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Comment by andrewingram | Hacker News Reader

Cute, and very impressive. But I cringe whenever I see a resumé where someone rates each of their skills on a scale. We're all familiar with the idea that true masters are generally the first to admit that they have a lot more to learn.

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I'm told that Google asks employees to rate their technology skills on a scale of 1-10. Guido van Rossum puts his Python skills at a 7.

Pity be the fool who puts C++ above perhaps a 6.

I recall Mike Acton basically saying in an interview that if an applicant claimed expert knowledge of C or C++, the gloves came off during the interview--Acton is one of (possibly the?) head tech bros as Insomniac Games, and has done a lot of work dealing with such arcane things as using the Cell SPUs optimally. I would not want to take on that challenge in an interview unwittingly.

Hahaha yeah. Been there, suffered that (though not from Acton). I appeared for an interview at Gameview Studios once right after College. Claimed my knowledge of C++. The interviewer burned me... badly. And now that I am aware of the mysteries of C++, i'd hardly say i am more than familiar with the basic syntax of that language.

I've always thought that if I created something that other people could apply skills or talent on (a game, a language, an API), that it wouldn't mean I'd be a master at using it, and that it wouldn't be far fetched to think someone could master using it even I could master building, fixing, or enhancing it.

I hate to be that guy, but... [citation required]. (Not trying to heckle, just would like to hear it first hand, so to speak.)

I've been interviewed by Google and they definitely do as part of the screening process before even the first phone interview. They acknowledge the limitations of that kind of rating upfront and give examples of what each number would represent.

A friend who works at Google told me this in the pub; I don't have a link or anything.

I interviewed at Google maybe six months ago and recall having to rate my skills on things on that scale. I think it was just on an online form, though, before the initial phone screen.

Perhaps its more a statement not about where Guido thinks he fits on that scale so much as where he puts the 10.

I mean its not like he wasn't getting the job.

That form is filled in by engineers before they give interviews, to help HR get good coverage when setting up a series of interviews. It's not used for anything else.

IIRC, they couched it with guidelines...

1 - I've heard of it ... 9 - literally wrote the book ... 10 - invented it

so by that measure guido _should_ have rated himself a 10.

Haha, that is great. My Python would be at like 2 then. lol

Not just that, but rating one's skills doesn't really show anything useful. How many years have you worked with each technology? What have you built with each one? What makes you a 'master'?

Sidenote - I'm curious how one could rate him/herself as a JavaScript 'expert' but only 'proficient' in jQuery. Not impossible, but seems unusual.

While I agree that true masters admit they have a lot more to learn I kind of like the idea of rating yourself. How would you convey to someone that you have worked with a certain technology but would not put it as your main experience?

My personal preference is a combination either a demonstration (which this is a very good example of), or a short well-written paragraph that's sufficiently free of common resumé tropes to convince me that I should make contact. Possibly both, but the hardest part about these things is keeping them concise.

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