicants, do you?

  • Raw (unregistered)

    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."

  • Brillant (unregistered) in reply to Mitch

    Anonymous:
    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).

     

    IANAL but almost certainly illegal in the UK and probably all of Europe.

  • (cs) in reply to Mitch
    Anonymous:
    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.
    I used to put interviewees through practical tests too, but we were around to watch them do it, to hint and ask questions to test and guide their flow of thought. If we weren't around, there will be lots of people who'd accomplish nothing for the time period if left alone.
  • (cs) in reply to ferrengi
    ferrengi:

    If this the person hiring does not have the technical knowledge to test the application then all the applicant has to do is have good interviewing skills/image and say a lot of buzzwords.

    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.
    ferrengi:

    You could then claim that not having someone competent enough to test these people is a bigger WTF that this submission but that is another story. There is no shortage of bad managers.

    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...
  • Dunno (unregistered) in reply to Gene Wirchenko

    <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?


  • (cs) in reply to Mitch
    Anonymous:
    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...



    Geez, that's awful, I can just imagine how totally random my actions would look like :) Damn funny to watch someone else though!
  • (cs) in reply to Dunno
    Dunno:
    <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?



    I understand Gene. Working on the whiteboard is by far more relaxing (more physical movement, more space, easier to erase...)
  • (cs) in reply to ammoQ
    ammoQ:
    Dunno:
    <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?


    I understand Gene. Working on the whiteboard is by far more relaxing (more physical movement, more space, easier to erase...)


    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

  • not a consultant (unregistered)

    do you guys really believe that the story is not a fake ????

  • John Hensley (unregistered) in reply to not a consultant
    Anonymous:

    do you guys really believe that the story is not a fake ????


    Have you really not come across a self-declared "experienced C/C++ professional" who couldn't write a line of code?

  • not a consultant (unregistered) in reply to John Hensley

    == 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...

  • (cs) in reply to not a consultant
    Anonymous:

    == 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 ?

    Quite possibly not.  I have been interviewed and not tested for my software skills all too often.

    she had her resume, her references

    Resumes can be padded/faked.  So who checks references?  From my experience and what I have read, few do.

    there were people, manager(s) who worked with her and did not see what she was doing

    There is no mention of her working with anyone, only being assigned a chunk.

    her boss checked her progress only when the project passed the deadline

    It sure looks as if that happened.

    it was not strange for the co-workers that Paula spent many weeks on something she wanted complete in a few days...

    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.

    it all does not look credible...

    On the contrary, it looks all too credible.

    Remember: this Website does not celebrate the best of the best.

    Sincerely,

    Gene Wirchenko


  • John Hensley (unregistered) in reply to not a consultant
    Anonymous:

    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...


    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.

  • Daniel (unregistered) in reply to John Hensley

    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?) 

  • anonymous (unregistered)

    ... 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?

  • (cs) in reply to Gene Wirchenko
    Gene Wirchenko:
    ammoQ:
    Dunno:
    <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?


    I understand Gene. Working on the whiteboard is by far more relaxing (more physical movement, more space, easier to erase...)


    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



    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
  • (cs) in reply to anonymous
    Anonymous:
    ... 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?


    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.
  • (cs) in reply to Gene Wirchenko
    Gene Wirchenko:
    "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

    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)

  • (cs) in reply to brazzy
    brazzy:
    How about you get that stick out of your ass and stop talking about things you don't understand? Why would someone who has problems with social interaction (usually mainly with people they don't know) be automatically useless - especially in software development where sitting in front of the computer alone and solving abstract problems still is the biggest part of the job?


    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.
  • (cs) in reply to VGR
    VGR:
    brazzy:
    How about you get that stick out of your ass and stop talking about things you don't understand? Why would someone who has problems with social interaction (usually mainly with people they don't know) be automatically useless - especially in software development where sitting in front of the computer alone and solving abstract problems still is the biggest part of the job?


    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.


    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.
  • (cs) in reply to hank miller
    hank miller:
    Gene Wirchenko:
    "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


    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)



    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

  • (cs) in reply to VGR
    VGR:
    brazzy:
    How about you get that stick out of your ass and stop talking about things you don't understand? Why would someone who has problems with social interaction (usually mainly with people they don't know) be automatically useless - especially in software development where sitting in front of the computer alone and solving abstract problems still is the biggest part of the job?


    That's not true anymore.


    Of course it is. It's not the only part, but still the biggest.

    VGR:
    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.


    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.

  • (cs) in reply to ammoQ
    ammoQ:
    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.


    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

  • not a consultant (unregistered) in reply to Daniel

    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 ;)

  • John Hensley (unregistered) in reply to not a consultant
    Anonymous:

    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. ...


    In all of these Paula threads, we point the finger at Paula and the management.

  • (cs) in reply to Gene Wirchenko
    Gene Wirchenko:
    ammoQ:
    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.


    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



    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.
  • (cs) in reply to Gene Wirchenko
    Gene Wirchenko:

    Sincerelky,

    WTF???
  • Michael Wood (unregistered) in reply to Cooper
    Cooper:
    he isn't eligible either....


    How about illegible?
  • C (unregistered) in reply to neek
    Anonymous:
    <font size="2"><brilliant></brilliant></font><font size="2">Please, post Paula picture into fbi most wanted site so we prevent to hire her in a future and besides we could see if shes hot after all!</font><font size="2"></font>


    Most wanted? Shouldn't that be Least wanted?
  • cakesy (unregistered) in reply to Mike K.

    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.

  • TC (unregistered)

    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

  • Pete (unregistered) in reply to Russ
    Anonymous:
    sjfsjf:
    You sound the person who's phone interviewing me in two days. I'm so nervous :(


    Heh. I doubt it is, as the company I work for is a bit of an unknown gem in the tech world (since you wouldn't guess from the public face of the company that it runs one of the hottest Oracle DBs in the world - top 4 in fact, according to Oracle themselves - or that our daily transaction rate outclasses every stock exchange in Europe combined, with no downtime for reconciliation). If it was us, you wouldn't be nervous as you wouldn't know it was coming :-) Though some headhunters are starting to catch on, after getting shellshocked feedback from people who get chewed up and spit out by our process.

    If you want a free tip though, it's this - show enthusiasm. If I meet a candidate who clearly loves writing software, and doesn't regard it as simply a way to pay the bills, then I'm prepared to overlook quite a lot of shortcomings as such people tend to learn very quickly and take pride in getting it right.

    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)

  • whaba (unregistered)

    I have a crush on Paula

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