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> I can't tell what office you're talking about but your description doesn't make it seem like a place where people relax and enjoy if you could be easily fired.

It could. Imagine anyone who couldn't run a 13 second 100 meter dash was fired, but they only hired people who ran it in 11 seconds in the interview. Nobody's really going to be too worried.

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If only technical competence could be measured in a single dimensional, objective contest like running.

It can't be assessed by a single dimension, but it doesn't have to be. A high quality engineer absolutely can rank the technical competence of other engineers in his field (not just computer science) with a high degree of certainty, and that's all you need. The "it's complex" argument is similar to the "it's a tradeoff" argument in that both are easily abused to justify any bad decision.

Technical competence is frequently Mismeasured in a single dimensional, objective contest.

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